Concert Review : Graham Weber and Friends

Sep 23, 2010 Concert Reviews

This review is coming a little late, but better late than never, right?

A couple of weeks ago, I got the chance to spend a couple days taking in the Graham Weber Returns to Ohio Tour (Okay, I made the tour name up).

The first night was a Wednesday and my cousin and I made the three plus hour trip up to Kent, Ohio to see three of my favorite Ohio raised songwriters on the famed Kent Stage. It was my first ever trip to the venue and I must say it is as good as what everyone told me it was. Located right in the campus area in a brick strip mall, it was formally a theater. The sound was great and they had a well stocked bar to go along with a great atmosphere.

A good crowd of about a hundred people showed up to see Graham, Randy Horvath and Roger Hoover play on Graham’s first night back in Kent (where he started playing live) in almost five years. The crowd was very familiar with all of three performers which gave the venue a living room feel with great acoustics.

Taking the stage first was Randy Horvath. Horvath, who has not made any records yet, but possesses a voice that could stop any crowd dead in its tracks and he did not fail to deliver that kind of performance on this night. It was quite a treat for me to see him in a place that was not a bar atmosphere and a venue where that voice could really travel. He played for about 35 minutes and the set was filled mostly with unnamed originals. Highlights of his set included his opener, a song about headliner, Weber and his leaving Ohio to move to Austin a few years ago. This song is always good, but even more meaningful when Weber is present. Later in the set Horvath invited Graham’s wife, Michelle to the stage to duet on a Shawn Mullins song that I do not recall the name of. Towards the end of his brief set, Randy played two half songs about the relationship between a hooker and her pimp who eventually fall in love, along with the pre-song and mid-song banter explaining the story and the reasons why he was playing unfinished songs they were quite amusing.

Horvath left the stage and ten minutes later Roger Hoover moved in. Hoover who was the first person to give Graham the opportunity to play professionally has led the great Ohio bands, The Whiskeyhounds and the Magpies for the last decade or so. An amazing guitarist, songwriter and performer he always puts on a great show. Roger played a few songs I did not recognize and then went into one of my favorite tunes of his “Please Pick, I’m Calling” which chronicles his longing for his family while on the road. About midway into his portion of the show he played a version of  “Furry Lewis’ Blues” which really showcased his ability to play the guitar. He also had a “Pretty Lady” as he called Adam Simms, come on to the stage to join him. They did a great rendition of the traditional song, “Moonshiner”.

After another short break, the house system began playing the theme to Welcome Back Kotter, as Graham Weber took the stage. Donning a coat and tie for the special occasion, Weber immediately began to show that it was going to be a great performance. Leaning heavily on new material, he worked the crowd perfectly throughout the hour and a half set.

Early on in the performance he played songs from his upcoming album, Women, included a killer number co-written with Slaid Cleaves. One song that will be on the new album that stuck out to me was, “All About You” where the narrator tells a lost love that all of the songs, both happy and sad were always all about her.

A second album that was drawn heavily from was his latest live release, The Cactus Sessions. From that album he played, “The Way That I feel” and “Baltimore” both of which are personal favorites of mine. Early in the set he also played my request, “Tight Rope Walking” from his first album, Naive Melodies which he doesn’t play all that often. At one point he told an amusing story about some college hipsters he was playing for in a bar in Austin when he decided to start covering Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone” which he promptly launched into. He did a damn good version of it only flubbing a couple of lines which is amazing for anyone attempting to play one of Dylan’s novel like tunes.

The absolute highlight of the set for me was when Weber’s wife, Michelle returned to the stage to perform two songs with him. I have to say they sound damn good together. It is not a situation that you see so many times in the folk world where a spouse is brought out as a vanity show. Their voices blend perfectly together and the emotions between them could have been seen from a mile away. They began with, “Starving Days” from Beggar’s Blues and then did a show stopping version of Tom Waits’ “Hold On”.

The entire night was amazing with all three performers delivering A plus sets.

The following evening, I flew solo to Worthington, Ohio to see just Weber at a wine bar, aptly named, House Wine. The venue was nice and the atmosphere was good, but it was obvious they are early on in their show promoting. I do however hope they continue because it definitely has a the potential to be a cool place to see acoustic shows in the Columbus area which is sorely needed and the owner was extremely nice.

