Superband (Blake Thomas, Jeremiah Nelson, Josh Harty & Chris Sasman)/Jeremiah Nelson & the Mysterious Bruises; December 12, 2008; Peabody’s Ale House, Oshkosh

I’ve seen this trio of songwriters many dozen of times each, but this was my first encounter with the Superband. While Chris Sasman sits behind the drums, each takes a turn at the mike while the other two take over bass, lead guitar and backing vocal duties. . I’m not sure what prompted them to start playing in this arrangement, but it works surprisingly well for each of them. Perhaps it was an offshoot of the Classic Tawnies who Jeremiah has sat in with from time to time, or perhaps just a logical progression from the time all three have put in down at Mickey’s every Tuesday.

Jeremiah started the night with his Mysterious Bruises to get the crowd warmed up. One of the many combos he has put together since I have known him, the Bruises have become my favorite simply because they are the vehicle for the flood of new songs he has written recently. More folky and specifically more Dylan-y, the songs definitely flourish with the addition of upright bass (Matt Donoghue) and violin (Shawn Drake). Fox Valley resident Willy Schultz, a jazz guitarist, also joined them tonight, adding a new element to the mix.

Blake Thomas was first up. Unless this is your first time here, you already know that I have probably seen Blake more than I’ve seen anyone else and it is very possible no one has seen Blake more than I have. Yet this was one of the best sets I’ve seen him do. With Josh on lead guitar and backing vocals and Jeremiah on bass, the songs sounded as good as I have ever heard them, aside from perhaps the time he played Chris Waggoner and Mary Gaines’ Mad Toast Live with Adam Davis and Shauncey Ali alongside him.

I’ve always preferred Josh’s songs solo where I can appreciate his phenomenal guitar playing and seriously amazing finger picking, things which tend to get buried under a band. But now it would seem that I have never seen him with the right band before. Jeremiah is a killer lead guitar player; in fact, I had no idea he could play like that, and Blake knows these songs almost as well as his own. Probably not coincidentally, this was also the most fun I’ve seen Josh have playing with a band.

Midnight marked the start of Jeremiah’s birthday, and despite the fact that he started celebrating before its official beginning he also had a really good set. Since the new songs have become the domain of the Mysterious Bruises, and rightly so, the material under the Patchwork moniker is now covered by this band. This is definitely a good thing, as much as I adore new songs like “Daisy Chain” and “Floodplain,” I would miss the songs from Carry Me Down the Interstate with its Stone Temple Pilots homage “Interstate Love Song 2,” and his debut EP Work and Worry. Sure it was getting a little sloppy toward the end, but since we were bumping up against bar time by this point, who wasn’t getting sloppy?

I see these guys all the time, but it was worth a drive to Oshkosh to see the Superband.

Blueheels/Fever Marlene/Cameron McGill & What Army; December 11, 2008; High Noon Saloon

Cameron McGill believes that anything worth saying once is worth saying many many times. A writer of undeniable hooks and catchy melodies, he often latches onto an idea like a puppy with a chew toy and shakes every bit of meaning out of the words before he lets it go and takes a nap. It’s great to hear a word as distinctive as “beholden” in a song; it is less somewhat less great to hear it a dozen times. A new song takes the word counterfeit and applies it to every situation until it’s lost its meaning. But it’s like Catfish Haven and their “babies,” for some reason I would rather see them and poke fun than avoid them all together. I guess that’s because at the end of the day, beneath the silly outfits (the bandanna around the head only works if you are Neil Young) and the repetitive songs, McGill is a talented guy with a great voice and a knack for a good pop tune. Someday he’s probably going to write my new favorite song, and I am going to want to hear it.

For now though, it helps that he enlists some very talented musicians to make up What Army. The Wandering Sons Dan McMahon is frequently on the roster, and his gorgeous backing vocals and ability to play anything with strings increases the value of any project he participates in. Drummer Darren Garvey is rock solid behind the kit, and oh yeah, totally adorable.

