Justin Townes Earle/Tristen; May 8, 2012; The Barrymore Theater

I’m a fan of Bloodshot Records, so I am always happy to see one of their artists doing well, and Justin Townes Earle certainly is. He’s moved up the list of Madison venues to find himself headlining a show at the just under a thousand capacity Barrymore Theater. I’m not a huge fan so it was probably a little strange that I went to this show. Surprisingly, I went for the opener, who happens to be a girl. I had seen Tristen and her band at SXSW, and really enjoyed the adorably petite girl singer. I even described her to a friend as being “twice as cute as (the New Pornographers’) Kathryn Calder. “Unpossible” he replied, and rightly so, but she was pretty delightful just the same.

I was running late and arrived at the box office just as they started their first song. Luckily everyone was waiting for JTE before they stood up so I was able to get close. At first I wasn’t quite sure I liked her as much as I had that first day of SXSW (after all, I did drink a lot that day), but by the third song she had won me over again. She had the endearing habit of introducing a song by either telling us what it was about in the exact words of the title or by saying something so cryptic it didn’t make any sense at all. The best song was the last, a ridiculously catchy number that saw her putting down her guitar and plucking the mike from the stand so she could pace around the stage and wave her arm in the air at the same point in the chorus. I believe that most of the songs in the set are slated for an upcoming record, so I’m waiting to buy a CD. Um, especially because I somehow managed to lose the one I bought at SXSW, it never made it home from Texas.

Once I told people that I was only there for the opener they agreed that she had been a very pleasant surprise, and inevitably asked if I was going to stay for the headliner. I’d paid twenty bucks so I was definitely going to stick around for a little bit. As expected, people filled in the standing room in front of the stage between the bands, enthusiastically awaiting Earle’s appearance. I hadn’t seen him in quite some time, so I was surprised how different he looked. Instead of the trademark suspenders I was used to which seemed to make his stickly figure even gaunter, he sported a suit coat and tie. His hair was longer and he appeared to be going for the Rhett Miller look. He seemed to be adopting a Miller-esque stage presence too, though admittedly in slow motion compared to the excitable Old 97’s frontman. He was funny and charming, and it sounded good too. It certainly didn’t change my life, but I’m glad I stuck around.

Tristen












Justin Townes Earle

Andre Williams & the Goldstars; May 4, 2012; Off Broadway, St Louis and May 5; Rock Island Brewing Company

Andre Williams & the Goldstars; May 4, 2012; Off Broadway, St Louis and May 5; Rock Island Brewing Company

I was working merch at the Bloodshot Yard Dog party during SXSW this year when the label manager introduced me to Kenn Goodman, Andre Williams’ manager. What he didn’t mention was that he is also the keyboard player in the Goldstars, Andre’s backing band, and that nobody calls him Kenn. After finding out I lived in Madison, Goodman, who everyone knows as Skipper, asked if I would like to do merch for their show the following Thursday at the High Noon. Since I didn’t have anything going on, and, more importantly, since I love to sell merch, I said sure. There was a good crowd and I sold a lot of stuff. After the show Skipper asked me if I would travel, and would I like to come to all of their upcoming shows.

I couldn’t make the two following nights, though it sounded like the show at the Hideout with Langford the next night would have been one to be at, but I was able to make these two nights just over a month later. I wasn’t lying when I said I would travel, what I didn’t mention was that I hate to drive. I bought a Megabus ticket to Chicago so I could ride with them. What I didn’t count on was that they would take two cars and that I would be riding with Ralph the bass player, Jason the guitar player and Alex the drummer, none of whom I had met before. It was a little weird at first, but they were super awesome guys and it wasn’t long before I got comfortable.

I had reasons other than a love of standing behind a table that motivated me to tag along this weekend. The first was that Ryan Adams is one of the sound guys at Off Broadway in St Louis. Not Ryan Adams the petulant singer-songwriter, but Ryan Adams former tour manager for Ha Ha Tonka. I’d spent a lot of time with Adams on both coasts and I was looking forward to seeing him in his hometown and meeting his girl, his dog and his moped. I stayed at his place that night and got to meet two of the three, plus got a terrific breakfast. The St Louis crowd was a little thin but very enthusiastic, and I think almost everyone there bought something. Williams certainly put on a good show. He sported not one but two dapper suits, changing out of the maroon suit and into a blue one for the encore. The man who co-wrote “Shake a Tailfeather” hasn’t lost much since then despite being in his late seventies.

He is also very entertaining despite the fact that he is a slightly creepy decidedly dirty old man. Songs like “Jailbait” and “Let Me Put It In” that were risqué when he recorded them sound even sleazier now. Somehow the man known as “Mr. Rhythm” and “The Black Godfather” can get away with a song who’s only lyrics are “Pussy stank, and so do marijuana,” the rest of the song is a catchy surf rock jam from his extraordinary backing band the Goldstars. The show was preceded by a showing of the documentary “Agile, Mobile and Hostile: A Year with Andre Williams” which illustrated how low he had gotten and how far he’s come back. Skipper asked after if it made me cry, I replied it might have if I didn’t know everything was OK now.

The show at the Rock Island Brewing Company wasn’t as big a success. I just don’t think the Quad Cities were ready for Andre. The crowd was even thinner and there wasn’t an encore. I still had a great time. I’ve wanted to visit the RIBCo for a long time, though I was slightly confused as to why something named “Brewing Company” didn’t actually brew anything, though the beer selection was stellar. In fact, the only disappointment was that we didn’t see any clowns at out hotel despite the fact that the sign in the lobby welcomed the Midwest Clown Convention.

