Micah Schnabel is the principle singer/songwriter behind the Columbus, OH rock band Two Cow Garage. He’s put out 4 stand out records with TCG and has recorded some rather more lo-fi sounding material with his father John Schnabel. When the Stage Lights Go Dim is his solo debut. It was originally suppose to be a limited edition, self released project, but Virgil Dickinson of Suburban Home Records (Two Cow’s label) was so impressed by the record that he offered to put it out for Micah. But, I was still a little wary of this record. I had just recently discovered Two Cow Garage and loved their records, but when a frontman puts a ‘solo’ ‘acoustic’ record it’s not always a barn burner. While I liked Patterson Hood’s Killers and Stars and Ben Nichol’s The Last Pale Light, neither struck me as a record that would stack up with the respective outputs of their full time bands. This is to be expected though, after all there is a reason why they put these records out as low budget solo records. But occasionally you will get a surprise, a solo record that begs to be heard. Such is the case with When the Stage Lights Go Dim. I’d put this record on the shelf next to Springsteen’s Nebraska without hesitation.
Like Nebraska, the lyrical content does not veer very far from expectations. Schnabel’s tales of the road, women, artistic frustration, and life without regret (his line) are typical of his Two Cow efforts. However, his talent for covering this ground without retreading it makes every line sound refreshing, falling somewhere between the clever phrasings of Paul Westerberg and the blue collar, heart on the sleeve exhortations of Lucero’s Ben Nichols. He never sounds whiny, only honest, his scarred voice ringing with emotion at every turn.
The album is mostly acoustic, but Micah doesn’t shy away from adding embellishments with a smattering of keyboards, violin, and some haunting female background vocals. These subtle accompaniments add to the record in all the right places. Also important is his guitar work, which varies the tempo throughout and displays a deftness at finger picking that contrasts nicely with some of the more rocking, hard strumming numbers. Slower songs like “Girl In January†and his cover of the Replacements “Can’t Hardly Wait†are highlights. The former sounding like a classic Big Star ballad (albeit as if Chris Bell had been gargling glass and 101 proof whiskey for a couple of years) and the latter completely reinventing the classic Westerberg number. While the Mats gave a more straight ahead rock reading and Justin Townes Earle’s recent interpretation gave it a jaunty mandolin bounce, Schnabel slows the song down to a crawl as he leans into the lyric.
Highly recommend, play it “when that Sunday morning sober has you downâ€. Suburban Home has 39 or less copies of the initial pressing still available, check it out here.
About the author: Specializes in Dead, Drunk, and Nakedness..... Former College Radio DJ and Current Craft Beer Nerd