Concert #194 - Newport Folk Festival (Various Artists) at the Greek Theatre (September 20, 1998)

Who would have thought that one day I could attend the Newport Folk Festival without having to leave the West Coast? Well, it happened, courtesy of some clever promoters who figured that it's more economical to bring a few musicians to Los Angeles, rather than fly five thousand fans to Newport, Rhode Island. The LA event was one of the thirteen stop of the touring festival, the first time such an unlikely tour actually took place. As it turned out, there wasn't much folk music in this seven-hour event, but we all had a grand time nonetheless.

This wasn't a typical Greek Theatre concert. The proceeding started at 3:00 PM sharp, with a short set delivered by Mark Eitzel, formerly of the American Music Club. He did not connect with me. Beausoleil's set of Cajun music was a bit longer, but just like Mark's set, it failed to grab me. Things weren't happening for me out there under LA's burning sun.

Then, as the theater was beginning to fill up, things started to improve rapidly. Bruce Cockburn, whose albums to this day I don't particularly enjoy, knocked me out with a powerful set that, as far as I was concerned, came out of nowhere. With his great songs, "Night Train" in particular, strong vocals and energetic guitar playing, Bruce's performance was a huge and totally unexpected revelation.

Bruce Cockburn's set list

Mistress Of Storms

Lovers In A Dangerous Time

Stolen Land

Night Train

Creation Dream

Bruce Cockburn

Richard Thompson's solo set was one of the highlights of this musical marathon. Not content with just playing crowd-pleasing old favorites, Richard threw into the mix three brand new songs from "Mock Tudor", his not-yet-released upcoming album. His passionate delivery of two of those songs, "Dry My Tears And Move On" and "Bathsheba Smiles" was something to behold and I will never forget how he kept the crowd of thousands under his spell with nothing but an acoustic guitar. But I was quite disappointed by the brevity of Richard's set - hard to believe, but the organizers had him on the stage for only twenty-five minutes.

Richard Thompson's set list

Sights And Sounds Of London Town

Bathsheba Smiles

I Feel So Good

The Ghost Of You Walks

1952 Vincent Black Lightning

Dry My Tears And Move On

Richard Thompson

John Hiatt was another huge revelation. In spite of his critical acclaim, I had had some trouble earlier embracing his recorded music, but his live performance that I witnessed at the Greek Theatre changed all that. Exuding joy and power, John made an instant fan out of me, and today, fifteen years later, I still am. I don't have a set list, but I recall "Thing Called Love" and "Cry Love" among the songs he played that night.

John Hiatt

Marc Cohn was yet another unexpected surprise. At the time of the show, I only knew "Walking In Memphis", his first hit, and I only knew it superficially. Marc's super-soulful delivery of that song took me by surprise and I've been a fan ever since.

Marc Cohn

There was no obvious connection between traditional folk music and the set performed by Bela Fleck & The Flecktones, but they were absolutely sensational. Individually and collectively, they were all brilliant. Bela was anything but an attention hog, as he gave plenty of time to his band mates to show what they could do. I was most impressed with bassist Victor Wooten, whose two extended solos brought us to our feet. Their high-tech songs, such as "Communication", were strikingly unconventional, yet instantly enjoyable.

Bela Fleck (2nd from right) & the Flecktones

Fronted by Jeff Tweedy, country-rock outfit Wilco delivered a surprisingly good set. Among others, they played "Christ For President" (music by Jeff Tweedy, words by Woody Guthrie). Wilco was yet another example of an act whose live performance appealed to me a lot better than their studio work.

Wilco's set list

 James Alley Blues

Christ For President

Hesitating Beauty

When The Roses Bloom Again

New Madrid

She's A Jar

Forget The Flowers

California Stars

Wilco

Surprisingly, Joan Baez was not given the honor of closing the show, as I had thought would be the case. Her set included a few songs from the repertoire of much younger artists, such as Ireland's Sinead Lohan and the Indigo Girls, the American folk duo. She also sang "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot". 

Joan Baez

Closing the show, Nanci Griffith delivered an outstanding set that included Richard Thompson's "Wall Of Death", with the author watching from the wings, and an exhilarating rendition of "If I Had A Hammer", which quickly turned into a sing-along. Nanci's performance was exceptionally strong, which made me forgive the organizers for having chosen her as the final act of the evening.

