Concert #490 - April Verch at McCabe's Guitar Shop (January 9, 2009)

I decided to catch April Verch's show at McCabe's after having seen a few of her intriguing videos on YouTube. She hails from Canada. She sings. She plays the fiddle. She step dances. And she can do all of them at the same time. Clearly, this young lady is talented. Very talented.

Accompanied by her husband and percussionist Marc Bru, April played, sang and danced her heart out. At first, her show was both captivating and entertaining, but after forty-five minutes or so, her act became "more of the same" and when the concert was finally over, I went home with a slight sense of unfulfilled expectations. I wouldn't mind seeing her again as an opening act, but not as a headliner.

Marc Bru

And speaking of opening acts: the proceedings were kicked off by American singer-songwriter Brad Colerick, who managed to impress me quite a bit. His songs were great, without exception, and I loved his voice and delivery. What a surprise!

His best song, I thought, was "Juarez". Here's a live rendition of the song:

Concert #492 - Peter Rowan at McCabe's Guitar Shop (January 16, 2009)

 

Peter Rowan has been a favorite of mine for over twenty years now, and like the good fan that I am, I haven't missed any of his not-frequent-enough concerts at McCabe's. 

As if he didn't know anyone in LA, Peter came out all by himself and, accompanied by an acoustic guitar, delivered his first set with strong vocals and playing. He sang "Tumbleweed", "Panama Red", "Lonesome L.A. Cowboy", "Wild Mustang" and a new number titled "Two of a Kind".

After a short break, Peter came back for his second set, but this time he brought some company along: Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings, both huge favorites of mine! The crowd screamed with excitement and so did I.

Dave Rawlings, Peter Rowan and Gillian Welch at McCabe's (January 16, 2009) (photo by Roman Cho)

Their beautiful vocal harmonies and great guitar playing were something to behold. Together they sang "The Winds of Time", "Free Mexican Air Force", "Rainmaker" and a few more. Gillian sang lead on just one song, Bob Dylan's "I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine".

The three of them remained on the stage not only for the entire duration of the second set but also for their two-song encore. Talk about getting your money's worth!

Gillian Welch at McCabe's Guitar Shop in Santa Monica

Overall, it was an exciting evening like few others. How can one not love McCabe's?

Concert #597 - Jill Sobule & John Doe at McCabe's Guitar Shop (July 9, 2011)

This was the second of two sold-out shows at McCabe's featuring the unlikely pairing of two artists from different generations and different musical backgrounds. Yet Jill Sobule and John Doe got along just fine, as if they had been playing together for a lifetime. It almost felt like watching two old friends jamming in a living room, that's how relaxed and comfortable with each other they appeared to be. It's always the case: when the performers are having fun, so is the audience, and we all had a lot of fun, with great songs and good humor that just kept coming and coming.

The stage, photographed just before the show

Frequently alternating between various stringed instruments, both acoustic and electric, Jill and John played songs from "A Day At The Pass", their current joint album, as well as some of their older material. Jill was in perfect vocal shape and I was delighted to once again hear "Where Is Bobbie Gentry", "Good Life", "Mexican Wrestler" and "San Francisco", among her other songs. Watching her intense delivery from my front-row seat was pure joy - if you have not seen Jill live, you don't know what you're missing. John Doe was equally good. I enjoyed all of his new material, but what I liked the best was his punk-ish delivery of "White Girl", from his days with X.

I typically don't like the use of profanities on stage, certainly not by female performers, but Jill's use of the F-word in her "We Want Our America Back" was nothing short of hilarious.

Throughout the evening, Jill and John were accompanied by bassist Dave Carpenter. Toward the end of the show, local songstress Cindy Wasserman popped in for a song.

What? No roadies? Jill and John setting up before the show.

The set list

Jill Sobule and John Doe at McCabe's (July 9, 2011)

The show was opened by singers Sean Wheleer & Zander Schloss, with the latter doubling up as an able multi-instrumentalist. Although somewhat dissimilar in terms of their musical backgrounds, Sean and Zander combined well to play a listenable set of self-penned songs. Zander's use of the bouzouki added more color to their set.

All-in-all, it was yet another great evening of music at McCabe's.

Alan Kanter (left) and Wayne Griffith, with a combined 75 years of sound engineering experience at McCabe's

Window poster at McCabe's