Emmylou Still the Best

 I first heard Emmylou Harris back in the mid-70s, and she's been at the top of my list ever since.  She's changed of course and does not have the crystalline, effortless voice she used to, and she's no longer a drop-dead gorgeous 27-year old, but who is?  She's still capable of riveting me with her ability to make a great country or folk song even more heartfelt, and at the same time, cosmic and timeless.  And she's still beautiful.

So I'm always looking to see if she's going to be performing in New England, and I was delighted to see her scheduled for a short tour, including the Chevalier Theatre in Medford on March 24.  I clicked through and they told me the tickets weren't on sale yet, then I clicked through again ... and amazingly they were offering me the chance to choose tickets ... in the third row!?!  So I bought three, at a very high price, thinking that they were going to slam the door on me at any second, but I got them.  When tickets went on sale to the general public I guess they went fast, and she was soon scheduled for a second show in the Boston area, the next night at the Wilbur.

I anticipated that a 76-year old country artist would play pretty much the same set each night on a short tour.  Just before the show I looked at what she'd played in Pennsylvania the night before, and was very happy with the song selection.  But then she mixed it up to an amazing extent, playing about half the same songs but half different ones.  So I should have gone to see her at the Wilbur too!  She's got such an extensive repertoire after all these years, and she knocks all those songs out of the park.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.   The three of us toodled down to Medford on a seasonal Sunday Spring late afternoon and met our friends for dinner (with their daughters and mates).  Well, the less said about that restaurant the better.  We extricated ourselves from the place and joined a crowd of older folk lining up to get into the Chevalier, a recently restored small theater, where I'd never been.  I definitely would go there again.

The house filled up soon, and Emmy came on with her current band, the "Red Dirt Boys."  This is Phil Madeira on electric piano, accordion, and acoustic guitar, Will Kimbrough on lead electric guitar, Chris Donohue on electric and upright bass, Bryan Owings on drums, and also Eamon McLoughlin (who's not a regular member of the band) on mandolin, cittern, and fiddle.  And they all contributed excellent vocals as well.  Kimbrough did some duets with Emmylou, and Madeira joined those two to form an a cappella trio on Bright Morning Stars.  But Donahue also contributed some astounding high tenor backup, and McLoughlin filled in with some wonderful bass harmonies.

And in the middle of it all was Emmylou, who switched back and forth between steel-string acoustics.  One disadvantage to being so close to a country/bluegrass band (we were third row, on the right of the center section of the orchestra), is that the sound can be a little muddy, as you can hear the instruments, and also the amplified sound echoing back at you.  But I'm used to this and adjusted my ears accordingly.  Emmylou's voice took a few songs to warm up, and she was careful not to push it even after the pipes did warm up.  But she knows what she's doing up there to say the least and entertained us with one of the best concerts of hers I've ever heard.  This was the 11th time I've seen her live, she had a fantastic band (when has she not?), and she's an amazing professional who lets her charming, easy-going personality shine through.  And she played my favorite song of hers, as she always does when I'm around.

Here's what's posted as her setlist, with my corrections:

• Here I Am
• Orphan Girl (Gillian Welch)
• Red Dirt Girl
• Making Believe (Jimmy Work)
• Goodbye (Steve Earle)
• One of These Days (Earl Montgomery)
• Old Five and Dimers Like Me (Billy Joe Shaver)
• Gulf Coast Highway (Nanci Griffith)
• Michelangelo
• The Pearl
• Luxury Liner (Gram Parsons)
• Millworker (James Taylor)
• Green Pastures (Ralph Stanley)
• Goin' Back to Harlan (Anna McGarrigle)
• Wheels (Parsons/Hillman)
• Shores of White Sand (J.W. Routh)
• Bright Morning Stars (traditional)
• Love and Happiness
• Get Up John (Bill Monroe)
• Boulder to Birmingham

The order still may not be 100% correct, I didn't take notes as the concert went along and the posted soundlist definitely has errors.  Oh well, this is pretty correct and it was amazing!!

