I can recommend spending a cool Friday evening seeing Jackson Browne at the Chateau Ste. Michelle winery in Woodinville, WA. At 61 and performing before an audience of his peers, Browne might have been expected to take it easy by running through a brief set of favorites. But, like more musicians than we care to admit, Browne is a consummate pro who delivered a confident set played by an outstanding band. Though not blessed with great stage presence -- Bruce Springsteen would have had us on our feet pumping fists all the way through "The Pretender," while Browne all but tossed away the crowd-pleasing lines -- he performed both the confessional and topical songs with convincing intimacy.
He reached back as far "Doctor My Eyes," but didn't lose anyone's interest during a impressive rendering of "Giving That Heaven Away" from Time the Conqueror (2008). In between, we got "Take It Easy," an acoustic version of "For Everyman," "Fountain of Sorrow," "For a Dancer," "Bright Baby Blues," "The Pretender," "Running on Empty," "In the Shape Of a Heart," "I'm Alive," "I Am a Patriot," and many others. "For A Dancer," "I'm Alive," and "Take It Easy" stood out for me; T. was especially taken with "I Am A Patriot" and its hybrid of gospel and reggae.
Luckily, guitarist David Lindley -- who now looks like a cross between Ben Franklin and a Disneyland character -- reunited with Browne for this tour. His lap steel and violin remain the bedrock of Browne's sound: I've seen Jackson with and without Lindley; there's no question that songs convey their intent more successfully when Lindley helps put them across.
So, excellent show; don't miss miss Jackson when he comes to a town near you. He's still got it.
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8 comments:
Nice piece.
You're missing a verb though ... "I've Jackson with and without Lindley"! .... I hope you don't mean "I've DONE Jackson with and without Lindley"!!!!
My secret is out. I'll fix that one!
So Lindley is playing in the band again, eh? That's great to hear.
And the new Los Lobos CD certainly sounds good!
The Lobos must be the best working band around. I've been going to see them for more than 25 years now, and the tightness and professionalism never fails to knock me off my feet.
For a guy who was supposed to be too busy to blog often from now on you sure are prolific. I assume you haven't started your studies yet.
I love the funnies. Today's Doonsbury is hilarious. What a put down on Sarah Palin.
I tried finding your e-mail address to send you a link to a 'You Tube' video of Benny Goodman in Carnegie Hall in 1938. I think his drummer was Gene Krupa then and Harry James was in his band on the trumpet. That recording rocks.
I see that adding RSS sign up feed didn't help correct my blog problem. Arrrgh!
LOL! The plan is to maintain on Sunday, publish shorter entries during the week, and reduce the number of links. So far, so good: I'm maintaining on the reading and on-line tutorials.
My email address changed. You can get the new one via my Profile. I look forward to the video!
We debated on $60 per ticket to see my amazing hero, JB, but we just couldn't justify that much money.
Wished we had....
It has gotten ridiculously expensive. Bruce Springsteen tix were $4 when I saw him in 1975.
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