Concert Review : Graham Weber and Friends

Sep 23, 2010 Concert Reviews
Posted by Adam

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