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January 29, 2007
Roots rock weekend
Despite the lack of major concerts in this post-holiday time, there are still some good music events to be found.
I found two this weekend: Bill Kirchen at the Fairfield Theatre Company Friday night and Dave Alvin and James McMurtry at Toad’s Place in New Haven Sunday night.
It was actually surprising to see Kirchen back a FTC as his appearance there last Labor Day weekend didn’t exactly pack the people in. I guess word of mouth helped because there was a decent crowd Friday night and, from the raucous reception Kirchen received, there will be even more people at his next stop in Fairfield.
For those unfamiliar with Kirchen, he was the guitarist in Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen and he plays a brand of music he’s termed “dieselbilly," a play on rockabilly and the fact that he has a lot of songs about trucks.
Kirchen is on tour to promote his latest disc, “Hammer of the Honky Tonk Gods," and he played every song from the album Friday night. Of course, he also played his old favorites such as “Looking at the World Through a Windshield," “Swing Fever" and, of course, “Hot Rod Lincoln."
Using his Fender Telecaster, Kirchen rides in his “Hot Rod Lincoln" and comes across famous musicians of the past and present. Each musical reference is joined by a riff from the artist in question and in Friday night’s show, Kirchen channeled the spirits of Johnny Cash, Duane Eddy, Roy Orbison, Johnny Rivers, Marty Robbins, Merle Haggard, Bob Wills, Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs, The Ventures, Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry, Elmore James, Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Link Wray, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Freddie King, B.B. King, Albert King, Ben E. King, The King (Elvis Presley), Eric Clapton, Deep Purple, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, The Monkees, The Sex Pistols and Jimi Hendrix.
I’m sure I missed a couple of names, but that’s pretty impressive how he can jam all of those people into one song.
Sunday night at Toad’s was a great doubleheader, made even better by the fact that Dave Alvin led off. I have been a fan for quite a few years now and caught him at Café Nine in New Haven a couple of years back. For this show, however, Alvin was backed by his longtime band, The Guilty Men, and it was amazing to watch him burn on an electric guitar.
There weren’t many surprises — except for a lousy turnout or 100-150 or so people — in Alvin’s set, but if was just a great performance by one of this country’s under-appreciated artists.
He even added a song from his former band, The Blasters, to close the show.
Up next was James McMurtry and the Heartless Bastards. I wasn’t familiar with the music of McMurtry, whose father is Larry “Lonesome Dove" McMurtry, but I must say I liked what I heard.
I only stayed for about an hour of McMurtry’s set (at that point it was after 11 p.m.), but I would like to have heard more. He did mention that he hasn’t been to New Haven in about 15 years, so it might be a while until I can catch his whole show.
Posted by Sean on January 29, 2007 7:03 PM