I’d put Fever Marlene up against any two man band playing today. Their basic guitar and drums sound is buoyed by the addition of bass pedals that lead singer Scott Starr plays with his feet. His harmonies with drummer Kevin Dunphy go a long way toward filling the sound out into something much bigger. Their new record White China written and recorded last January at New York’s Chelsea Hotel mellows out the pop punch of Civil War. It’s a good enough record, but it’s the songs from their debut that still stand out live. “When Daniel Goodings Made it Rain,” “Mad Woman” and “All the Kites in the World” are always my live favorites and the ones that first grabbed my attention years ago at the King Club.

Despite having a good Madison following (unusual for a Milwaukee band), FM has not had good luck at the High Noon. “Every time we play here our equipment breaks” Starr said, effectively apologizing in advance, “hopefully that won’t happen tonight.” It’s true, the first time I saw them there his amp caught fire. OK, so there weren’t actually any flames, but there was enough smoke and a lingering acrid burnt smell to not fault them for calling an early end to that set. Tonight the worst thing that happened was a cartoonishly drunk girl getting on stage and attempting to dance with Starr as he played. While she did come dangerously close to tripping over the sprawl of equipment in front of him, she managed to avoid breaking anything.

By this time we were a bit rocked out and were content to retreat to the back of the bar and watch a typically energetic and entertaining Blueheels set leaning on the pool table. Surprising as it might be, I don’t always need to be right up front to enjoy a show.

The Classic Tawnies; December 8, 2008; Crystal Corner

Alex Chilton/Grant Hart; December 7, 2008; Turner Hall

The Turner Hall that we walked into tonight was quite a bit different than the scene I walked into my first time there. Back in September the room was dark and the ancient, charmingly uneven ballroom floor half full with people pressed up against the stage for the British band James’s first tour in eight years. Tonight we walked into an almost empty room with only candle-lit tables dotting the floor from the stage to the sound board. In case no one else showed up, we took a table right in front of the stage just off of center. As it turned out we didn’t need to worry, the room was respectably full and a few other brave souls had joined us in the front row by the time opener Grant Hart (best known as Husker Du’s drummer) took the stage for his sloppy but undeniably entertaining solo opening set (which thankfully included the awesome “Books About UFOs”).

I had seen Alex Chilton on several other occasions, for every charmingly naïve set (like the one at the Barrymore opening for the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion where he feigned ignorance of the popularity of That 70’s Show and the fact that a cover of Big Star’s “In the Street” was its theme) there was a less pleasant experience (like the Club Tavern show just after the 2000 release of Set where he wouldn’t play any requests, and the audience was equally unreasonable shushing anyone who dared speak). Granted, I don’t blame him for occasionally having a hostile relationship with the audience. If someone repeatedly yelled for “oldies” and more specifically “Wooly Bully” after I played my classic “The Letter” there’s no way I would have ever given in and played it. But he did do that at a long ago show at Milwaukee’s waterfront Veteran’s Park during Maritime days. Thank goodness that silly girl wasn’t here tonight.

The last time I saw Chilton was a Big Star reunion show in St Louis where he did his best Mr. Rogers’ impersonation, wearing a cardigan and being all neighborly. Tonight he was once again dressed like someone’s father with a white turtleneck and a warm looking sweater (which he unfortunately took off halfway through). As in the past he showed he has a great appreciation for a well-chosen cover. A long ago hit from a forgotten label (the name of which I of course forgot), a cover of the Italian classic “Il Rebel,” and “Michael Jackson’s greatest song” (which he claims is “Rock With You,” I’d have to go with “Billie Jean”) all dotted his too short set amidst the few Big Star songs and of course “The Letter.” His able, all-business rhythm section followed his lead without ever calling attention to themselves. It seemed he had just gotten started when he bid us good night, returning only for a cover of “Maybelline” for the encore. In a set this short I couldn’t help but I wish he had played more of his own material and less of other people’s, no matter how well he did them.

The Old Tin Can String Band featuring the Music Makers; December 7, 2008; High Noon Saloon

It's been awhile but I covered this show featuring the little fiddlers of the Music Makers program for The Daily Page.

