Running and Robert

My morning ten miler takes me past the Greenwich Odeum, in historic downtown East Greenwich. I've been there a few times in my stint in RI, mainly to see my ten year old perform in recitals, but also once to see my Father in-law's favorite: Dave Mason. It's a nice venue, good sight lines, good acoustics (to my untrained ears) and it's not too big and not too small. $10 a beer but what are you going to do.

Anyhoo on a run a couple weeks ago, I see a poster for Robert Cray Band! I've appreciated his playing since discovering his Strong Persuader album way back in my, ahem, probably teens or early twenties. So I quickly research tix and try to secure a sitter so my wife and I can go. Alas, the sitter didn't work out but my wife lovingly let me out of some parenting duties to attend.

The band was stellar. Robert's tone was so full and vibrant...very hard to describe...but from the first chord, the bass and volume filled the auditorium. I noticed that he derives a lot of his tone and "quack" from picking back near the bridge. Very strong player and incredibly limb independent if you will: he is able to play complex rhythm parts while singing. It doesn't make sense to this mortal - feels like he has to have two brains. I think my favorite phrasing was on Sittin' On Top Of The World, where he tastefully kept to the melody but veered off in interesting, bluesy ways. Superb. 

And my gawd his singing. Talk about soul and range. His falsetto on Phone Booth was worth the price of admission. Incredible.

Having listened to Strong Persuader earlier in the day, I was really hoping for Nothin' But A Woman and Smoking Gun but still enjoyed I Guess I Showed Her. What slayed my listening to Strong Persuader was how great the lyrics are. To me, pop music seems a much better vehicle for lyrical expression, whereas the blues (whatever this means) tends, for me anyway, to focus on instrumental expression. Counting Crows doesn't need a ripping guitar solo for me, because of the way the lyrics transport me. But check out these gems from Strong Persuader: 

I payed the clerk and moved right in

A single room with one big twin

There's a chest and mirror

Shower's down the hall

Room 16 ain't got no view

But the hot plate's brand new

[Chorus]

I guess I showed her

Maybe you want to end it

You've had your fill of my kind of fun

But you don't know how to tell me

And you know that I'm not that dumb

I put 2 and 1 together

And you know that's not an even sum

And I know just where to catch you with

That well known smokin' gun

Oh, she was right next door and I'm such a strong persuader

She was just another notch on my guitar

She's gonna lose the man that really loves her

In the silence I can hear their breaking hearts

And my fave:

You can give me an hour alone in a bank

Pay all my tickets, wipe the slate blank

You could buy me a car, fill up the tank

Tell me a boat full of lawyers just sank

But it ain't nothin' but a woman...

You can buy me a house, turn over the deed

Bring six pounds of California weed

But my weakness ain't drugs, whiskey, or greed

Only one thing that YOUNG BOB needs...

Just great stuff. So I want to thank the Odeum and The Robert Cray Band for adding to my life but also because after the show, I went home and, inspired, finished a song that had been rattling around up there too long. I'll post an acoustic version soon. Till then, enjoy Nothin But A Woman: