If you’re a frequent Twangville reader you know by now I’m an unabashed live music aficionado. Â I usually manage to see 30 or more live acts a year, so in addition to the top records of the year I have to add my view to the best live sets I saw.
#9 Michelle Shocked. Â Many successful singer-songwriters have the ability to tell stories and talk to the audience like you’re in a friend’s living room and they just decided to pick up the guitar and play a couple of songs. Â Michelle’s show at Yoshi’s in San Francisco was a prime example of that as she previewed her new album and played many of her (and the audience’s) old favorites.
#8 The Lovell Sisters. Â I didn’t walk away from their set at this year’s Old Settler’s Music Festival thinking these young women were going to make a best-of list. Â But I found myself checking back during the year hoping they would do a tour swing to the west coast. Â Their enthusiasm was contagious and they have some serious bluegrass chops. Â Unfortunately, the oldest sister has now left the group and gone off to college, so that may have been my last chance to see them live.
#7 The Gourds. Â I know, these guys are kind of a ringer in this category. Â After all, they’re a live act that sometimes does recordings. Â But expectations can be pretty high when you have that reputation, and The Gourds set at the campground at Old Settler’s met and exceeded the hype.
#6 Fred Eaglesmith. Â Fred’s show last January at the Little Fox was a gem. Â He shared insight into what his songs were about, talked about his beloved old guitar, made the usual amount of smart-ass political commentary, and just generally entertained the crowd with a couple of classic sets of his work.
#5 Great American Taxi. Â Born from the ashes of jam band legend Leftover Salmon, Great American Taxi utilizes that live experience in their shows. Â But this group isn’t about long stretches of instrumental solos. Â Instead, they use that improvisational ability to tweak and mold their songs to the event so every performance is different, yet keeps a common thread.
#4 Belleville Outfit. Â You have to love it when a group takes inspiration from their setting. Â It’s why live music can be so thrilling. Â These Americana hipsters from South Carolina took their western swing and country-folk songs, jazzed them up even more for the setting at Yoshi’s, and transported the audience to a New York or Kansas City jazz club circa the 1940’s.
#3 Ben Sollee. Â Ben’s set at the Rocky Mountain Folks Festival was as much an education as a performance. Â I don’t mean he lectured, but that he gave a lesson in how an instrument can take on so many voices. Â Ben’s background playing the cello stretches from classical to bluegrass, and his performance was a masterpiece that combined many genres.
#2 Dave Alvin & the Guilty Women. Â Starting with a lineup of superstar session players, Dave Alvin has melded the Guilty Women into a group whose sum is far greater than their separate parts. Â Their set at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass was a jaw-dropping example of how a tight team of soloists can be just as amazing together as they are individually. Â The groove they were laying down…oh my! Â It was hard to believe this isn’t a band that’s been playing together 20 years.
#1 Booker T & the Drive-by Truckers. Â Live music is at its finest when it conveys a sense of time and place such that you know the performance was so good it could never be repeated simply because the circumstances will never be the same. Â That’s what happened at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass in Golden Gate Park when Booker T Jones and the Drive-by Truckers teamed up. Â Their set was great, but they finished up with Booker T reminiscing about his time with Otis Redding, the last time he’d been in San Francisco, and then diving into a performance of “Sittin’ On the Dock of the Bay”. Â One hundred thousand people whistling along in the right places. Â It was magical.
So there you have my favorites. Â Go catch some live music this year and we’ll compare notes this time next year.
About the author: I've actually driven from Tehatchapee to Tonopah. And I've seen Dallas from a DC-9 at night.