You can read it here
http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=24529

Denison Witmer/Ben Weaver; December 6, 2008; The Frequency

I’ll admit I wasn’t blown away by Ben Weaver the first time I saw him. Still in awe of Dietrich Gosser’s opening set that night, I couldn’t figure out why Bloodshot had signed the unimpressive singer-songwriter with the forced sounding rhymes and the tedious songs. Then I listened to his record (of course I have it, he is on Bloodshot), and something clicked. I’m not sure what exactly, but something did. The rhymes that were corny on first listen were less so the next time and clever the next, while his hypnotic voice drew me in to the stories he was telling. Like Richmond Fontaine leader Willie Vlautin or Giant Sand’s Howe Gelb, the voice he sings it in matters as much as what he is saying.

So when I found out that he had been added to the Denison Witmer show at the Frequency, I decided to give him another chance live. This time he was opening the show, so I was certainly less biased than I had been during the previous encounter. With a second show scheduled at the Frequency that night I should have known that it would start on time, still I was disappointed to learn when I arrived at 7:07 that he was on his third song. He had just laid down the banjo, but fortunately picked it up again later. His first release for Bloodshot, The Axe in the Oak, is his fourth release overall so he had plenty of material to draw from for his short set. And I guess it is no surprise that I really liked him this time. The fact that he said he had “CDs, T-shirts, and hugs if you need one” was perhaps the most adorable thing I’ve heard this year. I could attribute it to being more familiar with his material, or that it was a solo set as opposed to band, but really I have no idea. But what does it matter? I’ve been converted.

Denison Witmer had a little less work to do, he only had to overcome my opinion of his MySpace stuff which I found samey and a tad boring. Another lesson in why you shouldn’t judge a band by their MySpace. Live he proved to be an engaging storyteller’s songwriter as he shared the thoughts behind many of his songs. A virtual chatterbox compared to Weaver’s quiet set, he kept talking despite the cold that limited his voice. He explained that he had learned that clearing your throat was the worst thing you could do, that instead you should eat crackers or drink liquor. In light of the situation he decided the latter would be better. “If I get any sicker,” he joked, “I’ll need a driver.”

A former Madison resident, he had a number of friends and fans in the crowd which amounted to a pretty full room for an early show. He crowd was quiet and appreciative of his stories and his songs, which is always welcome at solo acoustic shows like this. He was consistently charming during his set, but perhaps never more so than when he commented that he had T-shirts for sale, “I couldn’t stand the idea of putting my name on my T-shirts, so instead I just put the name of the album on there.” Though they aren’t going to help with his name recognition, the arty shirts for Carry the Weight will at least make the record name known.

Dear August/Tim Easton/Jentri Colello/Josh Harty; December 5, 2009; High Noon Saloon

Tim Easton is supposed to be on tour with the Sadies. Their first show together was the night before in Chicago, and it apparently went quite well. Then the Sadies packed up their stuff and went to record with Neil Young, canceling their next two gigs. While I understand that this may be a once in a lifetime opportunity, it did leave Easton in a bit of a bind, not to mention the promoters in both cities. Tag was visibly glum as he sat at the end of the bar at the High Noon watching a much smaller than expected crowd take in the show which had been expanded to include a Josh Harty solo set early in the evening and Dear August at the end of the night. Not that there was anything wrong with this idea, but most folks I know were actually looking forward to an early evening and getting home reasonably early.

Oddly enough, it had been several years since I had last seen Easton. In fact, the only time I had seen him since he played my first real house concert back in April of 05 was a short set at Twangfest a few years back. Other than some (adorable) grey in his beard, he hasn’t really changed much since I first met him many years ago. Tonight, rather than do his standard acoustic solo set, he seemed to sense the people were looking for something a little more rocking and recruited Dear August drummer Tyler Applegate to back him up. The arrangement worked surprisingly well. Despite never having played most of the songs before, Tyler fell into an easy groove with Easton, taking his simple instructions and making the most of them. Easton made the set even a little more rock & roll by borrowing an electric guitar from the closing band, and jamming on that until he broke a string. He was obviously disappointed, commenting that he had really started to like that guitar.

