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* "Going home, via Chicago..."

The last two stops on the ND 10th- Anniversary tour -- before this weekend's four-night finale at Seattle's Sunset Tavern -- took us to two of the nation's three biggest cities, for some very different kinds of shows.

Wednesday September 14th, we were at the Mint in Los Angeles for a triple bill featuring Tom Freund, Grey DeLisle and Murry Hammond. Most of you probably know Murry best as the bass player for the Old 97's, one of the first bands we wrote about in No Depression's early years (and a participant in the one and only No Depression Tour in the spring of 1997). Murry moved out to LA a few years back when he married Grey, whose recent albums for Sugar Hill Records have established her as one of the most promising Americana artists of the past few years (when she's not keeping herself busy as a cartoon voice with the likes of Scooby Doo and Clifford The Big Red Dog). Murry plays in Grey's band as well -- along with Marvin Etzioni, whose unique approach to instrumentalism keeps DeLisle's music always a little skewed from the center. DeLisle certainly keeps both the outside and inside tracks in her periphery, as evidenced by her cover of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody": Yes, it's a song everyone knows, but no, it's hardly ordinary or mainstream by any stretch of musical definition. Grey brilliantly resurrects and reinvents the song with a sense of timeless retrogression that suggests it was written not in the 1970s but the 1870s (or maybe even the 1470s).

This night's show offered us the opportunity to see Hammond on his own as well, something he rarely does outside of his weekly church gig in Burbank. Maybe I shouldn't have been surprised by how good his set was; he is, after all, a very accomplished and seasoned player, performer and singer after more than a decade with the 97's. But not having seen him out front before, I didn't expect how utterly at ease he is in that context, and how effectively his voice carries the weight of the lead role. Alternating between guitar and harmonium, he delivered engaging renditions of original songs and old traditional tunes, plus a terrific turn on Julie Miller's "All My Tears" in which he played twelve-string as if guitar were his first instrument. Best of all, though, was his own "Valentine", from the 97's album Fight Songs, a perfectly constructed little gem that as good of a bittersweet ballad as anyone has written in the past ten years.

A good deal of this evening for me was about reconnecting with very special single songs, in fact. While Tom Freund won over the crowded Mint room with his back-and-forth blending of jazzy folk, pop and rock that often felt as much like beat poetry as it did a musical performance -- most notably on a riotous cover of the Beatles' "Revolution" with Etzioni sitting in -- the tune that hit home deeply with me was a Freund original called "Trondheim", the first song of his I ever heard. Tom had slipped me a demo tape back around maybe 1994, shortly after I'd met him when he was touring with the Silos; something about the song's haunting melody grabbed me from the start, and I realized as he played it at the Mint that it never really has let go. I finally made the connection that it comes across like the very best of Jimmy Webb's hits -- i.e., songs named after cities ("Wichita Lineman", "By The Time I Get To Phoenix", "Galveston") -- that possess enormous emotional power by the virtue of a beautiful chord change placed in precisely the right spot. On "Trondheim", it's in that opening guitar sequence: The first two chords set the stage with a melancholy mood, but it's the third chord that strikes deep into the soul. I'm not quite sure exactly how a musical note can so perfectly express and define the feeling of heartbreak -- but that's what it is, right there, spilling out of the song like a poet's tear-stained reflections on the lines of the page.

Friday September 16th, we celebrated with a couple of events in Chicago. On the heels of a very rainy Thursday night, the clouds suddenly parted on Friday afternoon as if by divine intervention and the skies were perfectly clear just as the Hideout Block Party got under way at about 7pm. As if that weren't enough, a full moon rose over the the downtown Chicago skyline on the horizon. It seems that someone up there was smiling on Hideout proprieters Katie & Tim Tuten, and it's no wonder, as they've been an invaluable presence for the roots-music scene in Chicago ever since they took over this tucked-away little bar many years ago and turned it into a haven for... well, "whatever that is." Their annual Block Party has become one of the locals' most eagerly anticipated events of the late summer; this was my first chance to find out why. Plain and simple, the Tutens know how to put on a great party, and the musicians come out to support the cause -- on this night, Autumn Defense, the Lamentations, Freakwater, and Devil In A Woodpile. As if I didn't feel at home enough among such welcoming company, suddenly legendary Texas agriculture commissioner Jim Hightower appeared, stumping for Sunday's Farm Aid concert just outside of town. All in all, a perfect way to spend a picturesque early evening.

Heading across town for the first of our two nights sponsoring Sufjan Stevens' shows at the Metro almost felt like cultural whiplash in some respects: Where the Hideout was laid-back, the Metro was at fever pitch, with eager fans stretching in a line down the block and around the corner awaiting their chance to jam into the venue. This is, after all, the home state of Stevens' new Illinois-themed album, and the locals turned out in droves to see Stevens and his Illini-cheerleading-outfit-clad cast of players lead the crowd through endearingly amusing cheers and a beautiful set of songs drawn largely from the album. Opener Laura Veirs (of Seattle) proved a fine choice to start things off, unassuming but utterly engaging with her indie-leaning folk-rock repertoire.

Saturday, it was finally time to return home. We hope those of you who could join us had a fine time at the shows, and that perhaps we'll see the Seattle folks this weekend at the Sunset -- Peter Case & Christy McWilson on Thursday; Raul Malo on Friday; Richmond Fontaine, Mike Coykendall and Norfolk & Western on Saturday; and the Waco Brothers' Bloodshot Revue on Sunday.

Or maybe we'll catch you in 2015, for a "20 Years / 20 Shows" bash. Maybe time to start planning that now....

adios,
peter

Posted by peter on September 22, 2005 12:09 AM | Permalink