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Straight Whiskey & the Full Tilt Boogie

9/28/2016

Live at The Birchmere - August 6th 2016
Tab Benoit hit the Birchmere stage the way great artists leave it. He started the night with the intensity of vision and ferocity of attack most performers leave for the second encore. And he built from there.

Singing “Gonna get my friends/we’re going crawfishing,” Benoit began by anchoring his blues firmly in the rich soil of the bayou. And it was from there that everything made sense and connected to the real world; while at the same time transcending the blues that easily besets our mortal souls, lifting us out of our present circumstances into a place where family, food, and music offer a respite from the spiritual ravages of our political and technological world.

Disclaimer: There is a basic rule in good writing. That rule says that a good writer should not use the same word over and over again. The hell with that. The word? Tone. With Benoit it is all about tone.

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September 28th, 2016

9/28/2016

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Graham Nash Still Matters

Live at The Birchmere - July 21, 2016

Graham Nash took to the Birchmere stage with all the grace of an elder statesman whose body of work and history as an activist long ago marked him as a force for social change. Launching his opening set with “Military Madness,” Nash’s righteous indignation was firmly in place, a testimony to a man whose singular vision that art can transform the world is as timely as ever.
Nash walked the audience through his catalog, a rich tapestry of music spanning more than five decades, accompanied by Shane Fontayne on guitar and vocals. Touring in support of his latest release, This Path Tonight, the strength of the material and the resilience in Nash’s voice made for a wonderful evening. And, as the crowd soon discovered, the new songs were every bit as vital as the classic anthems they came to hear.
In fact, Nash seemed energized by his collaboration with Fontayne, who served as co-writer and producer on the new record. On stage the two men engaged in the kind of give and take that brought out the best in each. Fontayne’s edgy slide guitar added a sense of urgency to “Military Madness,” layering the song’s dread and paranoia with nimble fretwork.
“King Midas in Reverse” and “Marrakesh Express” followed, and the crowd was enthusiastic in their appreciation. Fontayne’s voice complements Nash’s nicely and his guitar statements were tasteful and emotive and never obscured the central focus of the songs.
At one point Nash referenced his sometime bandmates by joking that the advantage of “not playing with the other maniacs is that I get to play songs I haven’t performed in a while.” The song selection reflected each phase of Nash’s career and all the hits were there for the audience to savor.
Midway through the first set Nash unveiled two songs from the new album. The first, “Myself at Last” was a lovely acoustic ballad that featured a solid harmonica solo from Nash. The title track to This Path Tonight followed and posed the question, “Where are we going?” The lyrics seemed all too poignant in this season of terrorism, public unrest, and fractious political salvos.
The highlight of the night was a new number, “Back Home,” written as a tribute to Levon Helm. Heartfelt without being maudlin, the tune honored an original American musical treasure with a very personal expression of love. In all, the half dozen songs from This Path Tonight were as good as anything Nash has ever released.
After a three song encore that included a gorgeous rendition of the Lennon-McCartney gem “Blackbird” the lights came up and the crowd began to file out. But hanging in the air was the knowledge that, at 74, Nash remains a vital artist who continues to create stirring new compositions and to impact the world he inhabits.

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Straight Whiskey & the Full Tilt Boogie

September 28th, 2016

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