| No. | Title | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Whatever It Was | |
| 2. | Think about You | |
| 3. | A Little Place in the Country | |
| 4. | The Prodigal Son (I Believe I'll Go Back Home) (Dock Boggs) | |
| 5. | Treat Each Other Right | |
| 6. | Ballingall Hotel | |
| 7. | Billy from the Hills | |
| 8. | Goodwill | |
| 9. | Poor Backslider | |
| 10. | The Ballad of Sam Stone (John Prine) | |
| 11. | Love Sick (Bob Dylan) | |
| 12. | If I Had Known | |
| 13. | China | |
| 14. | Betty Ann | |
| 15. | This Little Light of Mine (Traditional/Spiritual) (encore) | w/ Pieta Brown |
Reviews
| Review No.: | 1 |
| Source: | Richard |
| Last updated: | Saturday, March 05, 2005 |
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Namaste Y'all,
Another Southwest tour has come and gone like the blinding snowstorms and torrential downpours that flooded our dry washes and creekbeds; left a little dazed at it's beautiful ferocity and happily content at the nourishment it brought. Once again I can't express enough gratitude to Greg, Pieta, Bo, Mitch, Jon and Dave for making this run such a success and for putting up w/ my slinging yards of cable across two states. Thanks Y'all! After a good full day o work the Volvo raced me down to Cave Creek in record time. I was very excited to see this venue as they produce / share the routing of many of the same artists we do in Flag. Dave and Anita, the proprietors of the CCCC, have done an amazing job of putting a little sleepy ranch town outside of Phoenix on the national radar of touring musicians. The layout is a café when you enter, opening up into a restaurant which then spills out and over a large porch into a backyard blend of bleachers, fire-rings, hay bales and a low wooden stage. Corrugated metal and old barn wood encircle the amphitheater and embrace a large cottonwood tree, which upon tilting one's head back, permits a perfect panorama of stargazing and limb-swaying. The food is superb. Bless their hearts Anita and Dave fed me so well I still dream about the lineup: big hunk of fresh Brie and goat cheese w/ pistachios, strawberries and almonds, a divine smoked duck salad [hold the duck] and a vegan sandwich that was to die for. And yes you correctly noted the contradictions within that menu: I am a recovering vegan (fired up the dairy after 8 years with three little weeks in Italia/Croatia). The sound engineer Gus dialed things in nicely (an all JBL system provided a crisp, clean sound to match the night air). For most it was a tad chilly, but this altitude-attuned boy was digging the cool desert air; CCCC provided blankets and vertical propane heaters so I think everyone kept warm enough. Once again I was honoured to be in the presence of Lezlie, Lisa and Mimi from Toronto. My taping comrade Peter was also in attendance and got to try out his new Schoeps rig in the audience. Pieta and Bo looked a tad chilly when first taking the stage, yet after running through a number or two fingers and hands appeared to have warmed up sufficiently. Nothing new appeared in their list but each tune was delivered with an intensity that made it unique to this night alone. Bo bobbing and weaving like a trout on hook, Pieta reeling him in and letting out the slack to witness the dance. I admit to being a little spoiled and perhaps jaded when a performer doesn't mix up their spiel...but hey, it's their spiel and when played so well I don't care. It's noticeable when those of lesser talent than Mssr Ramsey and Ms Brown fumble through rigidly choreographed delivery. This duo is an obvious exception to my stereotype. Upon learning that Bo was on this tour, reclaiming his role as side-man, accompanist, electric-gun-slinger, telepathic-communicator, he-of-the-five-gallon-hat-dance my mind turned to the raw songs I longed for in his absence. The synergy of his emotion entangled and entwined w/ Greg's is what all legendary duos strive for: Ella and Louis, Mick and Keith, Chubby and Hubby. "Whatever" to open was a warm shot of brown liquor to ward off the cold. "Ballingall" was apropos in it's spooky delivery of creeping chords and wraith-like moaning. And "Billy" had the crunch that is at once threatening and comforting. "Goodwill" provided a needed mirthful release. "Love Sick" was a pleasure to witness and the proceedings came to a close w/ the one-two-three combination of "Known > China > Betty Ann" leaving us in wistful state of gratitude, contemplation and laughter. "Light" didn't emerge as a full-blown sing along as methinks most Phoenicians vocal chords were beginning to frost over ;) A vignette of ghost-stories unfolded at Lez's Gamma's casa [including the perennial fav's "The Hook" and the "Killer in the Back Seat" in which, respectively, a couple necking at Lover's Leap peels out after hearing about a jailbreak over the radio and returns home to find a bloody hook, separated form it's felonious owner, dangling from a door handle and the killer who is kept at bay in his would-be-victim's back car seat by a trucker tailing close behind and flashing his brights whenever the assailant would rise up to strike]. A scant few hours of sleep later it was rise and blur up the hill to Flag to put in a few hours work and such. The Berger is one of the most sonicly pure halls in the state of Arizona. Nestled amidst the verdant campus of a special school for the hearing and sight impaired it is an aural oasis in which I love to immerse. A sold out house was treated to another emotional set by Pieta and Bo, during which she regaled us of her time in Tucson and her first band (which took her middle name). Again, they were warmly received and it seems logical that her career trajectory will continue upwards. Standouts included "Crying Oh" [I don't know the real title] and "Red". Tucson's literary elite and denizens of the UofA's English department could be seen knowingly nodding along to the "Rexroth's" opener and were immediately schooled in the canon of Robert Johnson. "Turn" invoked the spirit of Rainer Ptacek with a haunted reading of bent chords and loping phrases. "Lately" and "Where" came back for seconds after Pinos Altos and were more than welcome on my ear and heart's pallet. Amongst heartache there is rarer a better companion than such tunes... I finally got my first "Verona" and was immediately transported into the grassy median of Wisconsin roadways from years ago. A coupla magical years were well-spent in Madison and I love it when memories are so strongly evoked when least expected. Spent the night at the promoter's sipping cognac and some bizarrely delicious Italian lemon liquor that got me in the right frame of mind to hear my first taste of Rainer Ptacek. His man was a genius and I am ashamed to have lived in the same state with him and never heard him until this past year. Please do yourselves and the world a favour and seek him out. A live recording [on my birthday] in June of ‘97 is a good place to begin. I have now found another missing piece in the evolution of blues; his progenies are the modern desert stylings of Calexico, Richard Buckner, Rum Tenor. And his equals? Well, they are in the pantheon of blues pickers: John Hurt, Fred McDowell come to mind. The next day he was all I listened to after KXCI's reception entered Jesus Radio-land during my drive back home. Phenomenal. And if you're ever in Tucson check out the sublime java at Café Milan, just next to the Fox Theatre on Congress. Damn good. The Orpheum wasn't as full as last year but thankfully less boisterous crowd. We are nothing but celebrants in this lil mountain town and admittedly get carried away. But we really do strive for my newly-minted saying, "The Higher the Altitude, The Lower The Attitude". The bar did produce a low murmur throughout the evening but the energy of the performance easily washed it into the background. This night had that honest hand-woven sound of _Over And Under_. I mentioned earlier the plugged-in-grit that I so desire from Bo and Greg. It was delivered by my hands down favourite pairing of an opener, "Shit" and "Gas". Set the altimeter to "high-altitude hallucinations" as the night got off with a mean, kicking start. My mind felt at times like the cinder-leached snowbanks along our streets: dirty and pure. The delivery of guitar picks and voice were emotionally engaging throughout the night, hitting a peak with "Smoky" a tune transformed into love found anew and regaling in the triumph of overcoming past defeats of the soul. "Funny Fellow" was quite scathing and I think is evolving from a kiss-off song into one that can produce moments of honest reflection in the listener's soul. The double encore [the only one of this mini-tour] beamed with appreciation. The past week saw Edgar "Preacher" Killen finally arrested on murder charges from the slaying of the three voter-registration activists in Mississippi in 1964. This was the eve of Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday. Lord knows trouble abounds in our lives and world. How poignant to close out the evening with "I Shall Not Be Moved". Take care all ye wonderful folk! Richard |
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