The set was very similar to the previous night, with a few nice additions. “Love and Money” was played, which has always been one of my favorites in Weber’s catalog along with a great version of “Brisket”. Once again, Michelle took the stage for the songs played the night before. The biggest standout for me was the story and song about Linda Ronstadt. The song appropriately titled, “Young Linda” is about Graham’s crush he developed on Linda circa early 70′s after watching a dvd of a performance of hers with Johnny Cash. If you do not own The Cactus Sessions this song alone is enough to order a copy.

After two nights of taking in Weber shows for the first time in two years, I came away with a few things. First of all he continues to grow and develop as both a songwriter and performer, getting even better each time I see him. Second it is only a matter of time before his career takes off in one way or  another. And finally I need to moved Texas because he and so many other people that I love to see play there every night.

The Pictures in this article are from the second night of the two and also we recorded a podcast with Graham before the Columbus show in the studio that should be posted any day now.

Tags: bob dylan, Graham Weber, Randy Horvath, Roger Hoover, Tom Waits

Concert Review : Tommy Womack

Aug 31, 2010 Concert Reviews

Everyone who performs live opens some amount of themselves up to the audience. With some it is a small glimpse with others there is a definite personal connection with all of those watching them. Tommy Womack takes the stage and precedes to take his heart out and place it on the stand alongside his harmonicas for everyone to see. It’s what makes every time you see him a special occasion no matter what the situation happens to be.

A couple of weeks ago I  drove up to the Spruce Street Studios to experience one of those nights with Tommy and fifty or so like minded music fans.

Arriving literally five minutes before show time Tommy walked to the stage and did the world’s fastest soundcheck and was ready to perform. That warranted mentioning because a completely road drained, rushed, and probably underfed Womack was about to put on the one of the best shows I have ever seen.

Right off the bat, Tommy set the tone for the night with back to back unreleased songs (this would be the theme of the night). The first I had never heard and I think the name of it was “Play That Cheap Trick, Cheap Trick Play”. It falls right in line with all of his other very introspective and personal songs that he has been writing throughout his career.

The second song of the night was “Bye and Bye”, a track he had played the last time I saw him. Centering around an encounter with an ex-lover in a grocery store, this is one of those songs that allows me and I’m sure everyone else to connect with Tommy. It laments what could have been at the same time recognizing that things worked out for the best in a jaded, sarcastic way that only Womack can deliver in song. I think any of us who still live in the same town with people whom we have pasts reside have had these exact experiences and felt the same way as the protagonist in the song, telling her “Please scan your damn items, please shove them in the bag and get on with the rest of your life”

From there the very long first set went through many of the favorites from There, I Said It, the latest Daddy release, For a Second Time and all of his other releases. Highlights included two epics in “Alpha Male and the Canine Mystery Blood” and “The Replacements”. The latter a personal treat for me because  I had never heard him do it live.

Two other moments really stood out for me in the first set. First he played “I Went to Heaven in a Dream Last Night” with just a harmonica and turned into a blend of beatnik and bluesman right before our eyes. The second was his reading from Cheese Chronicles his autobiographical book about his days in the band Government Cheese (more on them later).

After a very short set break Tommy took the stage again for what I thought would be a short second set. Boy was I wrong. The second half of the evening would end up being longer than the first.

Womack began tearing through the rest of There, I Said It (only neglecting to play two tracks from the album), Daddy’s debut release and more importantly a ton of new stuff. At one point it became obvious that this was one special night as Tommy started throwing out new song after new song. The standout to me was “Over the Hill” a song about he and his wife getting older together.

Somewhere in the second set, He played my favorite Government Cheese song, “C’mon Back To Bowling Green and Marry Me” with an added surprise thrown in at the end… “Fish Stick Day”. I was not around for the Cheese days but from what I have gathered this was a crowd favorite and it still gets a great response from the crowd as a much needed dose of nonsense. The Cheese songs have been finding their way into Tommy’s set lately in anticipation of the up-coming release of the Government Cheese box set.

This box set has been a project a few years in the making and it is obvious that it is close to Tommy’s heart. I for one, am very anxious to hear the results as it will contain all of their released material and a bunch of unreleased tracks. It should be hitting the shelves later this fall.

