Lyrically Speaking: April the 14th, Part 1

Pity us poor Gillian Welch fans!  We keep tapping our toes, checking our watches, paging through our calendars waiting for the next album to drop. I mean, she's got plenty of time to help her partner David Rawlings put out a nifty album, fly 'cross country to Portland to sing back-up on nearly every song on the new Decemberists album... But she can't piece together enough songs over the past, whatever, seven years for her own new album? We've even heard some of the new songs -- "Throw Me a Rope," "Knuckleball Catcher" -- and we love them. So please, Gillian...
  In the meantime, here's an old song of hers I love.
  Off of the still-amazing "Time (The Revelator)" album, from 2001, "April the 14th, Part 1" is part history lesson, part story of a band on the run.
  Gillian details what she terms "Ruination Day," April 14th, a day in history that includes the Lincoln assassination (1865), the sinking of the Titanic (1912) and "Black Sunday," one of the worst Dust Bowl storms in Oklahoma (1935).
  Over haunting minor-chord acoustic guitars, the first lines of the song set the tone: "When the iceberg hit/Oh they must have known/God moves on the water/Like Casey Jones."
  Gillian sings about an anonymous young band playing a nowheresville Idaho festival presumably on that same grave April Day: "They looked sick and stoned/And strangely dressed/No one showed/From the local press."
  Is she comparing the band's experience to the date's other tragic events? The lyrics do read like a disaster: "And the girl passed out/In the backseat trash/There were no way they'd make/Even a half a tank of gas."
  The bleakness of the lyrics, sung in Gillian's aching yet beautiful voice meld beautifully with her strummed chords and Rawlings haunting plucked notes.
  A second part to the song, "Ruination Day, Part 2" is a two-minute, 37-second epilogue repeating the same disaster themes and bringing the whole thing to a close, counting down the miles, like counting down the years: "That's the day.../The day that is ruination day./They were one/They were two/They were three/They were four/They were five hundred miles from their home..."


April the 14th, Part 1
When the iceberg hit,
Oh they must have known,
God moves on the water
Like Casey Jones.

So I walked downtown
On my telephone,
And took a lazy turn
Through the redeye zone.

It was a five-band bill,
A two-dollar show.
I saw the van out in front
From Idaho,

And the girl passed out
In the backseat trash.
There were no way they'd make
Even a half a tank of gas.

They looked sick and stoned
And strangely dressed.
No one showed
From the local press.

But I watched them walk
Through the bottom land,
And I wished that I played
In a rock & roll band.

Hey, hey,
It was the fourteenth day of April.

Well they closed it down,
With the sails in rags.
And I swept up the fags
And the local mags.

I threw the plastic cups
In the plastic bags,
And the cooks cleaned the kitchen
With the staggers and the jags.

Ruination day,
And the sky was red.
I went back to work,
And back to bed.

And the iceberg broke,
And the Okies fled,
And the Great Emancipator
Took a bullet in the back of the head...

