Elizabeth Cook: Off Broadway

So what can I say about Off Broadway. The newest owners are doing right by me. Earlier show times are a huge, huge, blessing. I cannot recount the amount of times I had gone down there on a school night and got there for doors at 8 and waited... and drank... and waited... and drank...until the 9:00 show time came and went. Then at 9:30, like salvation the band came on except it was the opening band... so I frank... and the opener was ok. I watched them break down and then watched.... oh shit... another band that was not the headliner set up. It was already 10:30 by the time they go on and then they played their 45 minute set, broke down and somewhere around 11:30-11:45 the headliner would come on...getting me home around 1:00 A.M. drunk and tired and more importantly drunk driving AND drunk driving at that bad time of night when I feel like a target. So that was bad. A lot of great bands, a lot of good times.

But new management has made some changes. They cleaned the place up. I am ambivalent about the changes but they are good ones. They tore down all the kitschy crap. The wagon wheel light fixture that had graced the place, forever, gone. All the garbage on the walls, gone. The place is all cleaned up. The long bar left in tact. Everything else cleaned up, stripped down and hosed out. Awesome. They set a few chairs out and a couple of tables and what looks like a new dance floor. It all opened up. It is a prettier, better lit space with slightly better site lines...and a patio area you can easily access to smoke. Nice.

And show times are earlier. Caught an early show a few months ago and now they seem to be starting a lot of shows at 7:30 or 8:00 with doors at 7:00. This is brilliant for the old crowd and I think the old crowd is THE crowd as far as going out and seeing live music in a small venue. At least in our town. Anyway...

Showed up at 7:00 and there was an opening act called Porter Hall Tennessee. They were a surprisingly good trio with a chick and three guys playing drums bass and electric guitar. The bass player had a big old "dog house" bass and it was a very tight show. they sang nice alt country with the guitarist playing a style that reminded me a lot of Brent best from Slobberbone. A personal favorite of mine. The female lead was working the leopard mini and she had some nice pipes with a little trace of Lucinda as they did country gospel and bar room brawl. It was extremely satisfying for an opening act and set a nice tone.

Towards the end of their set a guy dressed in over-alls with slicked back hair game in looking like L'ill Abner with a little blond in fishnets, boots and a mini who was playing the roll of Daisy May. Interesting. The opening act ended and they set up, guitar, slap bass and acoustic guitar. No drum, no organ, no gimics. Elizabeth started to talk with her southern twang and we settled in for a nice set made up primarily of songs from her new CD "Welder". Sadly I heard of her through NPR (How sad is that) and she is one of 11 kids and has a pretty wild and varied upbringing with upbeat, true to life personal experience songs like "Heroin Addict Sister". She reached back and did some of her "old" songs like "Sometimes It Takes Balls To Be Woman" and pleased the crowd greatly.

A lot of unexpected pleasures for this show. First was just how authentic and rich her voice was. The songs were all pretty simple and paired down. The second was that her lead guitar player is evidently her husband. I was admiring his guitar which was really a little too good, almost distracting from her voice and songs. The she she said his name and it turned out Li'l Abner was Tim Carroll, an alt-country guy I have admired for years. he is a great song writer and singer in the Bakersfield style of a Robbie Fulks or Buck Owens. Really good stuff, nice harmonies and great guitar. The third was when they played one of his songs and she took off her boots and put on some taps for percussion. She explained to the crowd that it was not tap but "cloggin". "Tap is for rich people". She really put on a charming show and seemed very authentic.

this was their first show back in the States after a European tour and she said "God Bless America...so hard". I love that type of authenticity. She also said that Faith Hill was possible going to cover one of her songs and that "she would have to stop talking bad about her". The only disappointment was that she did not sing "Follow You Like Smoke" which might be the most nuanced song on "Welder". Show ended and they came out and did two encores. I got home by 10. I did not drink too much. I had a great night and she put on a great show.

Coming up....LOUFEST Preview: http://www.loufest.com/