OK, it was a little spotty and some of the songs did not really take off, but most sure did.  I was glad she did such a great mix of old songs and more recent ones, also of covers and originals.  Highlights to my ear:

• She introduced Goodbye as "one of the saddest songs ever written" and I have to agree.  Her voice just wraps around this song like she was there in Mexico.
• One Of These Days is the favorite song I was talking about, and she had me on the edge of my seat for this.  I love this lyric.
• Wonderful that she did a Billie Joe song, and some of the vocal arrangements, starting with this, were sublime.
• Just wonderful cover of Nanci's Gulf Coast Highway, including a duet vocal from Kimbrough.  She introduced with a nice little eulogy.
• Millworker has always been one of my favorite covers of hers.  I can't believe she didn't do this when we saw her in the Lowell NHP in 2013!  She really twisted the emotional knife on the "for the rest of my life" line.
• I've heard Wheels many, many times but this was a great cover with a great arrangement.
• Boulder To Birmingham was a fantastic set closer, and her vocal on this was just beyond description.  I had to reality-check myself all through the concert and say, "I'm actually hearing and seeing Emmylou Harris sing this, right in front of me.  This is not a recording or a dream."

You'd better believe that everyone in the packed theatre was standing and clapping and shouting when she finished (though some of the older audience members had to be helped up).  Emmy was as gracious as ever, and seemed really touched by the reception.  I think some people consider Northerners really reserved, and can be surprised when they show emotion.

The band took a short break and then came back out for an encore.  Emmylou told us they had a couple more songs for us (they've been doing one song when they've been doing encores, so this was special).  They did Pancho and Lefty, introduced by Emmylou telling us about meeting Townes Van Zandt for the first time in Gerde's Folk City in the sixties.  And they ended with a rocking cover of Rodney Crowell's Leaving Louisiana In the Broad Daylight.

Wooh!  Another standing ovation, a group bow from the band, and they were gone.  I loved this concert.  Will we ever see Emmylou Harris again?  I sure hope so.

Phil Birthday With Guests, part 2

Hadn't had much more to drink on Friday than I normally do, but it had been a long, stressful day and, not surprisingly, was followed by a really bad night's sleep on a small bed with a noisy HVAC system.  The Hampton Inn breakfast was disappointing too, but whatever!  We played a board game to pass the time, and then went out for a walk on a warm, sunny, late-Winter day.

We went back to the Tarrytown Lakes Park, where we'd had a great walk a few years ago, and had another great walk.  It was a lovely day and, though the parking lot was pretty full and there were several people on the easy trail, we then went into the woods and saw no one for the next couple of hours.  The trees and vines were starting to bud and the winding trails led to some curious old stone structures and some huge old trees.  We saw five deer on that walk, though Tarrytown is an old, thoroughly settled, almost urban town, and the immensely busy Tappan Zee Bridge is not that far away.  No soccer ball out on the field for us to kick around this time, but a just-right walk in the woods for the late morning of an otherwise exhausting weekend.

From there we drifted down the hill into crowded downtown Tarrytown, finally found a parking space, and went back to the Sweet Grass Grill, where we'd had an excellent lunch in 2021.  We must have hit it at the right time because we got a table right away, though it was packed soon after that.  Had a "Kittens & Canoes" APA and a farmer's salad, and some fun people watching.  There were sure lots of them, one guy had a very nice purse, and one woman was wearing so many jewels she was bent over.  There were lots of touristy-types too.

Back to the hotel for a nap, another board game, and a little TV.  Dave downloaded a pretty good audience recording of the previous night's concert.  And then we were off for Port Chester again!  Kiosko was much more crowded and much more noisy tonight (someone was apparently playing a medley of greatest Mexican tuba hits on the jukebox).  But we had another fine meal and then waited through a short line and quick search at the Cap.  This time we'd gotten seats in the the fourth row of the balcony, but over more to the right.

Geez, it sure looked like the same setup as the night before, but then we noticed a few tweaks.  There was another guitar amp between Grahame's and Amy's stations, and instead of Gordon's bass tower to Phil's left there was another single guitar amp over there.  And in the back was something that might have been a guitar holder, or maybe a percussion station.  Anyway, the crowd was much more delayed than it had been on Friday night, but soon everyone came rushing in (it was another sellout) and soon after that the same band came out on stage, tuned up lazily, then lit into the first set.

