Twangfest this year would have been a complete bust if it hadn’t been for Theodore. Sure, Sarah Borges & the Broken Singles were great, and Jason Isbell played the most entertaining set I’ve seen from him since he left the Drive By Truckers, but it all felt like “been there done that.” That is until the first band of the fourth night. Theodore was the only band in three nights of music that I hadn’t heard before that I liked. In fact I liked them enough that I gave lead singer Justin my card after their set, enthusing that they should come play at the house sometime. I gave my odds of actually hearing from him about 50/50, so I was pleasantly surprised when I got an e-mail.
My choices for show dates were the first three days in November. It’s nearly impossible to get people out for a show on a Monday or Tuesday, so I took Sunday, but only after Gina reassured me that her birthday plans were only for breakfast and maybe some early afternoon bowling before the Packer-Viking game. She ended up having an all day party at the Ohio Tavern and the game got moved to 3 pm, it quickly became evident that if anyone came to the show they would be drunk. Luckily the boys in Theodore didn’t seem to mind at all, playing a killer set to a handful of people.
They were even better than I remembered them being. Justin sings lead vocals, while the other three add harmonies and backing vocals. Even though only JJ had a microphone, drummer Jason and multi-instrumentalist Andy could also be heard, and many of the songs ended with all four harmonizing at full voice. The high and lonesome nature of the songs along with all four singing brought to mind The Band on more than one occasion. The second part of their intrigue was the bevy of instruments they utilized. Calling Andy a multi-instrumentalist doesn’t quite do him justice when he switched with ease between instruments as disparate as upright bass, banjo, trumpet and saw. The latter was particularly memorable, its haunting whine adding to the desolation of their songs. On the opposite side of the stage, JJ had guitar, lap steel, accordion and trombone at his disposal, all perfectly suited for the songs they appeared in. Not since Kullen Fuchs played with Ian Moore has there been since a menagerie in the basement. Perhaps even more remarkable was how quickly they loaded all of it in.
I was disappointed that my friend and best house concert patron Bill was out of town for work since he was the only one of our group at Twangfest who was as impressed with them as I was. Luckily my cousin Johnny was a more than adequate Bill substitute. I can’t count how many times he told me loved them, and despite being as drunk as Gina (who had to go home early) and his brother Frank (who passed out on the couch upstairs halfway through their set) paid singular attention to the music. Gina and Frank weren’t the only ones to make an early departure, much of the crowd who had come for the Achilles Heel drifted out before Theodore had finished. Still, in my mind, the show qualified as a success, if only because Theodore was as great as I remembered them.
Even though I adore Jeremiah Nelson and the Blueheels boys who back him as the Achilles Heel, I somehow had managed to see them only once before. Jeremiah had dismissed my absences, claiming they hadn’t played very well that night, not matter which night it was. After hearing him say the same thing about tonight’s show, I realized that he is a big fat liar because they were awesome. The songs I am so accustomed to hearing solo over a din at Mickeys work surprisingly well reinvented by the band. “Running from the Fuse” in particular benefits from the rock treatment, and made screaming “runnin’” back at Jeremiah seem perfectly natural. Gina questioning “why are they so good?” didn’t seem ridiculous at all. They really are more than the sum of their parts.
Jeremiah Nelson & the Achilles Heel
Theodore
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