As the night began to wind down, Tommy busted out a few amusing covers in Helen Reddy’s “I am Woman” and Tom Waits’ “The Piano Has Been Drinking” (reworked as “The Guitar Has Been Drinking”). Also thrown in to the end of the  show was the always fun “A Little Bit of Sex” complete with Gene Simmons Sexual Savior story.

Tommy walked off the stage to the expected chant of one more. Never one to let the crowd down he came back to the stage and delivered a three song encore the highlight of which was “A Songwriter’s Prayer” and left again to a rousing round of applause. He quickly turned around and gave us all one more song before the show ended for real.

From start to finish this was the best Tommy show I have seen to this date. He sounded better than ever, and seemed extremely comfortable with the crowd. He did a great job of mixing up the set list with new and old songs and the delivery was superb. Tommy never lets me down as a fan, but this was definitely a special night one that I  was damn glad I took the night off work for. Look for the Government Cheese box set soon and if the songs he played that night were any indication an impending solo release that will rival There, I Said It, which is no small order because that is one of my favorite records of all time.

If for some reason you are reading this and don’t know Tommy’s music check out his website here. Also I took some videos and would love to say I will have them up soon, but if you have followed this site you know it will probably be awhile.

Tags: Tommy Womack

Concert Review : William Elliott Whitmore and Frank Turner

Aug 12, 2010 Concert Reviews

On Saturday August, 7 the wife and I went to Detroit to see William Elliott Whitmore and Frank Turner at the Magic Stick.  Detroit is about four hours away from our house, so it may seem a little odd for us to be driving that far to see the opener of a show. Luckily the show was more of a co-headliner affair and we both thoroughly enjoyed Frank Turner as well.

We arrived at the Magic Stick early in the day before the music venue was open. However, there was a bowling alley, bar and restaurant downstairs. We each had a beer and later returned for some very good food before going upstairs. The actual venue is upstairs and seems to normally cater to heavy music. When we got upstairs I was quite impressed with my surroundings.

There was a large bar that was easily accessible in the back of the room, a bunch of pool tables (that thankfully remained unused during the show), a large dance floor lined with chairs, and a decently sized stage. Wondering outside we found the most impressive part of the establishment. They had a rooftop bar with tons of tables and a cool view of downtown. Other notes on the venue: the staff was very courteous and the sound was quite good throughout all of the sets.

Taking the stage to start the evening off was Flint, Michigan’s Empty Orchestra. They were an energetic Rock n Roll band that seemed to be really happy to be opening this show. Their set was completely original material and they did a good job of getting the crowd riled up. The highlight of their set for me was a song about coming to terms with living in small town Michigan, and I’ll be damned if I can’t remember the name of it. I would certainly check them out again if they make it down to my part of the country.

After the opener, William Elliott Whitmore took the stage, much to our delight. We are both huge fans of Whitmore’s and after seeing him live my wife may be contemplating divorce.

If you are not familiar with Whitmore, you should be. The best way I can think to describe him is a strange hybrid of the, the grittiness of Tom Waits, the soul of Bill Withers, the rawness of Roscoe Holcomb, and the attitude of The Ramones. After all of that, my description doesn’t really do him justice. On Stage he plays guitar, banjo and mics his boot for percussion really filling out a solo set.

Whitmore quickly began his set, playing three songs on the banjo right off the bat. Included in the banjo portion of his show was a favorite of mine “Diggin’ My Grave”. After putting down the banjo in favor of the guitar, Whitmore really began to feed off the crowd.

At various times he commented on how much he was enjoying himself and how great it was that the crowd came to see him play. At one point he led the crowd in blowing across the tops of their beer bottles to create some kind of bar room orchestra. Another amusing point in the middle of the in between song banter was when Whitmore asked about the Tigers, who were playing a home game that night, and the crowd expressed their indifference. Whitmore’s response of “The hell with the Tigers then” was quite funny.

Throughout the show, I was interested to see Whitmore’s mannerisms, he seemed very shy and at the same time completely in control of the situation. I’m not sure if it comes from the fact that he hails from a horse farm in Iowa, but it seemed that Whitmore would have been more comfortable outside just playing these songs to a few people and not the 150 or so folks that were in front of him. Fortunately for us, he has decided to go ahead and play these songs on stage, because damn are they good, especially live.