Dave Rawlings Machine at the Paradise

Here's my surefire remedy for temporary relief of serious back pain: Start with some exquisite acoustic guitar solos. Add some beautiful harmonies. And a dash of dueling fiddles with some tasty harmonica.
This works so well you might even find yourself moving your hips a little when you could just barely stand upright hours earlier.
Yes, my solution has a name. It's the Dave Rawlings Machine and for three hours Saturday night at the Paradise I forgot all about my woes because Rawlings, backed by his more famous partner Gillian Welch and a trio of great musicians  -- fiddler Ketch Secor and bassist Morgan Jahnig from Old Crow Medicine Show and fiddler/guitarist Gabe Witcher of the Punch Brothers -- performed some serious magic onstage.
Gillian may be more popular with the masses but Rawlings guitar work is like no one else: it's melodic, it's intricate, it weaves in and out like Jerry Garcia used to do but never meanders. The group is absolutely tight. When Gillian is in charge (billed as Gillian Welch), she takes the lead and, yes, her vocal prowess is stronger than his. But the beauty of The Machine is that they really swing -- they almost rock those acoustic instruments.
I didn't keep a set list so I'll do what I can from memory.
First they started a little bit late when one of the roadies tripped over something, knocked over a table and nearly busted the bass. Once that was cleared up, on came the Machine starting off with "Monkey and the Engineer." Most of the set was made up of Dave's "A Friend of a Friend" album.  "I Hear Them All" was in there early with "This Land Is Your Land" sandwiched in the middle of the song.  The beautiful "Ruby" shined with Gillian's amazing harmony vocals backing his. She and Dave were just meant to sing together. They just seem to fill in each other's empty spaces like no pair I can think of.
Next they broke out the banjo (maybe for "It's Too Easy," not exactly sure) to roars of cheers from the crowd, and Gillian exclaiming that Boston is a banjo lovin' town.
One of my favorite moments was when the other musicians left the stage and Dave and Gill played their unreleased song, which I know as "Throw Me a Rope" (others call it "The Way It Should Be"). After the first verse, Gill stopped abruptly saying she couldn't go on because Dave's guitar was so out of tune. They started up again and that song is just mesmerizing. If Gill doesn't put out a new album soon and include that... well... I keep telling myself it's coming.
Then Gill got to lead a couple tunes of her own. A request for "Red Clay Halo" (the banjo again) and "Miss Ohio." And I think just before the end of the set, Gabe Witcher led the group through The Band's "Ophelia." It's funny I had just seen Witcher a week before with the Punch Brothers opening for Josh Ritter. I didn't recognize him fully until they mentioned who he was.
After a short break, they came back for a second set that included a bunch of songs about candy, including "Sweet Tooth," "Big Rock Candy Mountain" and a third one. Then the exquisite pair of "Method Acting"/"Cortez the Killer" and "How About You" was in there somewhere.
I'm sure I'm forgetting stuff, but it was all so great. I haven't said much about Ketch Secor, but his fiddle and harmonica playing adds so much to the sound as does his baritone voice. The main set ended with Dylan's "Queen Jane Aproximately."
They came back for two encores and the crowd was rocking. I've seen Gillian and Dave a couple times before but I've never seen such a rowdy, excited crowd -- and they knew almost all the words to the songs.
The first encore included three tunes: "Too Be Young (Is to be Sad)" and "The Weight" and I cannot remember the third -- maybe someone can recall.
They left the stage and came back again to a huge roar. They all stood center stage around one mike and sang the a cappella "Go to Sleep Little Baby," with the crowd clapping along and Gillian adding a stomp and a clap for emphasis. They left the stage again to more roars. It was a great night.
Please feel free to chime in if I missed something or have something wrong...
I'll post pics and/or a setlist when I find it.

New album from Gillian Welch and David Rawlings!

Actually it's a David Rawlings album with Gillian on it. The website Broken Wave Music has the info (editor's note: It's acually a Billboard story I found on Broken Wave), and it looks like the first David Rawlings Machine album, titled "A Friend of a Friend," will be released Nov. 17. This is pretty exciting news since it's been 6 years since the duo's last album, the Gillian Welch album "Soul Journey."
Here's part of what Billboard reported:
"Rawlings produced 'A Friend of a Friend' himself, recording it earlier this year at RCA Studio B in Nashville. Welch appears on eight of the nine tracks (and co-wrote five of them), while other players include keyboardist Benmont Tench from Tom Petty's Heartbreakers, keyboardist Nathaniel Wilcott of Bright Eyes and members of Old Crowe Medicne Show, whose 2006 album 'Big Iron World' was produced by Rawlings."
Among the songs on the album, according to the report, "To Be Young (Is to Be Sad, Is to Be High)" which Rawlings co-wrote with Ryan Adams, the Rawlings-Welch-penned "It's Too Easy" and the Bright Eyes song "Method Acting"/Neil Young's "Cortez the Killer" combo they've been playing in concert.
Click HERE to read the full story; it's got some great quotes.

