![]() ![]() Barnstorming is the only adjective suitable for ‘ Johnny Come Lately‘ and ‘ Galway Girl‘ whilst ‘ Acquainted with the wind‘ is a straight twelve bar blues hoboing ballad blessed with some of Earle’s most poetic lyrics “ no shelter from the storm / no pillow for my head / ‘cept for maybe my arm / and I’m sleeping like the dead / no ceiling but the sky“. Incongruous with this audience? Maybe, but it’s a hell of a song and also sees the set progressing towards the point when Earle straps on the mandolin a clear sign that the big one is approaching, but not before the other almost as big ones. ‘ Someday‘ still resonates with hopelessness like an escapee from Creedence Clearwater Revival whilst ‘ I ain’t ever satisfied‘ is a real stadium anthem for dissaffected youth. If there was a sense of something of a commercial necessity to heavily feature the new album then sliding easily into a batch of the early hits revolving around selections from ‘ Guitar Town‘ and ‘ Exit 0‘ is an easy crowdpleaser starting with ‘ My old friend the blues‘ which slowed the hectic pace somewhat. #STEVE EARLE GUITAR TOWN TORRENT UPGRADE#For contrast the swinging poor boy tune ‘ Walkin’ in LA‘ is a fiddle rich honky-tonker – and, as on the album, it’s paired with the transport upgrade of ‘ Sunset Highway‘ which is a reverb heavy car tale – the kind of thing Tom Petty did so well, and although slower it does have a touch of ‘ King’s Highway‘ feeling about it. With Steve Earle’s growling vocal, and the down and dirty playing of the band this is a brave move as these are still the less familiar songs – but the album title track opener sets the tone wonderfully, whilst ‘ The Firebreak Line‘ rumbles and tumbles gloriously, and is dedicated to the elite firefighters – The Hotshots – who risk their lives to save the property of others. It’s the new album – ‘ So you wanna be an Outlaw?‘ which gets a good shakedown with the first six songs. The gig is roughly broken down into mini-sets with the new album, the mandolin section, the big hits and more. Steve Earle and the Dukes really work at their two hours on stage – there’s little in the way of stage chat for much of the time and hardly time to applaud as songs segue neatly from one and straight into another. #STEVE EARLE GUITAR TOWN TORRENT FULL#And they’re part of Steve Earle’s band – these things of course don’t happen by chance.Īfter the interval Steve Earle took the stage, a grizzled road warrior of song, the band now a full six piece, ready to rock – with a country feel. Upbeat, gorgeously played – it’s a great opening set because The Mastersons are one of the best duos you’ll get a chance to hear. From this humble inspiration comes a signature song, opened up to define the irrationality of trying to manipulate another into being what you might want them to be. Eleanor Whitmore introduces ‘ Don’t Tell Me to Smile‘ as a kind of revenge song – it having been inspired by an audience member who kept making little smile gestures whilst Eleanor was playing the violin – an instrument she confides that is not designed to accompany a beaming visage. ![]() Their opener though is ‘ You Could be Wrong‘, which is very much a song for Trumpian times, from the very first lines “ Saying all the things you shouldn’t say / All the same old tired ways / You could be wrong“. They also have a new album – ‘ Transient Lullaby’ – out, a follow up to their debut ‘ Birds Fly South‘, the title song of both make up parts of the set. ![]() Their music is predominantly made up of crystal clear vocals, Chris Masterson’s exemplary guitar and the achingly beautiful violin playing of Eleanor Whitmore. Husband and wife, they record and perform as a duo as The Mastersons and they are the opening act on this evening at The Barbican. Steve Earle has, as two of the Dukes, lead guitarist Chris Masterson and multi-instrumentalist Eleanor Whitmore. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |