Decemberists and Justin Townes Earle Concert

Last Monday I saw The Decemberists and Justin Townes Earle at the IMU in Iowa City (the same venue where I saw Wilco last year). I reviewed The Decemberists album a few months ago in my third ever post, but I haven't discussed Justin Townes Earle yet on this blog.

Justin Townes Earle is the son of country rocker Steve Earle and was named after musician Townes Van Zandt, so it's little surprise that he made his way into music. His music is a mix of folk, country, Americana, blues, and whatever else he can fit in there. The crowd didn't seem to be too familiar with his material, and he only played for about 30 minutes, but he got the show off to a good start. Most notably (at least to me thinking back on the concert a week later) were his performances of "One More Night in Brooklyn" off of his 2010 release Harlem River Blues, and a cover of a blues song that I can't remember.

For a good chunk of my time as an undergrad, The Decemberists were one of my favorite bands, but sometime in between their releases of The Crane Wife in 2006 and The Hazards of Love in 2009, I drifted from the band a bit. However, their 2011 album The King Is Dead is one of my favorites of the year, and this concert really reminded me how much I love their older material. The band is far from your average indie folk/indie rock band, with many of their songs telling stories instead of being pseudo-autobiographical songs about failed relationships (as seems to be the norm in lots of other music I listen to). The band also captures my heart by using a wide variety of instruments that you don't find everywhere, and not only that but doing it well. During their set they incorporated violin, accordion, organ, upright bass, harmonica, lap slide guitar, and banjo (and possibly some that I missed?).

Lead singer Colin Meloy also did a wonderful job of captivating an audience with a combination of story telling between songs and crowd participation during songs. At one point, for a reason that wasn't entirely apparent to me, he described in great detail what he imagines to be the genesis of the Phil Collins song "In the Air Tonight" (pardon the pun). He pointed out how happy the band was to play in Iowa City, on the banks of the Iowa River, just down from Iowa street, in the state of Iowa (before saying we GET it. You like Iowa...). Later during a song that involved crowd singing, he attempted to split up the singing by majors (assuming a large portion of the crowd to be students).

The highlight of the show (for me anyway) had to be the band's performance of "The Mariner's Revenge Song". The (short summary of the) song is a story of a boy whose mother was wronged by a gambler, womanizer, etc. The boy vows to find this man and ends up finding him out at sea, when both of them are swallowed by a whale (killing the rest of the crew). The band performs the song as if on a ship out at sea and encourages the audience to scream as loud as they can like someone getting eaten by a whale at the climax of the song. It really is just a wonderful experience. I encourage anyone who gets a chance to check the band out if they tour near you, or to listen to their music if you're unfamiliar with them. The whole set made for one of the better shows that I have been to in some time and rejuvenated my love of The Decemberists.


Below are my favorite songs from both artists. First up is "The Engine Driver" by The Decemberists.

I am a writer, a writer of fictions
I am the heart that you call home
I've written pages upon pages
Trying to rid you from my bones

My favorite Justin Townes Earle song is actually a cover of Dolly Parton's "Do I Ever Cross Your Mind?" that he recorded with Dawn Landes. The song was a free internet download (that you can get here) that hasn't been formally released by either artist.



As always, enjoy!

Josh Ritter and Scott Hutchison concert

Life and school have been busy lately, which has led to the lack of blogging of late. Fortunately, part of what had me busy was a trip to the Twin Cities to see Josh Ritter and Scott Hutchison (of Frightened Rabbit) perform at First Avenue.

Over the last couple years, Scottish band Frightened Rabbit has really solidified their place as one of my favorite active bands. Their 2008 release, The Midnight Organ Fight, would probably make my list of my 5 favorite albums if I was forced to make one. Just about every track on that album has been my favorite at some point or another. The album is a really emotional, post relationship album with some absolutely wonderful song-writing and lyricism. Their follow-up album, The Winter of Mixed Drinks, breaks from the post-relationship mold and features some more uplifting tracks. I placed it #2 on my year end albums list last year behind only a phenomenal Tallest Man On Earth album.

With all that being said, I was really excited to see lead singer Scott Hutchison perform as the opener. It was a little weird hearing him perform group arrangements (some of which I've probably heard close to 100 times) by himself on acoustic guitar, but his emotion in his singing still came through just as well as on the albums. He eschewed set lists and instead just called out for fan suggestions. Additionally, on Twitter (@FRabbits), he said that he would cover one song by another band every night and called for requests from followers. Seeing that the show was at First Avenue, a venue that Prince helped popularize, I suggested "Purple Rain," which led to a pleasant surprise when that was the song he chose to cover! I'm sure dozens of other people suggested the same thing, since it is a pretty obvious choice, but it was still pretty cool to have my suggestion picked. It was great seeing him perform, but I still have Frightened Rabbit near the top of my list of bands I need to see live.

My roommates, who I attended the concert with, were more excited to see the main act, Josh Ritter (my favorite person from Idaho and also the only one I know off the top of my head). I used to listen to Josh Ritter more, but I have kinda drifted from him some in recent years. Regardless, his album The Animal Years, is still one of my favorites and is wonderful every time I listen to it. I also learned that the man knows how to entertain. The whole show he had a huge smile on his face. He bantered with the audience between songs (about representative Michelle Bachman and the impending snow storm that would trap us all in the venue) and just showed a lot of energy and excitement the whole time he was on stage, which is always refreshing when attending a concert.

Below are two of my favorite songs by the performers. There are way too many Frightened Rabbit songs I love, which makes it hard to choose just one, but the first is the music video for "The Loneliness and the Scream" from their 2010 album "The Winter of Mixed Drinks." The second video is for the song that introduced me to Josh Ritter and remains my favorite song of his to this day. The song was featured in the closing moments of season 3 of House, which remains one of my favorite moments in one of my favorite shows, so it was a nice intersection between good music and good TV. Anyhow, the song is called "Good Man" and is from "The Animal Years."

Am I here? Of course I am, yes.
All I need is your hand to drag me out again.

Babe we both had dry spells, hard times in bad lands.
I'm a good man for ya. I'm a good man.

Both artists actually have a good deal of music you can pick up for free if you want to hear more by them.

Josh Ritter recorded a Daytrotter session that has 6 tracks and can be downloaded here. He also has several live versions and covers that you can download on his website here.

Frightened Rabbit has visited the Daytrotter studios twice, so there are two separate four song sessions that can be downloaded here and here. If you enjoy those, support the artists and buy some of their other music or catch them live when they visit your town!