(no subject)
Setup:
Venue: Cactus Theater
Capacity: 400 people according to the sign on the wall. We were eighth row center.
I now have a crush on Bruce Robison. I never thought anything much about him in pictures, but he has an incredible charisma in person. And holy shit, he's tall. He's got to be somewhere in the neighborhood of 6'4" And he has really nice eyes, which I will come back to.
So you have a point of reference. Stolen from someone online and reposted here.
Now, one thing about Bruce Robison is that even if you've never heard of him, you've probably heard a bunch of his songs, because he's written a ton. Travelling Soldier (recorded by the Dixie Chicks, though I like Robison's version better), Angry All the Time (Tim McGraw -- and yes, mock me, because I actually like McGraw's version. Heartbreaking song, particularly since Robison apparently wrote it about his first marriage), Desperately (George Strait), etc. Anyway, the crowd was very favorably disposed toward him, and really quite excited.
Started off slow, but built fast. Played a bunch of tracks from his newest album (most of which you can hear if you go to www.brucerobison.com) High points: Virginia, All Over but the Cryin', and You Really Let Yourself Go. But he knocked it out of the park with Don't Call it Love. Absolutely freakin' amazing. I *heart* this song.
And then there was an intermission. And Robison said he was going to be in the lobby to 'shake everyone's hand.' Since I had been so impressed by the album, I decided I had to buy it before I left, so I went out to buy it, and just then Robison came out to shake hands and sign CDs -- so I said what the hell, and got in line. And he signed the CD to me very nicely and was very gracious. And just before I walked away, I said thanks and looked him right in the eyes. And good heavens, the man has pretty, pretty eyes. They are deep, dark, smiling eyes. Hence the newly developed crush.
Intermission
Let me start by saying that I've loved Rodney Crowell since I first heard his Walk the Line Revisited song, and the feeling only got stronger when I got his Houston Kid album, which, as far as I'm concerned, is a masterpiece. And a large part of the reason that I love the album so much is because it is about my home. Or as close to it as you can get. The songs are primarily about the people and places he knew growing up on the East side of Houston, and even though the album delves into a lot of dark and sad subjects, it reminds me of home.
In fact, I think Crowell's lightness in the face of crushing emotion is what amazes me. He has a frankness in his music that you don't find too often in any genre. Case in point: His first grandchild was born very recently. He played a song that he wrote for said grandchild about her grandmother (Crowell's first wife) and how she drank herself to death. And in typing that out, I realize that it sounds horrible. But it wasn't. It was somehow both beautiful and brutally honest.
So, since The Houston Kid, Crowell has put out two more albums, both amazing. The set was a wonderful mixture of these three most recent albums and some older standards (which ran at least an hour and 15 minutes, maybe even 1 1/2 hrs.). But my favorite part of the show was when he got to storytelling. He told stories of how the mosquito foggers in the summer spurred the song Telephone Road (which is my childhood, particularly the line "barefoot heathens running wild and free." ). When it became clear he was setting up to play this song, I started punching Craig over and over on his arm because I was so excited, because when we got there, I specifically mentioned how amazing it would be if he played it. So I was sitting in my seat very happily when he played it.
Then he jumped into a pair of songs that are about twin brothers he knew as children. And apparently he had heard from his mother that one of them was HIV positive, so he was thinking about it, and wrote I Wish it Would Rain from the POV of the HIV positive twin, and Wandering Boy from the POV of the other twin. Amazingly powerful.
Then he did Walk the Line Revisited (which is the song Craig was most excited to hear), and his guitar player, Will Kimbrough ( http://www.willkimbrough.com/ -- an artist in his own right) did the part that was sung by Johnny Cash (for those who've never heard the song, it's the story of when he first heard the song, and part of the chorus repeats the lyrics of the original song.). It was pretty impressive. And Crowell was telling the story of the first time he heard Walk the Line, and he said "You know, later in life, when I was reading stories about alien abduction, I realized that that's what the song had done to me." It was pretty funny.
And they started to wrap up, and he introduced the band. The drummer (a young kid, maybe 19 or 20) was wearing a skirt. Apparently just before the show, Crowell told him he'd pay him double if he wore the skirt on stage. So he did. It was a pretty funny image, because the kid was otherwise dressed in baggy urban hip-hop attire.
They finished up by playing my favorite song of all by Rodney Crowell -- I Know Love is All I need -- which, as Crowell explained it, was a song that he dreamed.
