February Concert Report

Here’s the concert report.

Po’ Girl – I saw them last Thursday at Club Passim, the night after the big storm we had Valentine’s Day. A guy named JT Lindsay from Chicago opened, and he was pretty good. I got seated at a table right in front of the stage. They are Canadian, from the Vancouver music scene, and touring in a big white SunSeeker RV from Canadream.com. They said they’ve been getting lots of “You should go to Florida” as they tour around storm-ridden Canada and New England. (Alas for you, they are not going to Florida.) They played a lot of good stuff from their new CD (it was their CD release show for Home to You) and some old favorites. The band has a lot of chemistry and brings a range of instruments to play. I love their folksy bluesy sound.

Band notes: Po’ Girl is Allie, Awna, Trish, John and Diona. John, the drummer drew some comments. While hey were setting up, one of the women I was seated with remarked, “I wonder what it’s like to be the only male drummer in an all girl band. That must be interesting.” Knowing glances with her friends were exchanged when John and Awna gave each other a quick squeeze before back going on stage after the setup. Jolie Holland is not in Po’ Girl. She was in The Be Good Tanyas and then went off on her own. Trish Stein of Po’ Girl is still in The Be Good Tanyas.

Rickie Lee Jones – She played Sanders Theatre at Harvard on Saturday. She mostly did new material from her new CD, The Sermon on Exposition Boulevard. A religious theme, and very soulful. She was cool as ever. She opened alone at the piano, then brought out her full seven person band, and ended with a duo, her partner playing what appeared to be some sort of Macintosh laptop enhanced guitar. No encore. I love that she doesn’t save material for the contrived spontaneous encore.

Band notes: People commented on the hand and verbal directions Rickie Lee Jones was giving her musicians and sound guy throughout the show. It’s clear who is in charge. She reminds me of the old time band leaders, like Tommy Dorsey and Glenn Miller.

Night Wanderings

From one of our flutist correspondents:

If anyone likes interesting contemporary music... Thought I'd let you know about a cd that was just released that features as a soloist a flutist you all know!... See link.

Uncle Shaker on iTunes

I was browsing iTunes with my new iPod this weekend and saw that the Uncle Shaker CD is available to download from Apple. And that “1987” was listed as the most requested download.

Sarah Borges up for Boston Music Awards

News from Sarah Borges:

We're back from tour, and even after some great shows at the Americana Music Conference in Nashville and a stint on Robbie Fulks' Secret Country show for XM radio with Dave Alvin among others it's still great to see Boston again.

We're (it's reallly me and all the band men even though it's under my name) nominated for some Bsoton Music Awards this year.

If you have a few spare seconds, please cast your vote for 'Silver City' for Local Debut Album, nd for me as Local Female Vocalist, and Female Singer/Songwriter. I think today (Tuesday 9/27) is the deadline.

We'll play this Wednesday at Avalon at the awards thingy and also at the Cambridge Elks, 55 Bishop Allen Drive in Central Sq Cambridge this Friday at 9:50pm with Dennis Brennan, Todd Thibaud, Christian McNeill and many others.

See you then.
SB

Wow, new music

Some good songs I've been listening to:

Nanci Griffith, Beautiful
Sarah Borges, I'm Going to Live the Life That I Sing About in My Song
Amelia White, Windowpane (loads on visiting http://www.ameliawhite.com/)
The White Stripes, I'm Lonely (But I Ain't That Lonely Yet)
Tom Waits, Hoist that Rag

Thad Cockrell and Caitlin Cary

Q: Have you guys heard of Thad Cockrell and Caitlin Cary? I heard them recently and was blown away. Here is their web site http://www.caitlinandthad.com/. Follow the Music links and you can listen to full length songs. They also have some solo stuff, very nice.

We vacationed in McCreary County, Ky last week, population 17,190. I found a great radio station out of Whitley City, KY. You can check it out on line at www.hay98.com. I heard these two on a program called "Are you ready for the country?"

Reply: I really like Caitlin Cary! She used to be in Ryan Adams' old band, Whiskeytown, and then went solo. I have one of her CD's that I like a lot, but her piece de resistance is a live version of a song called Rosemary Moore (I'm guessing it might be a cover). There's another (less depressing) song of hers that I really like -- I think it's called Hold Onto Me.

Reply: I may have heard these two on WUMB yesterday. I tuned in in the middle of the interview. The woman was identified as Caitlin and I didn't get the guy's name. They played the Newport Folk Festival, so maybe they'll get booked into Club Passim or Johnny D's and I can see them live.

Sarah Borges - 'Silver City' in stores now

News from Sarah Borges:

"Silver City" - the debut album by songstress extraordinaire and Boston's best kept secret Sarah Borges - now available in record stores everywhere - also at Amazon.com, www.bluecornmusic.com - pick it up on sale at Newbury Comics in the "New This Week" section

BOSTON CD Release Party Saturday, April 2 @ Lizard Lounge - 1667 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA (617) 547-0759 w/The Heygoods (9:30), Andrea Gillis (10:30) Sarah Borges (11:30)