During the rest of the set, he played songs from all of his releases while focusing on last years’, Animals in the Dark. The high points for me were a rousing rendition of “Midnight”, my all time favorite Whitmore tune “Hell or High Water”  and a crowd pleasing “Lift My Jug”. Also of note was his cover of “Don’t Pray On Me” by Bad Religion.

Whitmore had not only met but exceeded our very high expectations.     Over all we were completely happy with the hour long set and would have been well pleased had the night ended right there but, we still had another set to go in the evening.

I had never heard of Frank Turner prior to purchasing the tickets to this show. I did some research on him, finding out that he was from England and played a form of punk/ folk. He has been getting a lot of publicity of late in and around the punk scenes on both sides of the Atlantic. In addition to this tour he is scheduled to do a tour with Social Distortion and Lucero in the fall. I downloaded a couple of his records and liked what I heard even though this is not normally my favorite genre.

Despite the research, we were not sure what we were in store for. Well, out walked Turner and band. From the outset it was obvious that this crowd was full of Turner’s fans as they seemed to sing along to every lyric.

The most impressive thing I saw watching Turner was his complete control of the crowd. He was telling funny stories and engaging frequently in banter with those in the crowd. His energy was very punk rock, Bruce Springsteen. It was amazing. Turner was charming, talented, vulgar and seemed to be having more fun than anyone in the place.

He and his band ran through about five songs together with a highlight of  his song “Nashville, Tennessee”. His band then left the stage, so Frank could play some songs solo.

To begin the solo set, Turner brought a woman from the crowd to the stage to do him a “favor”. It was funny to watch as she stood not really sure what she was going to do but being thrilled to be on stage with him. Eventually he handed her a harmonica and told her she was going to play a solo. The ensuing song was high entertainment as he tried to get her to play into the mic and she eventually left the stage to a rousing round of applause.

Turner went on to play a few more songs solo before his band returned to the stage to join him. My favorite part of the solo set was a new song called “I Believe”, a tribute to Rock n Roll that he got the crowd to sing along to.

After reuniting with his band, Turner proceeded to torch the place with crowd favorites. While most of the songs were all new to me, once again everyone else was singing along turning the night into a party. Songs included were “The Road” which got perhaps the biggest reaction of the evening, “The Ballad of Me and My Friends”, and a punk rock infused spit in the face of aging, “Photosynthesis”  that closed the show and left me singing it for days.

As the band walked off, the crowd began the chant of one more song. Not wanting to let the fans down out walked Turner again. He then said, that because he had previously canceled a show in Detroit he was going to break his protocol and actually play an encore. Not only did he play an encore, it lasted four songs.

Needless to say, I walked away a Frank Turner fan. His energy level and just flat out fun songs had won me over and in the following week I have been constantly listening to his album, Love, Ire and Song.

We made it back to the hotel around one in the morning completely spent from the day and absolutely satisfied in the trip. I had a chance to talk to both performers after their sets and they were both quite personable. I am hoping to have both of them on the podcast in the future and videos from the show will be on Youtube as soon as I can get around to posting them.

Tags: concert review, Frank Turner, william elliott whitmore

Concert Review: Will Kimbrough

Jul 12, 2010 Concert Reviews

“I’m nobody, from nowhere”

Those were the the first words sang by Will Kimbrough last Thursday at the Spruce Street Studios in Columbus, OH. From that point forward we were in for an absolute treat. Armed throughout most of the show with his new Gretch and a looper, Kimbrough delivered the first solo Rock n Roll show I have ever seen.

The venue was a nondescript brick commercial building that looked like a very large garage inside. The vibe was very relaxed and the guys who promoted the show went all out to make everyone comfortable. It was a great listening room experience with a quality sound system and house concert feel. They have done a few shows over the last years and this was the first one in this new room and hopefully there will be many more.

I’d never seen Will live before due to the repeatedly inopportune timing of his trips to Ohio. After finally experiencing this show I am extremely disappointed that I had not been able to make it out before to see this guy live.

Will’s alien like abilities on the guitar are well documented but until you see him playing in front of you, you do not get the true sense of how damn good this guy is. I am now convinced that the understated and tasteful guitar parts he puts down on recordings are even better knowing exactly what he is holding back. Kimbrough is just a monster guitar player and that is putting it lightly.

