I had the opportunity to play two wonderful shows this week, both with Amanda Jo Williams.
The first was held at a place called the Echo Country Outpost, which co-owner Chris insists is “not a venue”! What it is, is, is a funky little store on Echo Park Blvd (corner of Duane, out past Chango a ways) that I couldn’t tell exactly what they sell but I am certain it is cool, whatever it is.
For the occasion (perhaps the first show held there? perhaps it will be a monthly event from here out?) a stage existed at the back of the main room, on which played first a group (in this instance a duo tho sometimes they are larger) called Verb The Adjective Noun. Originally from Boston, temporarily not living in their bus, they were very tight and propulsive, not just for a duo but all around. One of them played guitar and sang, and the other played guitar, banjo and lap steel with equal and impressive facility. Good vocal harmonies. Rootsy without spilling either too far into tradition or too far into singer-songwriter ickiness.
The headliners, Abilene of whom I believe set up the show, were called Sundays Soundtrack. They had a wonderful upright bassist and two wonderful women and they were vibey and moody and harmonistic and bouyant and I enjoyed them a lot.
We played in between.
So, a little show in a little store, but there were at least 60 people in there which made it FULL, and I don’t think I’d ever met more than a half dozen of them before. We had a rough set, new bass player (he did a fine job, but it was his first show with us) and tuning issues for me and Amanda, but the people really dug it, they laughed with us not at us and by the end we had a wonderful energy going, the best energy I’ve felt in a room yet at a Los Angeles show. Score one for Echo Country!
…
OK, and then last night we played at the Echo Curio, which is very possibly my favorite in-town venue to play at. It’s run by the awesome Grant-and-Justin dynamic duo, there’s an amazing stream of art that passes across the walls and a room full of weird records for cheap, we played at the top of a bill of ridiculously talented women (which was a new and wonderful context to hear Amanda’s music in) and once again a room full of 60 total strangers and a few good friends just dug us to death, kept us going for an extra tune or so past what Amanda had intended to play. Let me tell you, we felt GOOD. And the new bass, upright Jef Hogan (with one ‘f’), really makes it.
Also on the bill last night were Fort King (who I didn’t get to hear cos I was eating a burrito next door, but they were very nice) … Beliss, a duo of sisters (I am told) whose vocal harmonies are unusual and beautiful and who feature lush acoustic guitar voicings and electric-upright bass-playing to die for. Or at least to swoon about … and Ora Cogan, who might be a cosmic parallel to Elizabeth Cotton or Karen Dalton, who sings like no one else I’ve heard (beautifully, swoopingly, in a round and full voice) and who coaxes lovely rich tones from an electric hollowbody Gibson tuned in an array of unusual manners.
Solid week.
Tune in later for the weather!
featuring Woody (acoustic guitar) and 5-Track (acoustic guitar)
For the evening of March 4 we assembled a group including Jef Hogan (electric bass), Jon Franco (drums), Jennifer Ng (percussion), Woody (acoustic guitar) and myself (acoustic wah-wah guitar).
I had one rehearsal with Jef and John (who also play bass and drums for Greg Franco’s Rough Church), one run-through with Woody, and a loose jam with Jennifer, in the few days before the show. Many of the band members had not met each other until they arrived at the venue. This is less unusual for me than might be suspected.
Viento y Agua in Long Beach is a “coffee house” with wonderful energy, constantly changing art on the walls, the occasional model skeleton, many books, and a warm and inviting stage (and sound system) which was conceived and assembled by Angie Evans. I’ve played a few shows there, by myself and also with Cricket and with Amanda, and every time I’ve felt good and played well.
This was the first time I’d played some of this material in a long time, and the first time I’d ever played some of it with a band. The two acoustic guitars kept the energy closer to the ground than usual, and the songs and improvs worked together for a change instead of fighting for space. The existence of dual percussionists also contributed to the effortless momentum of this group’s sound. We had momentum without frightful velocity.
Good show. Hope we do it again.
I am greatly honored (again) to have my work listened to, dug, and raved about by the Arch-Drude himself, Julian Cope. You can read his rant here, about 2/3 down the page:
http://www.headheritage.com/addressdrudion/129/2010/
Among other things, he says that this disc “showcases both 5-Track’s role as natural instrumentalist freebluesman, but tends to overlook/underplay his excellence as a singer of freaked out-yet-enlightened field holler,” which is a WONDERFUL thing to hear. He also says, and this might even be better: “What I rarely get sent – and what makes 5-Track so unique – are songs of such calibre as ‘Floating Around’, ‘It Could Be Time’, ‘Hot Potato Pie’ or the be-all-and-end-all epic ‘He’s not Dead, He’s Just In Texas’.”
As it happens, I got another review today, as well, for the same disc. Here’s a link if you’re curious:
http://babysue.com/2010-Feb-LMNOP-Reviews.html#anchor41664
did I mention I was in a Dave Matthews video? as a guitar-playing extra… it doesn’t embed, but here’s the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kD9CrZODlNA
you can see me for about half a second roughly 3 minutes and fifteen seconds into the video. Enjoy!
Good morning!!
Today I am officially releasing a cd. In truth, I sold one and gave one away as far back as last week … and a pre-mastered edition made it to Vermont over a year ago… But for most of you, I have held off until the time was utterly, utterly ripe. Here it is:
“BACKATCHA, POD PEOPLE!!” was recorded in Echo Park, Los Angeles, California, Earth, in a big empty house in the spring of 2008. The emphasis of this disc is on songs and singing, and also on what may be my oldest love, loud and gnarly guitar sounds.* The songs were mainly current to the time of the recording, but some of them also dip back a bit in my catalog: “Floating Around” and “Lummi” and “Toad” were all written in, um, 2000? I think?
More recent tunes on “Pod People!!” include “Blues For Horselover Fat“, “Texas”, “Hot Potato Pie”, and “It Could Be Time”.
Besides the analog-tape-and-tube driven tone and the lyrical and melodic spotlight, this disc is about at-odds-ness with one’s surroundings.
So far people seem to be responding well to this music, and I hope you enjoy it, too. More is always on the way.
Love,
5
*In the Rudy Rucker sense of the word “gnarl”
