T Bone Burnett /Jakob Dylan live (long)
- From: Kurt.Schroeder@xxxxxxx (Kurt Schroeder)
- Date: 31 May 2006 13:38:28 -0700
I had the pleasure of seeing T Bone Burnett and Jakob Dylan live last
night at the 9:30 Club in DC, a fairly small place. Although I first
heard about T Bone during the Rolling Thunder Revue days (and more
recently knew his production and movie work), I'd never really heard
much of his own music until his latest album and new anthology came out
recently. I guess I didn't know what I was missing, because the guy is
pretty great, especially live.
Jakob Dylan opened the show playing acoustic guitar, accompanied only by
a friend on keyboards. Even during the big days of the Wallflowers
(which, he mentioned, are just on hiatus right now, not broken up), I
somehow completely missed hearing any of his music. I know the guy must
get sick of being compared to his father, but the similar appearance --
he closely approximates his father's look circa 1966, although my wife
noted that Jakob is a bit better looking -- and the extremely similar
singing voice (also circa 1966) make the comparisons inevitable.
Frankly, I don't see anything bad at all about his voice being similar
to his father's -- Bob doesn't really sing that way any more, so it's
great to hear someone who does, and does it well. I'm sure that the
vocal quality is natural, possibly hereditary, and the singing style is
something he probably picked up from hearing his dad sing a lot. Like
his father, he uses what is not a conventionally "great" voice in an
extremely effective way. Despite the vocal/stylistic similarities,
Jakob's songs are quite different from his father's, with a bit more of
a pop feel (although still not slick, at least the way he presented them
last night) -- I would guess that rock, rather than folk/country/blues,
is his main influence. I found the songs and his performance overall
quite enjoyable. (He definitely has a strong following. My wife
noticed that some of the young women sitting up front near us were
practically drooling as they stared devotedly at Jakob. There were also
some teenaged guys hanging around his tour bus before the show, waiting
to have a poster autographed.)
T Bone and a very, very good band came on after a short break. Could
there be a more genial host than Burnett? He's a tall, shambling kind
of guy, with friendly eyes, a slightly impish smile, and a lank of hair
hanging over his forehead. He reminded me in some ways of an
updated/hipster version of Will Rogers, who was also from the Southwest
of course. Like Will, T Bone threw some political commentary into the
act: "Loss of liberty is the price of freedom" -- and he also used
self-deprecating humor: thanking the crowd for being there, he said when
he was a kid, he threw a birthday party, but didn't invite anyone
because "it's safer that way." I can see why T Bone is apparently such
a well-liked figure in the music biz -- he made the crowd feel like we
were doing him a big favor by being there, rather than the other way
around (as is so often the case with successful artists). And when
someone in the crowd would shout something, he seemed genuinely
interested in making sure he understood them so that he could respond in
a good-humored way. Example: a guy behind me shouted "Tell the Frank
Cash story" (whatever that means). T Bone didn't catch what he said at
first and asked him to repeat it -- when the guy did, T Bone got a big
smile on his face and shook his head, saying, "It'll take me a couple of
months to work up that one."
The important thing about the show, the music, was simply excellent
throughout. T Bone may not have the strongest voice in the world, but
he knows how to use it very effectively -- on the swampy, funky, bluesy
newer tunes (most of his new album), his voice drifted through the songs
among the guitars, excellent upright bass, and thumping drums, fitting
right in. On the folkier numbers (of which there were a few), Burnett
was in great form, showing that he knew how to carry a song with just
guitar and voice (although he was usually joined by the band) -- it was
easy to see what he has in common with Bob musically. He's a very good
guitarist, playing rhythm guitar through most of the show but often
showing his picking style.
His band consisted of Marc Ribot on guitar, session ace Jim Keltner on
drums (anyone remember "The Jim Keltner Fan Club" that George Harrison
promoted on the back of an album, parodying Paul's "Wings Fun Club"?),
Keefus Ciancia on keyboards, and Dennis Crouch on upright bass. (The
last two fill those roles on the new album, and I'm assuming it was them
on stage last night, although I didn't catch the names when T Bone
introduced them.)
Ribot was astounding on guitar -- almost a co-star on the stage. On the
opener, an uptempo countryish number with a great melody, he reminded me
a lot of Clarence White during his days in the Byrds, but that was just
one of Ribot's many styles. On many of the songs, he wailed
inventively, but then he could also be jazzy, or even down-home when he
played a metal-bodied National resonator guitar. I'd heard Ribot on
some Tom Waits and Elvis Costello records, as well as on one of his own
featuring Cuban tunes, but I've never heard him play as intensely as
this. He would have given Hendrix a run for his money. At the same
time, he looked like a high school science teacher in his glasses and
baggy suit (as my wife noted). Although Ribot sat on a stool for many
of the songs, the sweat was flying as he played.
(For guitar aficionados like myself, there were some pretty cool models
on stage. J. Dylan played a couple of nice Martin acoustics. T Bone
alternated between a pair of Kay hollow-body electrics like Jimmy Reed
used to play (you can see that guitar on a Reed album cover, with the
tiger print pickguard) and a black Danelectro solid body. Ribot mainly
played a very small solid-body electric -- I think I saw the "Harmony"
name on the headstock -- although he also used a Telecaster and an
unidentified acoustic, as well as the aforementioned National. It was
interesting that the main guitars that T Bone and Ribot used were
relatively inexpensive models, but they got great sounds from them.)
It's easy to see why Jim Keltner has been the drummer that so many
artists have relied on. (Look for him sitting next to Ringo at the
Concert for Bangladesh, or on any number of albums.) The guy can keep
the beat like a machine, but at the same time, he throws in flourishes
that give his sound a real human feel. The newer songs keep the
percussion focus on the low end, with a lot of tom toms, and Keltner
really locked in with the excellent upright bassist. I've never heard
upright bass used so effectively and prominently in a rock-oriented show
-- Crouch really added a lot to the band's sound. I wish I could say
more about the keyboardist, because he seemed to be quite good, but I
really couldn't hear much of him. He really should be brought up in the
mix a bit.
One surprise of the evening was the appearance of singer Cassandra
Wilson during the encore. T Bone introduced her by saying that she'd
just shown up, and even though I believe he just produced her latest
album, it didn't seem like a pre-planned appearance. (She didn't seem
dressed for a stage appearance, which I liked.) Anyway, planned or not,
she was great singing with the band, performing a very good Jakob Dylan
tune. While she was on, T Bone sat down with us in the audience, which
seemed like a very cool thing to do -- he seemed to be enjoying Ms.
Wilson's performance as much as the rest of us, which was quite a bit.
I'm sorry that I can't discuss the songs more specifically, but I just
don't know them that well. Even though I'd only heard most of the songs
once or twice previously (if at all), they drew me right in and felt
like old favorites by the time they ended. (I can mention one
specifically -- the new "Palestine Texas" was amazing -- the band jammed
intensely.) Anyhow, T Bone is a very good songwriter, so it's not
surprising that the songs would have this effect.
The show lasted close to 2 hours, but it felt like a half hour. And
that's a pretty big compliment in my book. (My wife, who wasn't all
that excited about going to begin with, ended up saying that it was one
of the best concerts she's ever seen.) If you have a chance to see T
Bone & Co. -- go.
.
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