In between the mammoth Dead & Company concerts, we were not about to miss Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams at the Bull Run on Sunday, June 10th. Dave was over for a birthday weekend of kayaking and other stuff, and then we drove in two cars on out there at the end of the afternoon on Sunday, where we were the only cars in the back parking lot when we arrived.
And even though our table was full (being the front center table of course) and the surrounding tables were all packed with enthusiasts, the back lot never had more than a few cars in it and the Sawtelle Room never was more than a third full! They also hadn't opened the Sawtelle Room kitchen and we were served from the bar menu. It was a slow night at the old roadhouse Oh well, Teresa said they could have been playing in our living room and at times it seemed like that. And as she also mentioned, we all were very familiar with their act and their songs and not much exposition was needed.
Larry and Teresa were accompanied by the same band we'd seen them with before, Justin Guip on drums and Jesse Murphy on bass, and they played one long set of excellent material. They did their awesome cover of Running Wild as their second or third song and we could have left satisfied after that. But they also did Did You Ever Love Me At All, Save Me From Myself, When I Stop Loving You, If I Had My Way, Wishing Well, Surrender To Love, Larry's amazing cover of Duke Ellington's Caravan, Turkey In the Straw, Cry Cry Cry, The Other Side of Pain, It Ain't Gonna Be a Good Night, Everybody Loves You, Lamp Trimmed and Burning, and lots of other great stuff.
Larry picked the mandolin for a few songs but usually played one of two Telecasters or an acoustic. Teresa was on acoustic for most songs. The two of them were directly in front of us, so we got to see some amazing fingering from Larry, especially when he stepped up to the front of the stage and seemed to be playing directly at the 8 of us, enthralled at table 63. There were so few people that they really didn't need to be amplified at all, except Justin and Jesse wanted to rock out and play it loud, and of course Larry did not discourage them. Some of their rocking jams were as good as it gets and they had the back corners of that room full of excellent sound, though only empty chairs and tables were there to enjoy it.
It ended sooner than we wanted, but they came back out for an encore after peeking around the corner of the stairs to see if we were still there. None of us had left, we were all there for the long run. One woman was vocal about wanting to hear their cover of Sugaree ... Deadheads are never far from Larry and Teresa. They complied and this was a great, syncopated bluesy version, that Teresa sang as if to a devil within herself, as perhaps Hunter meant it (the requestor thanked them for playing it, there was absolutely no wall between the performers and the audience). Then Justin and Jesse hit the showers, Larry and Teresa unplugged and huddled near the front of the stage, and they sang a beautiful, sad, sad version of Your Long Journey. Kind of a bummer song, but you gotta be ready for some sadness when you go to a folk/blues concert I guess.
That was it, and we split up for a pretty quick drive home. Great weekend!
No comments:
Post a Comment