I’ll definitely go out with Andre and the Goldstars again, maybe one of these days they’ll take me to Europe with them. I hear they are huge there.

Off Broadway, St Louis

Rock Island Brewing Company, Rock Island, IL

Great Lake Swimmers; May 3, 2012; High Noon Saloon

Over the course of five records the Great Lake Swimmers have gradually lightened up. The band has always specialized in moody, captivating songs, remaining interesting despite their hushed tone. Their most recent release New Wild Everywhere is their most up-tempo to date, and if it isn’t exactly music you can dance to, it is at least a toe tapper. The record had been out barely a month but they took the opportunity at the High Noon to showcase a lot of the new songs. The catchiest of these is the gambler’s lament “Easy Come, Easy Go,” a bouncy irresistible tune which is also their first single. While it doesn’t quite break a sweat, the title track also makes a case for their new image. Until tonight I didn’t know the story behind “Ballad of a Fisherman’s Wife.” Lines like “What if it happened in your backyard, what if it happened to you, I bet you’d go crazy too,” made more sense once he told us that the song was written about the Gulf oil disaster for the Waterways Alliance which is dedicated to protecting the earth’s water.

Smiling lead singer/guitarist and songwriter for the band Tony Dekker seemed genuinely pleased to be in Madison, telling us several times what an honor it was to be back. The band has played here many, many times since I first saw Dekker opening solo for Andrew Bird at Café Montmartre. Yes, Bird at Montmartre, which should give you an idea of how long GLS has had a relationship with our town. There have been many memorable shows over the years, including a show at the chronically chatty Montmartre during which you could have heard a pin drop and appearances at summer festivals the last two years. I managed to alternately embarrass and redeem myself at those by yelling too loud for “Imaginary Bars” which apparently caused the sun to come out on a gray rainy day, and then asking him to repeat it the next year. The only constant member other than Dekker has been multi-instrumentalist Eric Arneson whose electric guitar and (especially) banjo are key to their sound. The several songs in a row that featured the banjo, including the aforementioned “Ballad,” were probably the highlight of the show.

Dekker has always been masterful at selecting covers, Neil Young’s “Harvest,” Tom Waits’ “Innocent When you Dream,” the excellent Carter Family song they played last summer, and tonight was no exception. Tonight’s encore was Gram Parsons’s “A Song for You,” which worked beautifully as a duet with Miranda Mulholland who took Emmy Lou Harris’s part. I’ve said before that I find Mulholland superfluous, she has a lovely voice and is an excellent violinist, but most of the time I don’t want to hear anyone other than Dekker sing. Considering that I find Arneson to be the only necessary band member, I was surprisingly accepting of the new mandolin/guitar player. In fact, other than dreading the inevitable “this is our last song” for the second half of the set, I was pretty much happy all the way around. I love this band more every time I see them.

The Dirty Shirts; May 1, 2012; High Noon Saloon

Fountains of Wayne/Nicole Atkins; April 29, 2012; High Noon Saloon

The last time I saw Fountains of Wayne I was not impressed, granted I missed half the set for a volleyball game, but I felt like they really didn’t want to be there. Whether that was true or not, it didn’t make me run out and buy a ticket for the show this time around. I waited till day of to make my decision, only to find out that it was supposedly very close to selling out. Those rumors were exaggerated, but it was a good sized crowd on a Sunday night. The truly surprising thing wasn’t that it was a big crowd, no, the surprise was that they were so old. And I’m not talking old like I am, I’m talking thinking about retirement old. Apparently, the main crowd for the band whose biggest hit was about a crush on the mom of a schoolmate turns out to be not the kids from whose point of view the story is told, but their parents.

Fountains of Wayne started their career with a string of three nearly perfect pop records, their self-titled debut (1996), Utopia Parkway (1999) and the truly sublime Welcome Interstate Managers (2003). The records since have been hit or miss, I haven’t listened to the disappointing Traffic and Weather (2007) more than a handful of times, but last year’s Sky Full of Holes marked an improvement. It seems they agree with that assessment, because they picked their set list perfectly, leaning heavily on those first three records and picking the best from the new release. I couldn’t have been happier. The set included such great songs as “Denise,” “Leave the Biker,” “Bright Future in Sales,” “Winter Valley Song,” and “Little Red Light.” They chose wisely from Sky, especially since the sweet “A Road Song” name checks Wisconsin and Green Bay, while the cautionary “Richie and Ruben” may be the catchiest on the record. The ridiculously infectious “Hey Julie” from Interstate featured three audience members doing a very good job on the percussion that drives the song.

They turned their big hit “Stacy’s Mom” into a very different, lounge worthy version with crooning vocals from lead singer Chris Collingwood. Bass player (and co-songwriter) Adam Schlesinger remarked snidely that they would be playing that song at the Ramada Inn for years to come. The whole night was pretty great, but the song that made me the happiest was the ballad “No Other Place,” with its perfect line, “It may be the whiskey talking, but the whiskey says I miss you every day.” They ended the set with their first hit “Radiation Vibe,” and as I have seen them do before turned it into a medley of 70’s and 80’s classic rock. Guitarist Jody Porter, who I didn’t remember looking so amusingly Spinal Tap before, took several of the songs while opener Nicole Adkins returned to the stage for a verse of “White Wedding,” which was more interesting than her sleepy set.

Despite going in somewhat pessimistic, I didn’t stop smiling the whole night. Next time I won’t wait to buy a ticket.

Nicole Atkins

Fountains of Wayne