WOW! What a great night of live music on Friday!
It began sedately enough at 8PM with the emergence of Allison Moorer from the deep shadows stage left. Accompanying herself with just an acoustic guitar, she led us through some career gems like 'Alabama Song' as well as choice cuts from her latest album, Mockingbird. Beautiful. At the end of her set, she said to us, the (mostly) rapt audience, "Steve will be out in just a minute."
Enter: Steve Earle. I've been a fan of this guy for about 20 years now and he left me reeling after a set peppered with a few obligatory reworked hits, a number of songs from his post-rehab albums and nearly the entirety of his latest album, Washington Street Serenade. Through it all, he played a variety of stringed acoustic instruments (6 & 12 string guitars, mandolin, bazuki, and a gleaming National steel) and harmonica while backed by a DJ for cuts from the new album. Yep, a DJ! Give the new album a listen and you'll understand. Ms. Moorer (or should I say Mrs. Earle no. 7) joined him for a few numbers as well. Abso-fkn'-lutely brilliant. Country boy turned southern rocker turned rootsy protest singer got me hook, line and sinker!
When this phenomenal performance was over, I rushed a couple doors down to one of the few small club venues remaining in the City. This show was a bit different from the one I had just seen. The guy I was there to see was one Scott H. Biram, the tour was titled, "The Hillgrass Bluebilly Tour", and was full of sloppy electric blues, howled vocals, and chugging, foot stomped rhythms.
Quite a night!
