Ross Swinson’s memories of Hunter-Gatherer go back to the Columbia he came up in as a teenager and to his earliest days playing music.

It was where he played the first album release show for his first band, and where he saw shows that stretched “from instrumental metal to jazz.”

“Before the big brewery boom of the 2010s I always felt like it was cool that there was a spot in Columbia that had been brewing beer for the love of the game for decades at that point,” Swinson says. “It felt like a staple in the community.”

Swinson says he’s glad Hunter-Gatherer still has its Hangar location, even if the South Main Street space is now part of memory. “I’m happy that they still have the hangar but sad I’ll never set foot back in the south Main location,” he says.

His connection to Aaron Graves, Those Lavender Whales, and Fork and Spoon Records runs through that same sense of community. As a teenager in Columbia in the 2000s, Swinson says that circle meant a lot to him and the community around those people and bands was something he hopes continues in Columbia and the surrounding areas.

For this session, Swinson performed “Learning to Fall” by Flower Shopping, from the 2024 EP Going Anywhere. He chose it because it shares themes he absorbed from that community, including growing and taking care of each other.

Catch Flower Shopping live at Art Bar on Saturday, May 23 at 9 p.m. with MIDS, Burrito Wolf, and MIDIMarcum.