Sugar Nile, Blue Moon Bible Vol IV

Tractor Tavern, Wednesday night. Annie Ford Band, Sam Russell and the Harborrats, Falcon.

The Annie Ford band was playing their second live show and you would have never known it. Backed by three strong musicians, Annie’s role as lead vocal and songwriter felt just right. I’ve seen her mainly as the fiddle player in Slim Pickens. But this incarnation was a fresh departure from the strictly old-time standards of that band. Some hints of Neko Case, but staying original all the way.

When our turn to play came along, Sam informed the sound guy on our setup and I was sure we were going to get berated. 5 vocals, an average of 2 inputs per musician (and we were a 7 piece), and a complete drum kit change. It got him a little grumpy, but he wired everything up quickly and dialed the sound in even faster. Because we were 7 musicians, we weren’t able to rehearse very much at all. Instead Sam gave us a loose skeleton of each tune and we basically built on that and followed his dynamics during the set. This approach worked perfectly with the group that we had and you could tell it was as much a rush for the audience as it was for us. It always feels really good when the band is tight, and the highs and lows of Sam’s music wildly swing your emotions and keep things interesting. Overall, a really fun set to play.

Falcon closed out. Some really nice harmonies and solid grooves. Their drummer was co-frontman and they had him front and center on stage. That was pretty cool to see as the skin pounders usually get shoved away in the back. Really nice folks and they had a guy playing midi-controller-laptop that totally made the soundscape.

Oh, and did I mention that the show represented a release of our latest CD The Sugar Nile, Blue Moon Bible, Volume IV

0 Comments | Posted by Michael Spaly in Session Work, Shows