By: Steve McPherson
It’s Friday, kids, and my first time back at the Entry since it re-opened. Aside from slightly better-mannered staff and slightly higher drink prices, everything’s pretty much the same. You know, vigilante cops looking for the drug masterminds who killed their partners and/or wives, awkward preteens blossoming into elegant swans when the jock squad bets the captain of the football team he can’t play Pygmalion to her Galatea, mismatched college friends on the road trip of their lives. The point being, this isn’t going to be a night of mind-expanding music and boundary-breaking, but what the hell’s wrong with that? Exactly; nothing.
Downstairs before the show, the cast gathers (Darrin, Brian, Amy, Ted, and Tim from Big Ditch Road, Martin and Kevin from Martin’s band) and the discussion meanders to the possible doping of the beer supply at the Entry (howwastheshow.com is breaking this story FIRST!), terrible broken bones suffered both while drunk and sober, on snowboards and not, and to Chris Riemenschneider’s recent article about alt. country. Given the lineup tonight, it seems almost inevitable that we’d get to this. The consensus seems to be that Riemenschneider’s just trying to pick a fight. Sure, alt. country has its limitations, and just about anything can become trite, but tonight’s show pointed out just how comforting convention can be.
I mean, let’s face it: Big Ditch Road is not going to be making a sprawling, Pink Floyd-esque concept album anytime too soon (unless they’re keeping it a secret), and I wouldn’t want them to (okay, maybe a little). BDR play good old-fashioned, home-brewed, German hops-inflected rock and country and when you’re driving home from the club after the show, having gotten the cold shoulder from every girl you approached, a little tipsy, a little bleary-eyed, you’re not going to listen to the Mars Volta; you’re going to listen to BDR’s paeans to heartbreak and minimum wage living. Sure, the music’s kind of a downer, but new members Amy (bass/vocals), Ted (guitar/vocals), and Tim (drums) have injected enough energy into the lineup to make the shows rock and it’s all the better for that. Plus, the harmony vocals sound great, as do Ted’s tastefully gritty fills. A large amount of the material covered will be making an appearance on their next album, currently in the works at Mark Stockert’s studio.
Dana Thompson took the stage with a largely non-electric lineup, Bob McCreedy playing acoustic for this show, and she delivered a sweet set of that hi-fi lonesome sound. As someone next to me observed, Thompson has one of the most underrated voices of any of the current crop of Twin Cities singer/songwriters, but I doubt it can stay that way for long. Hers is the kind of voice that you want to hear last thing before you fall asleep, singing a soft lullaby right into your ear. I haven’t gotten the chance to check out her disc yet, so I was unfamiliar with most of the songs, but they were compact, lovely, and heartfelt. And some nights, that’s just about what you want to hear.
Last up in the headliner’s slot came Martin Devaney, who I think has always come across better live than on disc. As Riemenschneider pointed out in his review of Devaney’s latest (‘La Mancha’), singing isn’t exactly his strong suit, and he himself will admit as much, but under the hot lights and after a few beers, forced to sing at the edge of his range, Devaney’s voice has a ragged glory about it that admits its shortcomings and goes ahead anyways. Most of the songs from the night’s set came from his newest disc, but there were a couple choice older numbers thrown in, including “Impressions” from his ‘September’ album. Brian from BDR came up on a few songs to contribute some understated pedal steel and some guy who’ll remain nameless sang harmony on a couple numbers. That inclusive vibe is one of the great things about a Martin Devaney show; Devaney’s albums are good and all that, but if that’s the only way you’ve experienced him, you need to get on out for a sloppy good time at one of his shows. Anything goes and often does, and it usually feels more like a slapdash get-together than a production.
And that’s the lesson of tonight’s show. It’s easy to sit back in your home or office and look at trends, listen to CD’s, and extrapolate ideas about said trends and CD’s, but often, music can just be a good excuse to go out, see your friends, drink a little bit, and have a good time. It doesn’t always have to be rocket surgery.
Location Info:
7th Street Entry
Artist Info: Big Ditch Road, Dana Thompson, Martin Devaney
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