• Dire Wolf
• Cumberland Blues
• Cold Rain and Snow
• When I Paint My Masterpiece
• Candyman
• Jack Straw

What a great start to the might, with Donato doing a squeaky, bouncy Dire Wolf, followed by a masterful, Phil-powered Cumberland.  And then one of my favorite-ever songs, CR&S, though Phil turned in a bit of a confused vocal.  Amy was up next and made up for it on Masterpiece with a sly, Dylan-esque take.  Then it was Daniel's turn again to channel Jerry with a beautiful, perfectly timed Candyman.  And the ensemble then knocked us all over with the Jack Straw of death, that featured a long entrance, apocalyptic bombs from Phil, and wave after wave of powerful group vocals.

Phil again promised a different format for the second set, but we weren't fooled this time when the same band came out.  Daniel started it off again with:

• Loser
• Not Fade Away
• Dark Star
• Morning Dew
• Samson and Delilah
• Uncle John's Band

Donato got a little confused on the first couple of choruses of Loser, but all in all was just so impressive.  As I say, perhaps he was a little too Garcia-esque at times, but he was successful in interpreting Garcia while showcasing his own strengths as a musician.  I've got to listen to more of his stuff.

The guys scratched their asses after that, but then Molo took over and pounded out a raucous introduction to NFA, which sure got the crowd going.  Some setlists have NFA > Dark Star (instrumental) > NFA > Dark Star (second verse), but that's not the way we heard it.  There were some Dark Star teases during NFA, but nothing concerted until they really ended the Buddy Holly stuff and started spacing out.  We were a little surprised that they just sang the second verse of the song, but this may have just been Phil being forgetful.

Anyway, they went deep into space there and then eventually calmed down, leaving us all on a distant moon.  Phil started looking serious now, and you knew what was coming, and then he and Grahame started on that awesome, thundering introduction.  Then Amy slid up to the mike and started asking delicately if someone could take her out in the Morning Dew, and Grahame told her that no, it was too late.

Wow, that was a great one, and after Donato did a long guitar crescendo and the song would normally come to an end, Grahame and Amy went back into the chorus and did a beautiful, descending duet coda.  OK, it was time for Molo to start pounding again, Daniel stepped up for another fun vocal, and we all rocked to an excellent, fast Samson.  As I say, they were doing the Bobby repertoire without him being there.  Then it was time for a great, set-closing UJB, with sparkling ensemble vocals.

Phil was sitting down by that point, and starting to look and act a little cranky, but now it was time for the fun to really begin!  He mumbled something in the mike again (actually, he probably said something coherent, but the crowd was cheering too much for us to hear him), and the boffins starting moving things around.  Didn't take long for me to realize that they were swapping out drums in Molo's kit, and then they rigged a vocal mike up over that that looked just like ... it was!

It was Joe Russo's setup and he came out on stage, and then there was Tommy Hamilton, and there was Marco Benevento, and there was Scott Metzger!  Yes, it was PhilRAD all over again!!  When we were trading wild guesses at who would guest with Phil, I'd mentioned JRAD, but never really thought that we'd get the whole enchilada (excepting Dave Dreiwitz that is).  What would they play??  Well, Scott stepped up and started us off at the top of the heap and they just went up from there, "Truckin', got my chips cashed in."  Geez, as good as Phil's band had been, these guys could blow away anybody.  No wonder Bobby stayed away.  And then they followed up Truckin' with Touch Of Grey, masterfully sung by Tommy of course.

Phil was beaming, who wouldn't be?  He did a classic Donor Rap, while they swapped drums back to make it Molo's kit again.  Joe moved over to what was now revealed as a percussion stand (he played the congas with sticks), Jason came out and sat in front of the baby grand while Marco moved over to the B3 (they were sitting close and made a cute couple), Amy came back and shared the mike with Tommy, and Daniel came back out at far right and yukked it up with Scott.  Phil finished his rap, and they all lit into GDTRFB with everyone in the theatre singing along.  Toward the end of this, Tommy ripped off a great lead, Daniel responded with an even better lead, and then Scott topped them with a lead of his own!  This was really exciting.