Besides those guitar chops on display we were also given a three hour show full of great songs from Will’s catalog. I think with all the talk of six string skills sometimes the fact that Kimbrough is a very accomplished songwriter gets lost. Let me tell you, he does not let you forget it when he’s playing.

I did not keep a running setlist (I can post one after I listen to the show if anyone is interested) but I do remember the basics and there were some definite standouts.

As previously mentioned Will kicked off the night with “Nobody From Nowhere”, co-written with Tommy Womack, from the Daddy release, For a Second Time. From the same album, he played “Wash and Fold, a song I had overlooked for the most part prior to the show and now have a new found love for. Seeing someone live and hearing songs that I have heard numerous times and gaining a new appreciation for them is a phenomenon that will never cease to amaze me. Will accomplished that a few times that night.

Another example of that was the version of “This Modern World” he played. It was playful and intense. The delivery really made me sit and listen to the lyrics (which are by the way excellent).

Will also played quite a few of my favorite tunes from his repertoire. Entertaining a request from yours truly,  he did “Diamond in a Garbage Can” and while he did not pack the resonator he normally uses on that song, he did a fine job with it on the Gretch that he so proudly showed off during the show. Another favorite of mine from the Daddy debut was “You Made Your Bed”, a song that I have often times found myself listening to over and over again on the album. Will’s solo version became a sing a long rocker with the crowd and did not leave anything to be desired.

Other crowd favorites included an acoustic version of “Godsend”, the always ramped up “Yo Yo Ma” and the heart breaking “Hill Country Girl”.

I also have to mention the songs from Will’s latest solo effort, Wings. I have been quite taken with this album since its February release and Will seems to adapted them quite well in the solo set. “Three Angels” has become a favorite of mine and was fantastic live. The title track, a co-write with Jimmy Buffet was one of the songs that really hit you live. He played most of the tunes from the album during the show but the one that impressed me the most was the loungy, “It Ain’t Cool” a song written with old friend, Todd Snider. I was amazed how Will was able to keep that groovin’ feel to the song with the help of the loop machine on stage.

At the end of the night about 50 of us were completely knocked out by what we had just witnessed. Will played two full sets both stretching over an hour as well as a four song encore. I don’t think anyone really wanted the show to be over when it was including Will, who genuinely seems to enjoy what he gets to do for a living.

I always admire an artist who appreciates what they do and the people who come out to see them. Will was nothing short of gracious throughout the whole evening. He spent the time before the show, during set break and for almost an hour after the show signing things and just chatting with various members of the audience. I think everyone who attended came away feeling that they got more than their money’s worth for the night.

One final note, I was talking with a lot of the people at the show afterward and we all sort of shared a similar feeling. With the way Will’s career seems to be taking off (Will appeared live with Buffet, Zac Brown, Sonny Landreth and others on CMT Sunday night), this may have been one of our last chances to see him in such an intimate setting. While this remains to be seen, I do feel honored to have been there even though I arrived so late in the game.

After the show Will was also gracious enough to sit down and record a podcast with us which should be available here and on iTunes later this week.

All pictures taken by Lori Aliff

Tags: Jimmy Buffet, todd snider, Tommy Womack, will kimbrough, Zac Brown

Concert Review : Peter Cooper and Eric Brace

Jun 11, 2010 Concert Reviews

I spent my entire weekend last week enjoying the music of Eric Brace and Peter Cooper. I attended two shows and in between recorded the second episode of the Broken Jukebox podcast (which should be posted this weekend) with them. The weekend was great, I got to hear some amazing songs, spend time with my wife and friends, meet some new people, and catch shows at two venues I had never been to before.

On Friday the wife and I dropped off the kids and began the four hour drive to Louisville, Kentucky. Despite the heat and the traffic, the drive down was a blast. We listened to some fun tunes all the way down as we cruised the highway. We arrived at The Rudyard Kipling with about ten minutes to spare.

The venue was interesting looking from the street, it looked almost like something you would see in a film about the Alamo. It was a large brick wall with an opening that led around the building on a nice wooden deck to the side where you went inside. Once inside the place was divided nicely. You walked in and to the right to the bar which was open and pretty large. If you were going the show you took an immediate left to a closed off room with quite a few tables and a small stage. On a busier night this set up would have been great for separating those wanting to hear the music and those who were only there to drink. It also allowed for the venue not to lose bar patrons because of the cover charge.