Nanci Griffith

Overall, it was a fabulous evening that opened my appetite for a number of musicians who had previously not connected with me.

Concert #695 - Aoife O'Donovan at McCabe's Guitar Shop (December 14, 2013)

Last night was my third time to see the lovely Aoife O'Donovan in action at McCabe's, but only the first time as a solo performer. Her earlier appearances there with Crooked Still and Ollabelle made a fan out of me, but I must confess that I was less taken by "Fossils", her first-ever full-length solo album. As a result, I showed up at McCabe's with a certain dose of mixed feelings, not really knowing what to expect.

Pronunciation guide: Aoife, an Irish name, sounds like EE-fa, with emphasis on the first syllable. Go figure.


Somewhat surprisingly, Aoife came out without any backup musicians and from that moment on, her gorgeous voice and cheerful personality carried the evening. She opened with a gospel tune that's at least eighty-years old, "Troubled About My Soul", from which she transitioned seamlessly into something newer, the self-penned "Lay My Burden Down", a song also recorded by Alison Krauss. The crowd responded with enthusiasm. The show continued with many songs from "Fossils", interspersed with numbers from other sources, such as Crooked Still's "The Lovesick Redstick Blues" and the traditional "Pretty Polly". She ended her set with "Oh, Mama", also from "Fossils", with full crowd participation. For her one-song encore, she chose to sing Doc Watson's "A-Roving On A Winter's Night". Overall, Aoife's performance last night at McCabe's ranks right up there with the very best I've seen there, and I've seen a few.

Aoife O'Donovan at McCabe's

Throughout the show, Aoife accompanied herself on acoustic guitar. She is not a guitar virtuoso, but her playing did not hurt her either, that's for sure. Funny thing, though: I loved each and every song Aoife sang last night, even the ones whose studio versions failed to initially excite me. After the show, while driving home, I gave "Fossils" another good listen, this time with radically different results. Reconsidering an album after having seen the respective artist in a live setting is nothing new to me and it may have happened to you as well.

Aoife O'Donovan having fun at McCabe's

Aoife O'Donovan set list

The unmistakable star of the show was Aoife's voice, a truly beautiful instrument. Singing seemingly without effort, she kept her audience captive for the entire duration of the show, about 75 minutes in all. There's no one out there who sounds quite like Aoife, and it's more than just the beauty of her voice: equally exquisite is her phrasing. There's plenty of soul and emotion in her voice, even when she brings it down to a whisper, like she often does. I liked her work with both Crooked Still and Ollabelle, but if you want a full helping of Aoife, then you must catch one of her solo concerts.

The evening kicked of with a forty-five minute set delivered by Patrick Park, an American singer-songwriter whom I had not seen before. I liked his guitar playing, there was a lot of variety in his finger-work. I also liked some of his songs, "Holding Hands" and "Blackbird" in particular. On the minus side, I found Patrick's delivery somewhat repetitive, as he used the same vocal and emotional approach to most of his songs.  

Patrick Park at McCabe's

Patrick Park's set list

Aoife O'Donovan (left) chatting with fans after the show

Patrick Park chatting with fans after the show

Concert #694 - Jackshit at McCabe's Guitar Shop (December 6, 2013)

Friday night's Jackshit Christmas show at McCabe's was my 30th time to see the Boys from Cochtotan in action, an occasion that came with a few firsts.

The band has had sellouts in the past, but this time around all tickets were gone two full months in advance of the show, a testimony to Jackshit's ever-increasing popularity. For the first time ever, a 10:30 PM show was added and it did not take long for the late show to sell out as well. Also for the first time, ticket prices went up to $24.50, the result of an invisible-yet-powerful force called "supply and demand". Still, the increased price is more than reasonable, considering the massive amount of musical pleasure the ticket buyers received in return.

To a noticeable extent, the addition of the late show had an impact on the early one: clocking in at one hour and twenty-five minutes, the early show was a bit shorter than any of the previous Jackshit concerts and that meant fewer blistering guitar solos as well as fewer surprise guests. As far as the expectations of the fans are concerned, last year's Christmas show did set a very high standard both in terms of duration - over two hours of musical bliss - and the caliber of the guests. We all sort of knew that it would be very difficult to surpass last year's veritable smorgasbord of stellar guests, among them Grammy winners Jackson Browne, Lucinda Williams, Dave Alvin, Albert Lee and Grammy nominee Richard Thompson.