Phil had a plan for ending it of course, and got Molo pounding away at the NFA beat.  But then he quieted down all of a sudden and Phil led us all in a long, closing chorus with a neat little final ending.  What a show!  They all unplugged with more or less difficulty and gathered at center stage for a huge group bow, with audience members throwing roses at their feet.  Someone picked one up and handed it to Phil.  He was dog-tired but still beaming, and gave the rose a sniff before handing it to his roadie, who took him by the elbow and led him off stage, lighting the path with his flashlight.  Goodbye, old man, hope to see you again!

Sat down for some final swigs at the water bottle and then made it outside and back up the street to the car, under a beautiful quarter moon.  Will we return to the Cap?  You never know, but this was not just a tiring weekend for Phil, it was two days of incredible fun for me, but exhausting!

Phil Birthday With Guests, part 1

Good ol' Phil Lesh might have quit coming out to the Capitol Theatre after his 100th show there last year, but he shows no sign of quitting, even at 84 years old.  He announced another birthday run of five shows a few months ago, and that "the Q" (Barraco, Haynes, Herring, and Molo) would be doing the first two shows.  We got tickets to the last two without knowing who would be playing with him.  He eventually announced the band for the third show of the stand (Jason Crosby, Amy Helm, son Grahame, John Molo, and Eric Krasno).  And they finally announced that the lineup for the last two shows would include special guests and would be revealed when the musicians took the stage.

Well, that led to a lot of speculation, as you might imagine.  There were rumors that Bob Weir would show up, as a member of his staff was reported seen in Port Chester that week.  We also thought that perhaps Jorma Kaukonen would guest, as he's played with Phil in the past.  And Emmylou Harris is playing the Cap next week (though that would be a very odd pairing)!

Anyway, we loaded up the usual sandwiches, juice, water, etc. and headed down South on a partly sunny day, after picking up Dave in Quincy.  This time we were going to try the Hampton Inn in Elmsford, on our continuing quest for a hotel that ticked all the boxes.  This one wasn't it.  Though we had a nice, quiet 5th-floor room looking out on the forested hill to the South of the hotel rather than out onto the highway, the beds were small, the breakfast wasn't up to par, and the hotel is on such a precipitous hill, it was alarming!  Oh well, it was fine.

We took the Parkways all the way down to 287, once we got South of Hartford, thinking they'd be less stressful than 95.  They weren't.  A semi truck-trailer was actually trying to get onto the Wilbur Cross at one entrance and we managed to get past him.  I hope he stopped, because if he got onto the Parkway (illegally) he would have gotten stuck under a bridge.  Later, in a pack doing 80 on the Merritt, a big pickup going even faster danced left and right through everyone, and then a huge unmarked SUV turned on its lights and took off after him.  And when we only had a few more miles to go on the Hutchinson, we noticed that the opposite side was deserted, and we suddenly ran smack into a traffic backup on our side, which involved standing on the brakes.  As it turned out, the backup on our side was just rubber-neckers.  On the opposite side a garbage truck(!) was sprawled across the Parkway, turned over on its side.  There was barely enough room for one car at a time to edge up onto the median and squeeze itself between the truck and the guardrail.  Wailing ambulances were trying to get to the truck through the thick traffic backup, which already stretched for the few miles to 287.  This was not a relaxing drive.

But ... finally made it to the hotel, unpacked, played a little cribbage in their breakfast room, and then took off for Port Chester, very excited about what band we might be seeing.  We had a nice dinner at a quiet Kiosko (no one was playing the jukebox, there were very few people there), and then waited in a pretty long line to get into the Cap as they searched everyone pretty thoroughly.

Getting tickets had been tough, and for that Friday we were way up in the balcony, third row from the top, though well centered.  The stage setup revealed nothing (no Beam!), and seemed to indicate that the band would include Crosby and Grahame, some guitarist who played a blue strat, and somebody with a tower for an amp.  They came out on time and we were at first a bit disappointed that, as we had scoped out, it was Crosby, Grahame, Amy, and Molo ... and the guest guitarist turned out to be Daniel Donato (that had been rumored also).

