Was good to see the NYC and Buck Diaz Phila. parts of the list show up for
dinner and this excellent show at the l'il ol' Mercury Lounge last
night...I'm probably the only one awake now!
This gig, last of the current Old 97s tour, turned out to be pretty much a
small room/big sound smash...The texas boys used this last show to showcase
almost all the songs that will appear on the new CD due in April, they
said--and there are some good ones there. Reports that the country side of
what they do is somewhat downplay now are, I think, true--vbut it's
definitely still there in the mix of songs and sounds. It also seems to me
that Rhett's songwriting is only getting sharper, and amongest these new
rock and roll and pop songs there's a "jumps out" ready for an MTV hit in
this new song "Nineteen"...it's only as calculated as a Chuck Berry teenage
song was--and it's nearly as catchy as one of those. Maybe someobody can
make some well-deserved money here, in addition to the damn good music.
In opening acts--
Our local Hangdogs sound tighter and more impassioned in delivering their
material than ever; it's really working now, and the oddly-named "Sea of
Cortez" did turn out to be an alt.country band in a sort of post-Jayhawks,
boy can we ever afford a lot of expensive instrument mode...A lot of
people play this stuff!)
Barry
