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bethe and I braved the winter weather to see Laura Cantrell at the Tin Angel. We both took public transportation into Philadelphia, and got to the venue in plenty of time. The opener was Some Lame Local Guy and His Crappy Band. No, that wasn't their actual name, but it might as well have been. None of their songs were any good, and the singer made a lot of pointless Philly references and lame jokes, including one about drunk driving that didn't make any sense (the joke, I mean, although drunk driving also doesn't make any sense). Finally, though, Laura came on stage, accompanied with a mandolin player and another guy who switched between regular and steel guitar. Laura was quite friendly, and explained the origins of most of her songs, revealing herself to be a veritable fount of knowledge on country music.
Here's what she played, as far as I can remember:
What You Said--The beginning of this song kind of reminds me of the Camper Van Beethoven song "Change Your Mind." I'm not totally sure why, and I'm sure no one else who's heard both songs would agree.
Early Years
Mountain Fern--Described as a song about Molly O'Day
Howard Hughes Blues--Originally by John Hartford, the banjo player from the Glen Campbell Show
Poor Ellen Smith--I'd known this song for a while, having originally heard Neko Case's version, but I didn't know that it's apparently based on a true story.
Wishful Thinking
Letters
Too Late For Tonight--A last-minute addition to the setlist
Bees--This song provided the title of the album Humming by the Flowered Vine, which came out last year. In the same year, Tori Amos put out an album called The Beekeeper, and Frank Black released one called Honeycomb. 2005 must have been the Year of the Bee, or something.
Old Downtown
You Don't Have Very Far To Go--A Merle Haggard cover, which I had forgotten about until Beth reminded me
Used Cars--From Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska album. I've never heard the album, but Laura told about how she performed it in front of The Boss.
14th Street--Somebody had pointed out earlier that there's no 14th Street in Philadelphia (which, for the benefit of anyone not from the area, is true; there's just Broad Street), and mentioned it again when Laura was about to play this song.
Lee Harvey Was A Friend Of Mine--I think this was actually the first Laura song I'd heard, since they used to play it on They Might Be Giants' old WiredPlanet player. It was apparently written by a boyhood friend of Lee Harvey Oswald.
So, yeah, it was a fun show, and it's always cool to see a favorite artist live for the first time. I had brought the liner from When the Roses Bloom Again, in hopes that she might be signing stuff after the show, but such did not seem to be the case. There was another concert after hers, and Beth and I had to catch our transportation back to our respective homes anyway. Annoyingly enough, the snow was blowing into our faces on our way to AND from the Tin Angel.
They're saying the snow should last into early tomorrow afternoon. I wonder if I'll have work. Regardless, at least the snow is easily removed, so I probably won't have much trouble digging out my car.
Edvard Munch
Okay, I think it's about time to go to bed.
bethe and I braved the winter weather to see Laura Cantrell at the Tin Angel. We both took public transportation into Philadelphia, and got to the venue in plenty of time. The opener was Some Lame Local Guy and His Crappy Band. No, that wasn't their actual name, but it might as well have been. None of their songs were any good, and the singer made a lot of pointless Philly references and lame jokes, including one about drunk driving that didn't make any sense (the joke, I mean, although drunk driving also doesn't make any sense). Finally, though, Laura came on stage, accompanied with a mandolin player and another guy who switched between regular and steel guitar. Laura was quite friendly, and explained the origins of most of her songs, revealing herself to be a veritable fount of knowledge on country music.Here's what she played, as far as I can remember:
What You Said--The beginning of this song kind of reminds me of the Camper Van Beethoven song "Change Your Mind." I'm not totally sure why, and I'm sure no one else who's heard both songs would agree.
Early Years
Mountain Fern--Described as a song about Molly O'Day
Howard Hughes Blues--Originally by John Hartford, the banjo player from the Glen Campbell Show
Poor Ellen Smith--I'd known this song for a while, having originally heard Neko Case's version, but I didn't know that it's apparently based on a true story.
Wishful Thinking
Letters
Too Late For Tonight--A last-minute addition to the setlist
Bees--This song provided the title of the album Humming by the Flowered Vine, which came out last year. In the same year, Tori Amos put out an album called The Beekeeper, and Frank Black released one called Honeycomb. 2005 must have been the Year of the Bee, or something.
Old Downtown
You Don't Have Very Far To Go--A Merle Haggard cover, which I had forgotten about until Beth reminded me
Used Cars--From Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska album. I've never heard the album, but Laura told about how she performed it in front of The Boss.
14th Street--Somebody had pointed out earlier that there's no 14th Street in Philadelphia (which, for the benefit of anyone not from the area, is true; there's just Broad Street), and mentioned it again when Laura was about to play this song.
Lee Harvey Was A Friend Of Mine--I think this was actually the first Laura song I'd heard, since they used to play it on They Might Be Giants' old WiredPlanet player. It was apparently written by a boyhood friend of Lee Harvey Oswald.
So, yeah, it was a fun show, and it's always cool to see a favorite artist live for the first time. I had brought the liner from When the Roses Bloom Again, in hopes that she might be signing stuff after the show, but such did not seem to be the case. There was another concert after hers, and Beth and I had to catch our transportation back to our respective homes anyway. Annoyingly enough, the snow was blowing into our faces on our way to AND from the Tin Angel.
They're saying the snow should last into early tomorrow afternoon. I wonder if I'll have work. Regardless, at least the snow is easily removed, so I probably won't have much trouble digging out my car.
Okay, I think it's about time to go to bed.
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no subject
Date: 2006-02-12 07:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-02-12 01:14 pm (UTC)It's awesome you got to see Laura, though. She is nice and awesome.
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Date: 2006-02-12 08:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-02-12 08:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-02-12 10:17 pm (UTC)