The show opened with a local kid, Sam Hadfield, solo on an acoustic guitar. He played an entertaining set, considering that the crowd was very small and he was there to open. His originals were good, and he covered “Tom Ames Prayer” and “Stack-O-Lee” which is always a good thing in my book. The highlight of his set was the songs he finger picked on the guitar, which he was very talented at. I think the set was about twenty minutes.

After a very short break Cooper and Brace took the stage. I had never seen Eric Brace before, having only been introduced to him recently through their joint record, You Don’t Have to Like Them Both, that was released in 2008. I was however very familiar with Peter Cooper.

I was immediately enthralled with the show, they started out with “Wait a Minute” and the harmony vocals were completely mind blowing. If I took nothing else away from my weekend spent with these two it would be that they may have been put here to sing with one another. The set was filled with tracks off of their album, a few older Cooper tunes, Last Train Home (Brace’s band) songs, and some very good new material from them both. Unfortunately the venue had another show going on and their whole set was over in an hour.

Highlights musically from the Louisville show were, the new Cooper tune, which I think is entitled “Champion of the World”. It is an autobiographical story of him becoming a singer and his daddy being a preacher. Another highlight was the Eric Brace penned “Tranquility Base”, a song full of questions for astronaut, Neil Armstrong. The lyrics and the harmony vocals during the chorus of this songs gave me and my wife goosebumps. They ended the set with their version of a song Cooper co-wrote with Todd Snider, “The Last Laugh” from his album The Excitement Plan. I am a huge Snider fan, but I have to say I think I like their version of the song a little better.

We left Louisville immediately after the show for a drive that seemed much longer the second time around. Although the show was short, it was a great time for the wife and I to get out for the night and the music more than made up for the long drive.

On Saturday afternoon, Mr. Brace and Mr. Cooper made their way to my hometown to do the podcast ( I promise it will be up soon). We all had a great time doing that and I learned quite a few things about exciting topics such as the best lima beans in the world and the best surviving 80′s metal band.

In the evening, my cousin and I headed up to Columbus (only 30 minute drive) to catch the second show of the weekend run. We arrived at The Red Door Tavern about an hour prior to showtime. A much larger crowd turned out for this show than the previous night and the venue was once again great. The place has a great restaurant and Guinness on tap. What more could you ask for? Like the night before the show was held in separate room from the main eating area, but this time there was a bar in the room where we were. The show is hosted by a couple friends of mine, Bob Teague and Chip Kobe who modeled it after the listening rooms you find all over the country. This made for a great house concert feeling in a public place.

There was no opener on this night and we were treated to two outstanding sets of songs from Cooper and Brace. With no time limit the show seemed to be more relaxed, with the in between song banter getting stretched out and the set list very much expanded.

I think they played damn near everything on their album and delved deeper into their respective catalogs as well as breaking  out some other killer covers. There were so many highlights to this show that it would really make this column ten times longer ( I know I’m smashing 1000 words already). We were treated to a few more new ones that will be included on Cooper’s upcoming release, The Llyod Green Sessions. Also included in the set were new tracks from the yet untitled new album from the two of them.

Specific songs that stood out were a song about a famous door man in Nashville that Cooper wrote with Don Schlitz, “Hendersonville”, Brace’s song about Johnny and June Carter Cash, Last Train Home’s “Anywhere But Here”, and their covers of Bob Dylan’s “Tonight I’ll be Staying Here With You” and Tom T. Hall’s “I Flew Over Our House Last Night”.

All I can say is that if you get a chance to see these two together live drop everything and do it. I was totally blown away by their on stage chemistry, their song choices and most importantly the amazing harmonies that they delivered. Their album is great, but it really doesn’t do them justice when compared the live environment. Both these shows were like invitations to sit in their living room and listen in on an intimate guitar playing, song singing, whiskey drinking night of fun.

You can find them both on Brace’s record label Red Beet Records . Go to a show, buy them a drink and sit back and enjoy.

Tags: bob dylan, concert review, don schlitz, eric brace, johnny cash, peter cooper, red door tavern, todd snider, tom t. hall