By Ken Paulson — Willie Nile was clearly battling a respiratory bug, but he soldiered on in his show at the City Winery tonight, delivering an energetic and sometimes inspirational set.
Joined by bassist and vocalist Johnny Pisano and world-class harmonica player Mickey Rafael, Nile drew heavily from his new Positively Bob collection of Bob Dylan covers, including “Subterranean Homesick Blues, “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall,” the latter delivered in part by a three-year-old grandaughter via a phone video.
One of the joys of hearing Willie Nile play is that he has a story for every song he plays, a disappearing art. “Dylan was just 21 whe he wrote this,” he would exclaim.
Some of the most powerful songs of the evening were his anthems “This Is Our Time” (dedicated to Malala, see the video below) and “House of 1,000 Guitars,” with “One Guitar ” closing out the set with a bang.
Tag: City Winery
Amy Black, Spooner Oldham salute Muscle Shoals
Americana Music News – Tonight Amy Black brought a bit of Muscle Shoals to the City Winery in Nashville,
Spooner Oldham and Amy Black
showcasing classic songs from her Muscle Shoals Sessions album with a horn section and a guest appearance by the legendary songwriter and keyboardist Spooner Oldham.
The evening’s highlight was Black’s duet with Oldham on “I’m Your Puppet, the James and Bobby Purify hit written by Oldham and Dan Penn.
Other great renditions included the “Lou Rawls version” of “Bring it On Home to Me,” Mel and Tim’s “Starting All Over Again, and Arthur Alexander’s classic “You Better Move On.”
In concert: Ian Hunter and the Rant Band
By Ken Paulson
You won’t find Ian Hunter on the Happy Together oldies tour anytime soon.
As he made clear in his set Saturday night at the City Winery in Nashville, he’s earned the right at age 75 to play exactly what he wants. So it probably shouldn’t have been a surprise that he did as many songs from his most recent album When I’m President as from his years with Mott the Hoople.
Ian Hunter (photo by Ken Paulson)
We saw Paul McCartney on tour a few weeks ago and marveled at his stamina and performance. Hunter, three years McCartney’s elder, was just as energetic and committed. From the second song of the evening – a driving take on “Once Bitten, Twice Shy” through the moving “All the Young Dudes” at the close, this was a full-on rock show.
Hunter shifted to keyboards about a third of the way into the set, and delivered some of the show’s best moments, including a poignant “Irene Wilde” and raucous “All the Way From Memphis.”
It’s a measure of his deep catalog with Mott and as a solo artist that so many great songs were left on the sidelines. For my part, I would have traded “Boy” or “Bastard” for the fun factor of “Central Park and West,” “Golden Age of Rock ‘n’ Roll” or “Cleveland Rocks,” but I’m sure every Hunter fan has own list of favorites.
It’s remarkable that an artist whose band scored just a single hit in the U.S can continue to tour to good-sized crowds a half-century into his career. And yet his audience is with him every step of the way, devoted, enthralled and cheering madly for “I Wish I Was Your Mother” and “Michael Picasso.”
Hunter clearly doesn’t take that for granted.
“I can’t believe you’re still here and I really can’t believe I’m still here, he sang on “Life,” as he neared the end of the set.
Believe it. Ian Hunter still delivers.
(Nashville’s own Amy Speace opened the show with a brief, but compelling set, previewing her upcoming album That Kind of Girl. You can pre-order it here.)
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Bobby Bare, Bobby Bare Jr. at City Winery
By Ken Paulson
Bobby Bare Jr. knew this wasn’t going to be a fair fight.
“He’s playing nothing but hits and I ain’t got no hits,” he said in mock exasperation, recalling the first time he shared the stage with his father Bobby Bare at the Bluebird Cafe.
Two generations of Bares at the City Winery in Nashville
Nonetheless, he agreed to the double bill a second time for a show Friday night at the City Winery in Nashville. Once again, the elder Bare showed no mercy, beginning the evening with his classic “Detroit City” and then playing close to a dozen country hits over the course of the evening.
Bare Jr. was clearly delighted to team up with his dad, serving up his own unconventional tunes in counterpoint. Irreverence and a deep love of music clearly run through their shared DNA. Bare Jr. played a number of songs from his new album Undefeated, including “My Baby Took My Baby Away,” written with Hayes Carll.
“I don’t understand how I lost you to this little man” who has “itty bitty boots and a big fat face,” he sang, detailing the impact of a new child on a couple’s relationship. Somehow it’s a sweet song.
Decidedly less endearing was “The Big Time,” a funny fantasy about becoming such a big success you can kiss your current friends goodbye. “I want to go bowling with Sheryl Crow,” he explained.
Bobby Bare had his own goofy moments during the anatomy lesson that is Shel Silverstein’s “The Mermaid.” Bare may be Silverstein’s very best interpreter.
Bare Jr. had his own song about love gone bad. Before performing “Don’t Go to Chattanooga,” he recalled losing the girl from Manchester, TN who inspired the song. If she had only foreseen Bonnaroo coming to her hometown and his eventual performance there, she would never have left him, he said.
For his part, Bobby Bare just kept performing the hits, including “Streets of Baltimore,” “Four Strong Winds,” “Margie’s at the Lincoln Park Inn,” The Winner,” “That’d How I Got to Memphis” and even “Dropkick Me Jesus,” written by Paul Craft, who passed away weeks ago.
The Bares closed this memorable pairing with “Marie Laveau,” teaming up on the song’s bloodcurdling screams.
The audience would’ve stuck around for multiple encores but the younger Bare explained that wasn’t possible.
Dad “goes to bed at 7:30 and it took three naps” to get him this far, he said.
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