what's that buzzing?

I’m going to work backwards through the musical portion of the weekend. The Eleven was at the Birchmere last night to see Steve Earle and Allison Moorer. I’ve seen him through most of his musical forays over the last decade and enjoyed them all. This was X’s first Earle show and she seemed impressed enough with his musical prophet songwriting and performance. I’ve read quite a few reviews of this tour and there are some unimpressed with his use of a DJ during the latter part of the show as he plays guitar and rolls through songs from his newest album; people want to hear the hard-rocking, loud Steve Earle and the Dukes…all the time. I’d disagree with some of the unfavorable reviews and put forth that his ability to shift between the pure acoustic presentation of his older stuff, some of which I’d never heard him perform live (Devil’s Right Hand and Ellis Unit One), and more modern sounds shows an amazing amount of flexibility and musical intuition. The show represented exactly what I expect of a Steve Earle show – professional, great songs, powerful storytelling, and political commentary. And now, my forward pitch into the abyss. Allison Moorer opened the evening with about eight songs primarily from her latest album, Mockingbird. At the risk of irritating Moorer, and possibly Earle fans (they are married…Earle and Moorer, not the fans), she is a wholly uninteresting solo acoustic performer. I could have heard that type of performance by any busker hanging around the World’s subways. Don’t get too wound up – there are some great buskers all across this great World. I just found her guitar playing, voice, delivery, and overall presence to be a complete blank slate – muzak to get me to the main event; picture an elevator where you’re staring at the numbers and counting floors until you can get off – I was counting songs. Since my primary exposure to her has been via video and live late-night performances with Steve, I had an inkling that she’d be much better as part of the later show when she joined him on stage for songs from Washington Square Serenade. That portion of the show, when she danced a bit and harmonized, were a much better representation of where I think her talent lies. Am I condoning here to life as a background singer? Maybe. Even though I love someone like Neko Case, who has a stunning voice, I’ve always been more impressed with her when she’s performing as part of the New Pornographers than when she’s done solo work. Sometimes voices and performers are like that and I’d put Moorer in the supporting role.

On Friday night my friend Sue and I hit the State Theatre to see The Gourds. This show was aces all around. Eight or so albums into their career and they just keep getting stronger. I’ve long posited that there’s nothing better than a live band that really knows its craft; the solo acoustic performer has a very tough row to hoe with any crowd. The Gourds are a five-piece, multi-vocalist contraption that runs you down the road of a crazy folk, bluegrass, country, rock n’ roll, and twang atlas. The sound they create is perfect salve for a long, hard week and they’ve mastered the live show – it’s not merely a CD recreation but an actual performance. They don’t wander down rabbit holes, they don’t make you wonder just how long you’ll be there, they don’t have poorly mixed sound, and they don’t make you think they’re just going through the motions. The State was perfectly suited to their show and the crowd was excellent. In addition to the Todd Snider show last year (a solo acoustic dealio, go figure) it was the best show I’ve seen since moving to the D.C. area in 2006.

I’ll give you a quick update on the doings at the farmers market and the U.S. Postal Service motto when we next meet.

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