It was one hell of a show.
Venue: Cactus Theater
Capacity: 400 people according to the sign on the wall. We were eighth row center.
I now have a crush on Bruce Robison. I never thought anything much about him in pictures, but he has an incredible charisma in person. And holy shit, he's tall. He's got to be somewhere in the neighborhood of 6'4" And he has really nice eyes, which I will come back to.
So you have a point of reference. Stolen from someone online and reposted here.
Now, one thing about Bruce Robison is that even if you've never heard of him, you've probably heard a bunch of his songs, because he's written a ton. Travelling Soldier (recorded by the Dixie Chicks, though I like Robison's version better), Angry All the Time (Tim McGraw -- and yes, mock me, because I actually like McGraw's version. Heartbreaking song, particularly since Robison apparently wrote it about his first marriage), Desperately (George Strait), etc. Anyway, the crowd was very favorably disposed toward him, and really quite excited.
Started off slow, but built fast. Played a bunch of tracks from his newest album (most of which you can hear if you go to www.brucerobison.com) High points: Virginia, All Over but the Cryin', and You Really Let Yourself Go. But he knocked it out of the park with Don't Call it Love. Absolutely freakin' amazing. I *heart* this song.
And then there was an intermission. And Robison said he was going to be in the lobby to 'shake everyone's hand.' Since I had been so impressed by the album, I decided I had to buy it before I left, so I went out to buy it, and just then Robison came out to shake hands and sign CDs -- so I said what the hell, and got in line. And he signed the CD to me very nicely and was very gracious. And just before I walked away, I said thanks and looked him right in the eyes. And good heavens, the man has pretty, pretty eyes. They are deep, dark, smiling eyes. Hence the newly developed crush.
Intermission
Let me start by saying that I've loved Rodney Crowell since I first heard his Walk the Line Revisited song, and the feeling only got stronger when I got his Houston Kid album, which, as far as I'm concerned, is a masterpiece. And a large part of the reason that I love the album so much is because it is about my home. Or as close to it as you can get. The songs are primarily about the people and places he knew growing up on the East side of Houston, and even though the album delves into a lot of dark and sad subjects, it reminds me of home.
In fact, I think Crowell's lightness in the face of crushing emotion is what amazes me. He has a frankness in his music that you don't find too often in any genre. Case in point: His first grandchild was born very recently. He played a song that he wrote for said grandchild about her grandmother (Crowell's first wife) and how she drank herself to death. And in typing that out, I realize that it sounds horrible. But it wasn't. It was somehow both beautiful and brutally honest.
So, since The Houston Kid, Crowell has put out two more albums, both amazing. The set was a wonderful mixture of these three most recent albums and some older standards (which ran at least an hour and 15 minutes, maybe even 1 1/2 hrs.). But my favorite part of the show was when he got to storytelling. He told stories of how the mosquito foggers in the summer spurred the song Telephone Road (which is my childhood, particularly the line "barefoot heathens running wild and free." ). When it became clear he was setting up to play this song, I started punching Craig over and over on his arm because I was so excited, because when we got there, I specifically mentioned how amazing it would be if he played it. So I was sitting in my seat very happily when he played it.
Then he jumped into a pair of songs that are about twin brothers he knew as children. And apparently he had heard from his mother that one of them was HIV positive, so he was thinking about it, and wrote I Wish it Would Rain from the POV of the HIV positive twin, and Wandering Boy from the POV of the other twin. Amazingly powerful.
Then he did Walk the Line Revisited (which is the song Craig was most excited to hear), and his guitar player, Will Kimbrough ( http://www.willkimbrough.com/ -- an artist in his own right) did the part that was sung by Johnny Cash (for those who've never heard the song, it's the story of when he first heard the song, and part of the chorus repeats the lyrics of the original song.). It was pretty impressive. And Crowell was telling the story of the first time he heard Walk the Line, and he said "You know, later in life, when I was reading stories about alien abduction, I realized that that's what the song had done to me." It was pretty funny.
And they started to wrap up, and he introduced the band. The drummer (a young kid, maybe 19 or 20) was wearing a skirt. Apparently just before the show, Crowell told him he'd pay him double if he wore the skirt on stage. So he did. It was a pretty funny image, because the kid was otherwise dressed in baggy urban hip-hop attire.
They finished up by playing my favorite song of all by Rodney Crowell -- I Know Love is All I need -- which, as Crowell explained it, was a song that he dreamed.
It was one hell of a show.