Last Friday, the band remained faithful to their long-standing tradition of not announcing the real names of their guests, and by doing so, they managed to stump the music fans present in the room with two acts that most spectators had no clue who they were. It took some extra effort after the show to figure out the identities of the guests and to my huge surprise, I discovered that once again we were privileged to watch the performance of an artist who has not only a Grammy, but also a Tony Award to his name.

Introduced as Brother John, a rather shy-looking singer took the stage and instantly grabbed everyone's attention with his outstanding voice and singing ability. Brother John, it turned out, was John Lloyd Young, the Tony-Award-winning singer who embodied Frankie Valli in "Jersey Boys", one of Broadway's most successful musicals in recent years.

John Lloyd Young at McCabe's

John sang two songs, "Say No More" and "Can't Take My Eyes Off You". While no one had a problem placing the latter, it took quite a bit of research to discover that the former is a hard-to-find gem recorded by Roy Orbison in the late sixties. John's perfect delivery elicited an appreciative acknowledgment from Davey Faragher, who described John's performance as "classy shit".

Riding on the success of the musical, Rhino Entertainment released an album titled "Jersey Boys: Original Broadway Cast Recording", which in 2007 went on to win the Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album. John Lloyd Young's voice is extensively featured on the album - his version of "Can't Take My Eyes Off You", Frankie Valli's well-known hit, is also included.

John Lloyd Young (right) and Val McCallum at McCabe's

Introduced as three brothers and a sister who had just come out of a mine after having spent over three decades there, three unidentified male singers invaded the stage, teamed up with bassist Davey Faragher, and together, they brought great voices, good vocal harmonies and a touch of humor to the show. Alternating the lead vocal duties, they sang three songs: "Working In A Coalmine" (the Allen Toussaint-penned number made famous by Lee Dorsey), "Lookin' For A Love" (recorded by the Valentinos in the early sixties, with Bobby Womack on lead vocals) and "Mickey's Monkey", the often-heard hit song released by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles also in the early sixties. An equally unidentified lady singer joined the males during the singing of their second song.

The identity of these musicians was revealed to me after the show: they were none other than bassist Davey Faragher's siblings, who together with Davey, recorded a couple of albums in the seventies under the Faragher Brothers moniker. I don't know whether they still perform professionally, but one thing was very clear: they can sing. Sounding both soulful and funky, the delivery of their three songs can be described as flawless.

The Faragher Brothers at McCabe's

The Faragher Brothers at McCabe's

A few words about Jackshit, the band. They sounded great, as always. Val McCallum's best moments came during the playing of "Pretty Polly", an old favorite of mine. Pete Thomas' drumming was once again fabulous, especially during the final minutes of "I'm Coming Home", the old Johnny Horton tune.

The set list

As always, I brought along to McCabe's a few of my friends, most of them veteran Jackshit fans, but also a newcomer, Kevin, who happens to be the 111th person I have introduced to Jackshit's live shows.

My friends Eric, Kevin & Chris (from left to right)

Susanna & Kevin

The stage

Val McCallum's guitars

Concert #693 - Crystal Bowersox at McCabe's Guitar Shop (November 30, 2013)

I do not follow TV talent shows, so for all I know, I may be the only music fan on Planet Earth who has never watched the American Idol, not even a single episode. Accordingly, my introduction to Crystal Bowersox came a few years late, when her name showed up on the list of upcoming McCabe's concerts. As always, I did my due diligence by going straight to YouTube and  the videos I watched there were convincing enough to make me buy my ticket, even though I can't call myself a follower of the contemporary country music scene.

Crystal's set consisted of mostly her own songs, some of them co-written with others. Her brief encore brought us the only cover song of the evening, Kris Kristofferson's "Me And Bobby McGee". While pretty much following Janis Joplin's epic vocal arrangement of the song, Crystal added her own touch to produce a version that was easily the highpoint of the evening. 

Crystal Bowersox at McCabe's

It would have liked to hear a few more covers mixed in with Crystal's own songs - "Midnight Train To Georgia" would have been a great choice. Or a Patsy Cline number. Not that her own material was bad, but there were just too many songs I did not know. My fault, of course.

The songs that stood out for me were "Farmer's Daughter", "Someday", "Get Me Out" and "Amen For My Friends", all written or co-written by Crystal herself.