He switched back to his acoustic and finished the set, keeping Tyler up there for all but one song, the pretty “Carry Me” (quite possibly the song that made me fall in love with his sophomore record The Truth about Us). While he made the most of having a drummer for rockers like “Just Like Home,” he mysteriously saved live favorite “Lexington Jail” for “later.” It turns out that Dear August cover that song, in addition to the sad character study “John Gilmartin,” and they were quite obviously delirious to get a chance to play the songs with him during their set. Rather than let him go after that pair of songs, the set turned into a bit of a Dylan jam session as they played seemingly every Dylan song they knew. And there were quite a few, since Dear August plays the Dylan celebration in Spring Green every year and has been featured as part of Tex Tubbs birthday bash.

They aren’t the only Madison band who covers Easton. Though I’m sure I certainly would have met Josh Harty by now, I ended up meeting him the very first night I saw him play when “Carry Me” showed up in the middle of his set. I couldn’t resist going over after his terrific set and commenting on the song, mentioning that I knew Easton. That was nearly four years ago. I had to smile during his opening set when he told the story of the first night he played the High Noon shortly after moving here from Fargo and getting busted by a girl who knew that wasn’t his song.

It’s a shame the Sadies weren’t there to see how much Madison loves Tim Easton.

Crane Your Swan Neck/The Daredevil Christopher Wright/Jeremiah Nelson & the Mysterious Bruises; December 4, 2008; Café Montmartre

Jeremiah Nelson has been taking some flak over the name of his new band. It seems some folks claim that it hints at domestic violence. C’mon, everyone knows exactly where those bruises come from. For me it’s a description of every bruise I’ve ever had. No matter what you think of the name you’d be hard pressed to come up with a better band to showcase the new songs he’s been writing. A flurry of Dylanesque new tunes have been showing up in his sets at Mickey’s since he took over Robby Schiller’s spot in the line-up. On occasion fiddler Shawn Drake has joined for these loose sets, but this was the first time I had seen upright bass player Matt Donoghue. He’s talking about adding a drummer which seems unnecessary until you learn that he’s been talking to Dan Kuemmel (who plays with Dietrich Gosser) who would be an AMAZING addition.

While songs like “The Daisy Chain” and “Run on Sentence” hint at hours spent listening to Dylan, “Waiting for a Sign” calls to mind a different classic, the Classics IV to be exact and their original “Spooky.” In fact, it doesn’t specifically sound like that song as much as it sounds like how Jeremiah would cover that song. That’s a good thing in case you were wondering. While I’ve always thought Jeremiah was a talented songwriter, these songs and this band are the best thing he’s done. When I admitted as much to him, he confessed winkingly that he had written them all for me. That’s certainly one way to get a good review.

The first thing I heard about the Daredevil Christopher Wright was that they shared a hometown with overnight sensation Bon Iver and that he was producing some of the tracks on their next record. While that information may excite some people, I’ve never quite figured out exactly what’s the big deal about him. I’ve given the multiple year-end best-of list-dweller For Emma Forever Ago many a chance, and I’ve never found it to be anything other than sleepy and pedestrian. Still, if Andy Moore liked them enough to have them on his 30 Minute Music Hour, the least I could do was let go of my prejudice for thirty minutes and watch their show. And hey, guess what, I liked it.

Though I will say I am not sure it is for everyone. The two geeky brothers and their friend don’t exactly look like rock stars, in fact, the boys look more like your average Biochemistry grad student. Three part, mostly falsetto, harmonies dominate every song, but for some reason they don’t grate on me the way Fleet Foxes (also on most best of lists) myriad of voices did the inexplicable three times I’ve seen them. Maybe because DCW never sounded like they were about to burst into the Eagles “Seven Bridges Road.”

Instead they sang deceptively simple songs about, um, cancer and back injuries and lots of things including their namesake who appears to be a fictional character. I bought their four song EP which I will probably never listen to. No insult to them, I just don’t like EPs. But I will be sure to pick up their full-length when it comes out sometime in 2009. And I’ll certainly go see them again next time they are in town.