By: David de Young
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Sherwin Linton kicks up his heels at the Fine Line Monday night - photo by Steve Wolf (click for full size)
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Monday shows are always tough, tough to drag yourself out to, and tough to recover from. This particular Monday had a sparse but growing crowd as Accident Clearinghouse took the stage around 8 p.m. The Fine Line wisely chose not to open the mezzanine for this show which gave those of us in attendance a snugger fit together on the main floor.
I had secured a couple of tickets for this show courtesy of Mr. Linton himself that I'd offered to one of my bosses at work who's been a big fan of Linton's since his years in the service. I had even reserved a table for him. But due to a last minute conflict, my boss unfortunately couldn't attend the show. It was without much hesitation, however, that photographer Steve Wolf and I took over his prime table, stage left, right up front. Just to rub it in a bit to my boss, this was practically the best seat in the house.
Local country/bluegrass stylists Accident Clearinghouse started out the evening's music, telling the story of how they'd ended up on the bill after meeting Linton at a Wanda Jackson show in September where Linton opened. AC was a well-chosen opener on this country-influenced bill.
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Accident Clearinghouse opened up for Linton
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Country music's one of life's sweetest comforts when going through a difficult breakup. But enough about me. Accident Clearinghouse had just finished their first song, "She'll Take Your Name" and I'd already made a note to be sure to tell my boss what a great show he was missing. The 3-part harmonies of Quillan Roe, Mike Brady and washboard player Raynaldo Moon soared as Moon looked up to the heavens with rosy cheeks as he sang, looking like a cherubic skater who'd just walked in from the winter cold.
Brady in green shirt and tie tonight looked dignified and lent alternatively lead and backing vocals while alternating from guitar to banjo. Early in the set they got to "That's the Way It Had to Go," of my favorites from their most recent full-length "Full Moon Night," (2002) a song of acceptance, or is it resignation?
AC closed their set with "The Prize," another sweet track from their 2002 CD. I realized in seeing and enjoying this show that my AC collection (owning just the new CD) is far too sparse. "Written in Rope" and "By Blood and Marriage" are clearly also essential from what I've heard of AC live. Each album I've mentioned can be handily purchased online from the Accident Clearinghouse store.
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Johnny Beller
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Renowned dobro player Johnny Beller did a 3-song interlude that included the Maurice Jarre-penned "Theme Song from Ghost." Beller was mind-blowing, with styles that echoed of Spanish and classical guitar. His final piece, "Northern Lights" had a complexity at times of Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor.
Paul Metsa, a local legend in his own right after 25 years in local music, was on hand to do the formal introduction of Sherwin Linton's set. Metsa, spoke of how Steve Murray (of Friends Like These fame) had introduced Linton to Metsa who had then asked Linton to play Mayslacks, just one piece of what led to a resurgence of Linton in the public eye. Metsa used a famous misquote of Hunter S. Thompson:
"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." (Thompson did say something sort of like this, but the misquotation is more interesting. Here's the story of the interesting urban legend regarding this misquotation in all its varieties.)
Metsa also commented that Linton has done over 13,000 shows in his career, more shows that the Rolling Stones and the Grateful Dead put together!
If I were to do a play-by-play of Linton's entire show, we'd be here all night. Part of Linton's shtick is talking between nearly every song, telling a background story, some true, some embellished, I'd gather. Linton began his set with the Hank Snow railroad song "I'm Movin' On", mentioning the fact that he'd started playing guitar in 1949. He followed this up by switching to electric guitar for the Marty Robbins song, "Why'd You Do Me This Way?" Linton's visage at times scares me; you look up and his 64 year old face shakes just like Johnny Cash's did. And I wondered as he flashed his super white collection of teeth if he was a Crest White Strip junkie. Hell, if they're real, this man has better teeth that I do!
Next up was a rendition of Chuck Berry's "School Days" with hot guitar licks by Linton. Far more than being a consumate showman, Linton can really play guitar, and does so beautifully even with the 8 large silver rings he wears on each finger but his thumbs. Also, Linton can walk the duck like nobody's business.
Linton launched into his own originals with "Rock-A-Billy (Is Even Better the Second Time Around) that featured a near Roger Daltrey shriek. Peter Ostroushko joined in on fiddle for the touching "When I've got More Time," which also featured Dave Wolfe on standup bass. Wolf performs on that track on the CD, and it was Linton's intent, he said, to showcase as many of the musicians who played on the CD as possible.
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"Dr. Dog" joins the band for "Jesus In a Bathtub" as Johnny Beller plays dobro in the foreground
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A man introduced as "Dr. Dog" joined on Washboard for the surprisingly charming "Jesus in A Bathtub," a song Linton claims he wrote after being challenged to "write a song about the next thing you see" while driving through the country.
An example of Linton's up-to-date songs, and an example of how he's survived this long in the music business and still stayed interesting and relevant was "Road Rage Rudy," a song about a driver in too much of a hurry "to where he has or hasn't been."
The next song with the longest title of any song I'm personally aware of, "Sick Sober and Sorry & Stuck in Stickney South Dakota Singin' Sunday Morning Comin' Down in September in The Rain," is one of my favorite Linton songs and one that does tribute to another of his heroes, and Johnny Cash associate, Kris Kristofferson.
Linton's wife Pam sang a fast number possibly called "Rail Mail." Then Linton was back with his 1987-penned song, "Turn over a New Leaf," which he updated even more with references to The Chet Atkins diet and double doses of Slimfast. Linton took a moment to pause and thank various members of the press including Chris Riemenschneider of the Star Tribune and Rob Hubbard of the Pioneer Press who have both had kind things to say about him lately, mentioning that when the press starting to call him things like "cool," recently it "surprised the shit out of [him]."
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Pam Linton w/ a smiling Sherwin (just look at those teeth!)
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On "El Rancho Grande," Linton sang in Spanish and I have no idea what he was talking about, thought I don't think it was big plates of tortilla chips. "El Nino" a more familiar Spanish term, is also the title of a Linton song about blaming everything on the weather. This song has echoes of Kristofferson's Sunday Morning Coming Down.
Linton's tribute to the armed forces, "Thank You for Serving," featured dueling dobro players, which made for an interesting, though not necessarily good sound. Perhaps a back and forth would work better, but both going at once without looking up to see what was happening had you feeling that something, somewhere was out of tune.
Another lengthily-title song, "We Need A Lot More Guitars and a Lot Less Guns on the Streets of America" featured CD producer Dave Burke on guitar, and there was a point where Linton's band had four Fenders going at once.
Linton moved to the pump organ to sing an old time gospel song, "The Gospel Truth" that he'd written in 1971 that featured Steve Murray on bass. The album's opener "Forever on the Stage" came next. The Cotton Kings then closed out the set with an old bluegrass number I didn't recognize.
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The surprise engagement: Shawna shows her excitement as Matt slips the ring onto her finger.
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Accident Clearinghouse was back for another set, but not until a big surprise as a friend of theirs named Matt from Colorado gave a short speech and proposed to his girlfriend Shawna in front of the entire Fine Line crowd. Fortunately Matt knew what he was doing and Shawna gladly accepted. This was a treat for Steve Wolf and I sitting in the front row with cameras at the ready as we managed to capture the whole moment.
After another AC set, Linton was back for his Cash Tribute which I won't be covering this time, but which as always is one part music one part music history lesson with Cash front and center which adds up to a rollicking good time. Check Linton's website and the "Latest Schedule" section for upcoming shows.
Location Info:
Fine Line Music Café
Artist Info: Accident Clearinghouse, Sherwin Linton
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