Last night was like a locomotive ride, the slow scenic beginning has it's charm, but once you get moving is when things really get interesting.
Starting off the night was the gravel road serenade of the Huck Notari Trio. Ripe with a back porch mystique the mournfully eloquent songs of their set held the wonderful ache of honesty. Introspectively moody, their set lead perfectly into the earthy duet of Jenn Rawling and Basho Parks.
Once the Birds of Chicago took the stage, they awakened a new presence in the room. Like the first break of sun on a rainy day, the energy of their live show is undeniably infectious. Paired downed to the bare minimum of JT Nero, Allison Russell and and their hired gun Joe Faulhaber on electric guitar . The fun near-danceable set this trio brought to the Mississippi Studio Stage was a great boost of life after the beautiful melancholy of the opening bands.
JT's white mans blues was richly indicative of his home town while Allison's soulful singing was a sweet mixture of Carol King's power and the lite island energy of Phyllis Dillon. Combined they livened up the trudging weight of a Wednesday night until you could almost forget that you had to work the next day. Their set list was mainly populated by songs from their self-titled album with the occasional gem from one of their individual projects. In particular was the phenomenal rendition of the JT & The Cloud's song "I Have Heard Words." The way that JT and Allison dug so deep and played off each other made this song amazing. I hope that someday they'll take the time to put it down on tape.
As the night wrapped up,you couldn't help but feel like the band had reached out on a personal level. The fun and liveliness of the band seemed to lighten the wait of the week. While the live treatment of their album tracks made me excited to listen to the CD on the ride home. In all, the night was wonderful and Birds of Chicago used their gracious charm to win over a few new fans on a cold Wednesday night.
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