The Big Surprise Tour, House of Blues Boston

On the night Paul McCartney was playing right across the street at Fenway Park, my wife and I instead took a left turn on Lansdowne Street, away from nostalgia and ended up in a rollicking, ramshackle hoedown called the Big Surprise Tour. OK, it wasn't a total surprise, I had bought tix months before when I heard Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings were going to be joined by Old Crow Medicine Show, the Felice Brothers and Justin Townes Earle in a seemingly free-for-all night of music.
First, an aside about the House of Blues: There are very few big venues in Boston that are able to feel like a club. For the most part, HOB works. The sound is terrific. It is a big place, packs a lot of people, but never seems overcrowded to the point that you can't move, and the sightlines, from just about anywhere are pretty good. I do wish the tall dudes would step to the back, and the beer, at $6, for a can of Bud, is way overpriced.
But I digress.
The show was amazing. The Felice Brothers, with help from various members of the Crow, started things off with the tour's signature song, "The Big Surprise." They then gave way to Justin Townes Earle, who played a few numbers and then brought out members of the Felice Brothers to help him with a gospel number to finish up.
By now we got the concept of the show. Each act would play a 20-30-minute set in which time various members of the other groups would come out and join them.
The Felice Brothers, who I had never heard before live (I had just listened to their latest album "Yonder Is the Clock"), proceeded to throw down some indie-rock/country/punk led by the diminutive, Dylan-esque growling Ian Felice. "Run Chicken Run" was a standout. Accordion/keyboard player James Felice deserves a shoutout as well.
After a short intermission, out came Gillian and Dave, playing as the David Rawlings Machine, which meant that Gill would play the role of harmonizer to Dave's lead. The two are mesmerizing no matter who is in charge. I have to say I came to see them first and foremost and was not disappointed. For Gillheads like myself, the setlist included: "I Hear Them All/This Land Is Your Land," "Sweet Tooth," "Monkey and the Engineer," "The Bells of Harlem," "Ruby," "Method Acting/Cortez the Killer," and a really great rendition of "Queen Jane Aproximately." Also, keyboardist extraordinaire Benmont Tench joined them for a couple of tunes and then stayed the rest of the night. I have to say I was much more impressed with him than I have ever been. I knew him as one of Tom Petty's Heartbreakers, but never thought he added tremendously to their sound. But he really shined in this show.
It was really a credit to the HOB that the sound mix was so good you could hear every instrument -- and many times there were a ton of them onstage. I didn't count, but there must have been 20 people on stage in the latter parts of the show.
After Dave and Gill, Old Crow bounded out and blew the crowd away. I have to say, I'm only a real casual fan. But they have a ton of energy and really brought the house down. While fiddle player/lead singer Ketch Secor gets a lot of the glory, I give props to guitarist Willie Watson, who's mop-topped head moved only slightly less than his gangly legs. They also have that country/punk thing going on and do it well. They wowed the crowd with their party tunes, including new ones "Alabama High-Test" and "Humdinger."
The number of musicians onstage kept growing with members of the Felice Brothers and Justin Townes Earle and Gill and Dave jumping on and off stage to help with songs. When they finally broke out "Wagon Wheel," their hit, everyone was onstage and the crowd went bananas. Dave had picked up an electric guitar, Gill was working the tambourine (It must have been tough for her with all that boy energy flowing around her), there were washboards, banjos, mandolins, a pedal steel and multiple keyboards. Surprisingly, the sound, though chaotic, was amazing.
For the encore, everyone came back out, this time Gillian on electric guitar (!) and they romped through "It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Want to Rock and Roll)," which was a blast. See the video I shot below. We left totally spent and a little stiff from standing for 3 1/2 hours, but it was so worth it.
The Boston Globe review HERE.


See my video of Gill and Dave doing "Method Acting/Cortez the Killer" HERE.
Check out my photos from the show HERE.

Now You See Them

Just a quick note to say that I've moved all my concert photos over to Flickr. Very soon I will make sure my Modern Acoustic website photo link will also take you there. Flickr is much quicker for uploading -- I don't have resize all the pics myself -- and the photos are much easier to find on the Net so they get more views.
Check them out HERE (www.flickr.com/modernacoustic/sets, for those who would like the actual address).
Above and below, a couple samples of what you'll find there...

Gill, if you are out there...

This is an open-letter to Gillian Welch.
Dear Gill,
If you just happen to be trolling around the Internet, maybe wondering what your fans are up to, and you come across this post -- here's my message: Please, please put out a new album soon! You have some diehard fans who anxiously await something new. Four years is a long time to wait. As for your touring, it has been spare. I mean opening for Bright Eyes? The guy is fine, but, come on, you and David are NOT opening acts. And since your website has no message board to allow fans to discuss and commiserate, we are out there scouring the Web for any clue to what you guys are doing. Have you been recording a new album, having a baby, decided to quit the music biz all together? Please throw us a bone. And that reminds me, recently, I've been searching out any information about your new song "Throw Me a Rope," which has not been released yet. There are a couple of poor quality videos on YouTube (see below) and that's about it. Oh, there's a cool blog, Boney Earnest's Suburban Hilltop Tent Revue, that has passionately devoted a lot of its content to discussing you guys and The Song.
Please, Gill, throw us a rope...