Well, as it turns out this band was excellent and we were not at all disappointed!  Both Jason Crosby and Amy Helm were outstanding in the stream on Wednesday, and they were in top form (Amy just stuck to vocals) on that Friday night.  Grahame and Molo were as good as ever, they play so well with Phil.  And we'd never seen the young Daniel Donato, though he's been popping up everywhere lately, and he played some fantastic guitar and sang some great leads in his squeaky tenor.  Perhaps he even sounded too much like Jerry at times!

And of course, the guy we wanted to see was Phil, and he was in top form too.  He has a comfy office chair on stage with him these days and at times he looked tired and needed to take a seat in it.  But his playing was as deep, rich, multi-faceted, and inventive as ever.  He sang a few verses and contributed to the choruses, but his voice was not quite as powerful and nimble as in the past.  But not bad for an 84-year old!

Here's the setlist:

• Cosmic Charlie
• They Love Each Other
• Friend of the Devil
• Bird Song
• Jack-A-Roe
• Brokedown Palace

Woo, we were right back in the Phil Zone with the opening notes of Cosmic Charlie, paddling that paper canoe!  Amy contributed a great lead vocal to TLEO, and Donato instantly impressed, leading a space brigade on Bird Song.  He has a way of dropping his left arm and curling his hand around the fretboard so it almost looks like a snake.  He was also great on vocals, perhaps an acquired taste but instantly likable for us, with a very touching take on Jack-a-Roe.  And Brokedown was beautifully sung by Grahame with backing from Amy; that vocal pair is always worth the price of admission.

And the fun thing was that there was a young, awestruck boy, in the wings, and then out on stage at the set break being shown all the equipment and eagerly asking questions about it.  Took only a second to realize that this was Phil's grandson, Levon, whom we'd last seen at the Cap as a toddler in October 2015.  Kids grow up fast, and it may not be too long before he's playing music for us.

Phil had stepped to the mike at the end of the first set and promised a "different format" for the second set, but the setup didn't look any different when they reappeared after an average set break, and the same guys took the stage.  But again, this band did not disappoint:

• Promised Land
• Box of Rain
• Viola Lee Blues
• Bertha
• Viola Lee Blues
• Eyes of the World

They started off right with a rocking vocal from Donato on Promised Land, Grahame chiming in with the Tidewater 4-1009 ending.  And we were delighted to once more have the good fortune of seeing Phil sing Box Of Rain.  They really took the song to the outer limits also.  It didn't take Donato long to realize that there was another excellent, young guitarist on stage, and they were throwing leads and fans back and forth.  Then Phil came back in with the powerful last verse.  Viola was an all-sing from the band, with Donato doing another classic Dead rocker in the middle.  And then it was Amy's turn again with an excellent vocal on Eyes.

Well, what was this crap about a different format?  Phil stepped to the mike again and said that they were going to take a short break and then bring out the guests.  The break wasn't as short as we might have hoped, and the only change they made was to unveil the towering amp to his left.  But then Phil came out with Capitol Theatre impresario Pete Shapiro, who introduced two special guests: young Levon and Mike Gordon(!), carrying an awesome birthday cake that Levon couldn't take his eyes off of.  We all sang Happy Birthday and then Gordon strapped on the bass.  Pretty good guest!

Here's their "encore" set:

• Estimated Prophet
• Let It Grow
• Sugar Magnolia

Wow, this was such a great bass sound!  Phil and Mike did not step on each others' feet at all, and at the same time, neither sat back.  They both played fast and all out, jumping around their fretboards like there was no tomorrow, and managing to sound like they'd been playing together for years.  And they played three Bobby songs!  My theory is that Bobby was going to show up and then didn't, so they had to steal his repertoire.

After a great Estimated (Amy contributed a wonderful backing vocal) and then a strong Let It Grow, they broke into Sugar Mags and we anticipated another strong vocal from Grahame, whom we've seen sing this many times.  But Mike stepped up and sang the piss out of that classic song while not missing a beat on bass, what a surprise!

They did a group bow and Phil wandered off stage after that, as we sat back down and finished off our water bottles.  As is often the case, the crowd at the Cap was mostly Phil fanatics, featured very few "chompers," and filed out pretty quickly.  Another fine show in Port Chester, and not too cold a night as we walked back up Westchester Ave. to the car, and then drove back to Elmsford.  Got to bed after a sandwich and orange juice nightcap, probably around 1:00.