If you’ve never been to a live Last Train Home show, here’s a taste of what you’re missing. I recorded these this past Friday night at IOTA in Arlington, VA. IOTA has been a regular venue for Last Train Home for over a decade now. They brought the full band consisting of Eric Brace (vocals, guitar), Jim Carson Gray (bass), Martin Lynds (drums), Steve Wedemeyer (guitar), Jen Gunderman (keyboard, accordian), Kevin Cordt (trumpet) and Dave Van Allen (pedal steel, lap steel). A great show as usual, I hope you enjoy the videos and go see LTH when they’re in your town.
This first clip is from early in the first set of the night. It’s a tune called “Quarter to Three” off the Time and Water disc. I really love the jam at the end of the song.
Last Train Home, “Quarter to Three (Live)”
Lyrics:
“Quarter to Three” By Eric Brace (Dry Diggings Tunes, BMI)
Quarter to three, I’m heading home
Quarter to three, I’m driving home
It’s a long ride when you’re alone
Quarter to four, I’m through my door
Quarter to four, I’m walking through my door
Footsteps echo down the hall
I’ve got crazy thoughts running through my head
Can I take back the last thing I said
Quarter to five and I can’t sleep
Quarter to five and I can’t sleep
I turn and I turn, I turn in bed
Quarter to six and the birds are singing
Sky is light and the birds are singing
I wish they’d tell me where you are
I’ve got crazy thoughts coming through my head
Can I take back the last thing I said
…..
Come back baby, please don’t go
The way I love you, you’ll never know
So come on back baby,
Think it over one more time
Long train come and a mean engineer
Took my baby on away from hear
Singing come on back, baby
Think it over one more time
The second clip was played right after their intermission its a medley that starts off with “Louisiana” off the True North record and turns into Merle Haggard’s “Tonight the Bottle Let Me Down”, Rodney Crowell’s “Ain’t Livin’ Long Like This” and the Louvin Brothers’ “Are You Wasting My Time.” Unfortunately, my batteries died near the end of the medley so it cuts off abruptly at the end. But its still seven minutes worth of Last Train Home. That, my friends, is a good thing.
Last Train Home, “Lousiana (Live Medley)”
Here’s a subtlety I didn’t catch during the performance. Pretty funny looking back. Thanks, Chris!
Brace & Co. fought back laughter throughout the medley, perhaps because Gunderman kept having to stand up and strap on her accordion or sit down at the keyboard whenever Brace shifted tunes. The musicians are good enough that they needn’t rely on such clowning, but it does make them all the easier to love. [Chris Klimek — WashingtonPost.com]
Lyrics:
“Louisiana” By Eric Brace (Dry Digging Tunes, BMI)
When you say it like that
Shreveport sounds so far away
Explain to me again, and make it make some sense
Why you’re going back
You said something about your family and your friends
But tonight I just can’t pretend
That I wish you well in Louisiana
The only thing I wish is that you would stay
Louisiana, you stole my heart away
Once there was a time
That I loved Louisiana
For sending me a woman
The most beautiful woman I’d ever seen
Now you say you’re going back home and you’re going home alone
So tonight my opinion’s revised
About that place, Louisiana
I’m in an awful state today
Louisiana, you stole my heart away
We went together once
Down to Louisiana
You told me all your secrets
Walking through the Bottomland
Now you say when you’re settled in
And when we’ve become just friends
That you’d like me to visit you there
In your new home in Louisiana
As if I could just walk in one day
Louisiana, you stole my heart away
You stole my heart away
You stole my heart away
Buy yourself a copy of their latest album Last Good Kiss. For more on this performance, check out Chris Klimek’s review of this performance on WashingtonPost.com.
About the author: Washington, D.C. area creative by day. Music is my muse. I host Twangville’s weekly Readers‘ Pick.