Tear Report
I went to the Michael Martin Murphey show at The Saxon Pub tonight. It was really a whole lot better than I expected. I ended up buying a CD and had it signed. My short conversation with MMM involved my reaction to his songs I've never heard before, and Wisconsin weather. I shook his hand, yeah! Let's go to my notes:
Saxon has an intimate setting. You can be sitting at the bar and still feel like you're right next to the performers. The place was full, nowhere to sit, so I was standing on the near side of the bar for the show and had a 50 yard line view to Michael. He had a great cowboy outfit on on as far as I'm concerned. Red shirt, brown vest, yellow handkerchief, tan hat, sky blue guitar strap, blue jeans. Looked good. The first thing I noticed was the quality of his voice--very smooth. Velvetty, does that make sense? He peppered his show with the anecdotes and jokes I would expect from a singer/songwriter doing a solo gig. One of his first referenced Wisconsin where he lives, and he stated that "it keeps the whiners out." Take note Texas cold weather wimps. He went somewhere I didn't expect when he sang about Hawaii, where his grandfather lived and he sang about throwing his toy drum into a volcano. Only the other day I saw Buzz' entry and picture from Diamond Head so in my mind I was floating between my apartment and Diamond Head while the song was playing.
Killpen was a great song with a heart string pulling set-up. Apparently up-nort at an auction there are two pens for horse auctions, one for the good ones and one for the rejects that will either get sold for something or carted up to Canada for slaughter. His teenage daughters convinced him to buy one horse which ended up being a great foal. This reminded me a bit of a DVD I started watching earlier tonight, more on that later.
He added a musician when the leader/conductor/etc (don't remember) of the Texas State Symphony joined him on Bass. The bass he played was built in 1790. This may be the oldest instrument I've ever heard live. I have to ask my sister pro musician if she's heard an older instrument, cause that's damned old! The second (unexpected) set was a little less memorable just because I'd had a few beers by that point.
I was bracing for Wildfire, and when he played it I was able to control myself, mostly because of the beer but partly because of the 10 minute monologue before the song which unfortunately didn't catch my attention. All day when I thought about the song I almost cried and could feel the fluids build up in my nose, so it was surprising to me that it didn't happen when he played it. I formed one tear in the outside right corner of my eye, and caught it with my napkin at the end of the song. I think if he had full orchestration I would've lost it.
I loved this show, totally worth the admission! Every song was professional quality. This guy is a legend.
Saxon has an intimate setting. You can be sitting at the bar and still feel like you're right next to the performers. The place was full, nowhere to sit, so I was standing on the near side of the bar for the show and had a 50 yard line view to Michael. He had a great cowboy outfit on on as far as I'm concerned. Red shirt, brown vest, yellow handkerchief, tan hat, sky blue guitar strap, blue jeans. Looked good. The first thing I noticed was the quality of his voice--very smooth. Velvetty, does that make sense? He peppered his show with the anecdotes and jokes I would expect from a singer/songwriter doing a solo gig. One of his first referenced Wisconsin where he lives, and he stated that "it keeps the whiners out." Take note Texas cold weather wimps. He went somewhere I didn't expect when he sang about Hawaii, where his grandfather lived and he sang about throwing his toy drum into a volcano. Only the other day I saw Buzz' entry and picture from Diamond Head so in my mind I was floating between my apartment and Diamond Head while the song was playing.
Killpen was a great song with a heart string pulling set-up. Apparently up-nort at an auction there are two pens for horse auctions, one for the good ones and one for the rejects that will either get sold for something or carted up to Canada for slaughter. His teenage daughters convinced him to buy one horse which ended up being a great foal. This reminded me a bit of a DVD I started watching earlier tonight, more on that later.
He added a musician when the leader/conductor/etc (don't remember) of the Texas State Symphony joined him on Bass. The bass he played was built in 1790. This may be the oldest instrument I've ever heard live. I have to ask my sister pro musician if she's heard an older instrument, cause that's damned old! The second (unexpected) set was a little less memorable just because I'd had a few beers by that point.
I was bracing for Wildfire, and when he played it I was able to control myself, mostly because of the beer but partly because of the 10 minute monologue before the song which unfortunately didn't catch my attention. All day when I thought about the song I almost cried and could feel the fluids build up in my nose, so it was surprising to me that it didn't happen when he played it. I formed one tear in the outside right corner of my eye, and caught it with my napkin at the end of the song. I think if he had full orchestration I would've lost it.
I loved this show, totally worth the admission! Every song was professional quality. This guy is a legend.
Labels: music
posted by PlaysByEar at 1:12 AM
2 Comments:
Oooh, I've been trying to remember. I know my cello prof's instrument was built in 1751, but I know I've heard earlier (and played earlier!) than that too.
After I thought about it a second, I figured you did. New England has lots of old stuff!
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