Concert Date with Mahself

The only damper on last night was that Rob didn't accompany me to one of the better concerts I've seen in many years. Because of a pre-outing misunderstanding (Zoe went MIA for a couple of hours and I finally found her at the park, nose in a book; Rob was pretty rattled and had called the police) he stayed home to man the fort, so I did what I spent much of my mid-twenties doing: going to catch live music and scoring the sweetest spot in the house. The act? Justin Townes Earle. He'd been the opening act when we saw the Decemberists play in April, and I've learned to keep an eye on those openers - they can often be as good as the headliners, which is why I did a little research on Shovels + Rope, the outfit touring with Mr. Earle. It didn't take much listening to determine that I'd show up early for their set, and boy, was I ever glad I did! What a treat these two were - Carrie Ann Hearst and Michael Trent had southern charm to spare, her slow and husky South Carolina-by way of-Tennessee accent sounding a bit like Sissy Spacek's in Coal Miner's Daughter. The pair traded off on drums and harmonica and each played guitar and sang beautiful harmonies, her voice often sharp and so loud I wondered how she kept such control over the notes. His voice was softer and offered a mellow balance to her wilder pipes, reining her in before she skidded off the edge. They were tight, endearing as all get-out, and made me wish like mad - if only for a few hours - that I'd chosen the same path (Carrie Ann told the audience that back in her twenties she "studied real hard and got good grades before deciding that she was living kind of a dumb life" and she finally buckled down and really hit the music-making). There have been times when I've waited, itchy with impatience, for the opening band to just be done with it so we can get on with the main event; this was not one of those times.

JTE, who could be seen pacing about in the wing off the stage, didn't dally once his turn came. There's something larger than life about the guy, and not simply because his presence is so striking, standing well over six feet tall on the gangliest pair of legs imaginable. It has more to do with the feeling that he's of another era, taking cues from Hank Williams and his contemporaries in both his music and style. I absolutely love that kind of stuff. Not to mention his bass player, Bryn Davies, who rocked out on that massive instrument somethin' fierce. Again, seeing this got me thinking about how awesome it'd be to take up a new instrument; look where it got her! Since Rob was absent I made sure to take plenty of video to share with him and all of y'all. Enjoy the show!