I was quite impressed with Crystal's voice, especially when her emotion and passion boiled over. Indeed, there was far more in her voice than just power and endurance.

Crystal's two-man band consisted of a lead guitarist who, strangely, goes by the name of Capital, and a keyboard player named Dan Reckard who can also play the sax. They also sang backup vocals.

Crystal Bowersox and Capital

Crystal Bowersox and Dan Reckard

Crystal's set list

Surprisingly, the sell-out crowd appeared to be a whole lot older than Crystal. About twice as old. I'm still wondering whether her appeal to an older crowd is a plus or a minus.

The evening kicked off with an outstanding set delivered by Seth Glier, a young singer-songwriter of considerable talent. Playing the piano and guitar with skill, Seth impressed me with his singing ability and well-crafted songs. The songs I liked the best were "The Next Right Thing" and "Man I Used To Be", both self-penned, I assume. The inclusion of "Wild Horses", the old Jagger-Richards tune, was a bit of a surprise. Sadly, Seth only played six songs, I would have loved to hear more. Throughout his set, he was accompanied by Joe Nerney, a blind musician who played the sax and sang backup vocals as well.

Seth Glier, picking up his gear after his set

Seth Glier's set list

Crystal Bowersox signing autograph's after the show

Seth Glier selling merchandise after the show

The stage

Concert #692 - Garland Jeffreys at McCabe's Guitar Shop (November 9, 2013)

 

Writing about Garland Jeffreys' concert last night at McCabe's is a daunting task, if there ever was one. Simply put, I'll have a hard time describing the mind-blowing performance of this rock & roller, who, at the tender age of seventy, can run circles around musicians who are half his age. Or younger.

I saw Garland for the first time last year, also at McCabe's. I went to that show not knowing what to expect and he just blew my socks off. Different situation last night, one might think, as I knew exactly what to expect, yet in spite of my much raised expectations, Garland's live act managed to once again knock me out.  I can't think of too many musicians in the "over sixty" category who are as vibrant, energetic and still relevant as Garland. And he sounds great, too - the quality of his voice is something to behold.

No better way to describe the pace of the concert than quoting Garland himself, who - toward the end of the show - told us that "We don't do any ballads anymore, there's not enough time left in life, a ballad is like a waste of time", a statement that served as a signal for the band to launch into a rousing rendition of "96 Tears", possibly the only cover song of the evening. Many of the other songs we heard last night were high-tempo and high-energy songs, soulfully delivered by the indefatigable Garland with frequent shouts of "hey".

Garland Jeffreys at McCabe's

Garland's set consisted of songs from all five decades of his career as a recording artist. None of those songs sounded dated. My favorites were "35 Millimeter Dreams", "Hail Hail Rock 'N' Roll" and "'Til John Lee Hooker Calls Me". From "Truth Serum", his latest album, Garland sang "Any Rain", "It's What I Am" and the title track, three songs that measure up favorably to his best material.

Garland Jeffreys at McCabe's

Garland Jeffreys singing "Truth Serum"

Garland brought with him the same band that delighted us last year. Just like then, these guys played their hearts out. While all four band members deserve kudos, I particularly liked Tom's drumming and Adam's guitar playing. Here's the line-up of the band:

GARLAND JEFFREYS' BAND

Adam Roth (electric guitar)

Charlie Roth (keyboards, mouth harmonica, backup vocals)

Tom Curiano (drums, backup vocals)

Brian Stanley (bass)

The set list

Just like last year, Garland told us how much he liked performing at McCabe's. "We love it here. Great place", he said. In return, the crowd gave Garland its full appreciation via an extended standing ovation and applause that went on and on. A couple of times during the show, while singing, Garland left the stage and walked into the crowd, shaking hands and hugging some of his fans.

The encore consisted of only one song, "Moonshine In The Cornfield", performed without the backing of the band.

Garland Jeffreys during his encore (with Tom Curiano standing by)

Adam Roth at McCabe's

An incredible moment took place in the venue's front room, after the show, when Garland duetted with a fan on "Christine", one of his songs from 1980's "Escape Artist". Following that, he signed autographs and mingled with his fans.

I went home totally happy, wishing and hoping that I'll get the chance to see Garland again sometime in 2014.

Garland and a fan singing "Christine" after the show

McCabe's Guitar Shop, minutes before show time

The stage