"Guardians of the Galaxy" '70s Soundtrack More than Nostalgia for Micah McKee

Micah McKee and Rory Callais turned their shared love of Marvel Comics and the MCU into new concert event Friday at The Howlin’ Wolf.

When Marvel Studios gave Peter Quill a Walkman with a cassette of his mother’s favorite hits from the ‘70s in Guardians of the Galaxy, it was working on multiple layers. The studio has tied some of its most electric movie moments to recontextualized songs, whether it’s Thor rolling into a fight in Thor: Ragnarok like a force of nature accompanied by Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song,” or Bree Larson’s Captain Marvel kicking ass to No Doubt’s “Just a Girl.” Giving the Guardians a collection of popular songs to employ literally or ironically was right on brand. 

It also marked Quill as different from anyone else in the 2014 space opera as that tape and those songs rooted him to a time and planet far removed from anyone else in the movie. Since the most recent song on the tape—Rupert Holmes’ dreadful “Pina Colada Song”—came from 1979 and everything else was released in 1975 or earlier, the songs represent a nostalgic past, just as they do for many viewers. That in part inspired Micah McKee and The Lonesome Wild to put together “Guardians of the Galaxy: The Concert,” which will take place Friday at The Howlin’ Wolf. 

McKee and Lonesome Wild guitarist Rory Callais have some history with big shows. McKee was one of the organizers of a show that featured New Orleans’ indie community performing The Last Waltz in its entirety, and Callais has been the musical director for burlesque tributes to David Bowie and Madonna. The Guardians of the Galaxy show will include guest vocalists Joy Clark, Jesse Tripp, Leo DeJesus, and Vanessa Niemann of Gal Holiday and the Honky Tonk Revue. McKee had dialed down his performance schedule in recent years in part because COVID forced him too, but even when he could play, he chose to work instead on being a better songwriter and recording artist. 

“The huge shows are fun though,” he said by email. “They help me water the musical friendship garden and collaborate with really special, talented folks that I may not get to play with as often.”

The show, like so much creativity from the last two years, emerged from COVID conditions. McKee says point blank, “Comic books saved my life. Marvel comics, to be specific. During lockdown, they were huge sources of comfort and hope.” His affection for them extended to the movies, and his friendship with Callais grew over their shared affection for comics and music, including times that they would watch movies at the same time in their respective homes. 

When the time came that he was ready to play the Lonesome Wild songs he had been writing and recording himself in his bedroom, he asked Callais to play guitar. “We had always been friends and musical collaborators, but we became a lot closer during that period, even though we pretty much never saw each other in person.”

Callais liked the challenge the concert posed because it and shows like it force him to stretch as a musician. “The tribute shows for both David Bowie and Madonna were among the more educational musical experiences I've ever had,” he wrote via email. “Both of those artists are known for being chameleons, so finding a way for the same band to play both ‘Rebel, Rebel’ and ‘Lazarus’ at the same level was an interesting challenge.”

Neither McKee nor Callais want the songs to be played like a cover band, and it’s important to them that the versions retain what is essential in the songs but reflect their musical personalities as well. That balance is part of the challenge, and for Callais it’s made trickier by his relationship to the setlist, which includes songs from both of the Guardians of the Galaxy movies. 

“Some of these songs have been in my orbit since childhood,” he says. “Some—like the Bowie and Fleetwood Mac songs—I grew to appreciate and love more as an adult. Some of these songs I had never heard or didn't like prior to re-engaging them on this soundtrack.”

For McKee, this period is his musical sweet spot. His father played these records and the hits of the ‘70s in the house when he was growing up, so those songs are part of his musical DNA. “The records of the classic era—particularly ones by Paul McCartney, Sam Cooke, and The Raspberries—very literally helped me write and record Lonesome Wild songs during lockdown,” he says. “I spun their records most mornings before sitting at the desk to write.”

McKee maintains an inquisitive relationship with that part of his musical inspiration. He breaks down the hits from AM radio’s golden age on his American 100 podcast, and he had Callais on as a guest to talk about nostalgia. McKee believes that these songs evoke what he calls “The AM Gold effect” as these songs have become so deeply rooted in our culture, lives, and subconsciousnesses that they trigger nostalgic feelings.

Callais’ engagement is slightly different. He’s certainly similarly effected, but he sees other connections that are important to him. 

“The unifying thread of these songs is that they come from films in which a group of broken people (or, as it were, raccoons and sentient trees) chose to find a family with each other,” he says. “I want the show to have a similar emotional impact for the audience as best we can.”