| No. | Title | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Ever Since the World Ended (Mose Allison) | |
| 2. | Mose Allison Played Here | |
| 3. | New Home on the Range (traditional) | |
| 4. | You Drive Me Crazy | |
| 5. | Blues Go Walking | |
| 6. | Fat Boy Blues | |
| 7. | "My Ex Wife" | |
| 8. | Everything With You Is Sex | |
| 9. | All Of Those Things | |
| 10. | Smell of Coffee | |
| 11. | Corn Cob Blues | |
| 12. | Ships | |
| 13. | If You Don't Get It at Home | |
| 14. | One Wrong Turn | |
| 15. | Lullaby | |
| 16. | Kokomo | |
| 17. | Waiting on You | |
| 18. | Jesus and Elvis | |
| 19. | The Ballad of Sam Stone (John Prine) (encore) | |
| 20. | Whippoorwill (encore) |
Reviews
| Review No.: | 1 |
| Source: | Lisa Fraser (alfesq(AT)hotmail.com) |
| Last updated: | Friday, February 12, 2010 |
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Greg appeared solo and played for two hours on his old Sear & Roebuck Kay guitar from the 40's with a pick-up duct-taped to the front of the guitar, and it sounded fantastic. He played through a small amp which was, of course, miked and had a little reverb on it, but just a little. I talked to Greg after the show and he said that he had a hard time settling in, getting his groove going, until about three-quarters of the way through the show, but I'd bet $50 that he's the only one who could tell. I was sitting close and watching even closer and I could see that he missed a note here and there but he was playing so many that the missed ones weren't even noticeable. Truly, Greg's guitar work last night was sublime. If it's any indication of things to come, Saturday night in Napa should be ecstasy!
He started off with Ever Since the World Ended by Mose Allison and then told a story about when, early in his career, Greg was playing at a place called the Top Hat, which he described as a toilet, in Missoula, MT, and saw a poster of Mose and thought "Well, if Mose Allison played here, there's hope for me yet." He also talked about wanting to write a tribute song for Mose and how it couldn't be some sweet silly thing, considering who Mose is and what Mose writes, and then Greg talked about the time he played the Dingo Bar in Albequerque and how he came to write that tribute song, Mose Allison Played Here, which was the next song he played. Next up was something I hadn't heard before, and Greg didn't say the name of the tune, possibly Home on the Range (?) It ended with "we work and play and at the end of our day rest in the arms of our sweet Mother Earth." Very nice song, followed by: You Drive Me Crazy Blues Go Walking Fat Boy Blues I've heard Fat Boy Blues several times now and it still gets me rolling in the aisle. It was apparent last night that many had the same reaction. Very funny song. Then Greg did a talking blues number that referred several times to "my ex-wife" and which he called a little back-yard story. He seemed to be reading much of it off of the papers he had on a music stand there on the stage. (He had a great many pages on that music stand and did several songs from them.) He told me later that he wrote that story a couple of months ago. I thought maybe he had just written it that day... Next was: Everything With You Is Sex followed by another song I'd not heard before, which seemed to be: I'm All of Those Things With My Baby This song listed several sets of opposites - happy and sad, good and bad, old and young, smart and dumb - and I'm all of those things with my baby. Then he sang Smell of Coffee, after which he talked about how he used to write meaningful songs. Not this one: Corn Cob Blues. It was a song about working in the garden, a silly song, a dirty song, he said (har, har, har). After shuffling through the papers on the music stand, he said "Oh! I want to play you this old song!" and did Ships, one of the cd bonus tracks from One Night. That was sweet! Then we heard: If You Don't Get It at Home One Wrong Turn Lullaby (after which he asked "How's everyone doing? Anyone still awake? See, now, if I was a good lullaby singer, you'd all be asleep!") Kokomo So, then he asked if you've ever known someone who couldn't make a decision? About anything? About dinner? About a chair? About you? He said he wants to read Dante but he can't find a good translation so thinks he may have to learn to read Italian because he really wants to read Inferno to find out if there's a special circle for people who can't make up their minds, and then he sang Waiting On You. He ended the set with Jesus and Elvis. Encore: Sam Stone (John Prine) Whippoorwill Fashion report: Blue long-sleeve v-neck sweater brown slacks brown leather loafers with red socks plaid hat and sunglasses Greg was in good voice, in a good mood and, as reported above, put on a really good show last night. If you get a chance to see him on this tour, don't miss it. |
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