By Paul T. Mueller
Friday, Jan. 23 found the Norwegian Pearl in the home stretch of its return to Miami. The end of the Cayamo music cruise 2015 was just around the corner, but the day’s full schedule of music was an effective antidote to any possibility of negative thoughts. Who has time to mope when there are shows to get to?
Elizabeth Cook
Elizabeth Cook’s 12:30 set on the pool deck was a lively mix of the spiritual and the secular. The former was represented by several songs from her 2012 EP Gospel Plow, including the title track, “Hear Jerusalem Calling” and “Jesus.” The latter included “It Takes Balls to Be a Woman,” “El Camino,” “Goin’ Down” (with a vocal assist from Todd Snider) and “Methadone Blues.” Cook cut a fashionable figure in her hipster/hippie garb, while Snider went casual as always in cut-off jeans and a white undershirt, topped off with a jaunty nautical cap.
Amy Speace’s final show in the Spinnaker Lounge featured several songs from her new CD That Kind of Girl – the spiritually themed “Three Days,” the lonely love song “In Chicago,” the sad breakup song “Raincoat” (“You were my raincoat/Now you’re the rain”), a post-breakup song (“Epilogue (I Don’t Know How To Stop Loving You),” and the title track, a rueful reflection on the stories we tell ourselves. Backed by Tim Easton on guitar and Megan Palmer on fiddle, Speace also played a few older favorites, including “The Killer in Me” (with a guest appearance by guitarist Stuart Mathis), “Hunter Moon,” “In Salida,” “The Sea and the Shore” and “Vertigo.” There was also a nice rendition of “The Fortunate Ones,” which Speace dedicated to the audience.
David Bromberg
David Bromberg’s final set, in the Stardust Theater at 3:00, was a varied show that included some solo work, some full-band efforts, and a couple of tunes by band members. From the opener – blues standard “Nobody’s Fault but Mine” – Bromberg moved on to a long rendition of his comic breakup songs “I’ll Take You Back.” Things got a little more serious with “The Fields Have Turned Brown” and a twangy rendition of “Last Date,” but slid back into comedy with “The Holdup,” a crime-caper tale co-written with George Harrison. Bromberg accompanied “Kaatskill Serenade,” on the surface a retelling of the Rip Van Winkle story, with an explanation of how the song is also about alienation, both personal and in a wider sense. Guitarist Mark Cosgrove took the spotlight with a skillfully flat-picked “Alabama Jubilee,” followed by some fiddle tunes featuring himself and Bromberg on guitar, accompanying fiddler Nate Grower. Bromberg closed the set with “Bring It On Home,” including a long discourse on the nature of true love and how he lost it and found it again, and returned for a full-band acoustic encore of “Roll On, John,” featuring Cosgrove’s fine mandolin playing.
Other Friday performers included Lisa Mills, winner of the open mic competition for songwriters, playing in the Pearl’s open-air Great Outdoors venue (backed by Richard Thompson’s rhythm section, bassist Taras Prodaniuk and drummer Michael Jerome); Kristy Lee and Dirt Road Revival, bringing the rock and soul to the pool deck with help from Shawn Mullins, and The Lone Bellow, getting assists from John Fullbright and Brandi Carlile in the Stardust.
Shawn Colvin and Lucinda Williams
Shawn Colvin’s 8:00 Stardust show consisted largely of songs by her large cast of guests, to whom she lent her fine voice and acoustic guitar, as well as Steuart Smith’s electric guitar. The set included Rodney Crowell performing his “The Rock of My Soul”; Jim Lauderdale’s rendition of Gram Parsons’ “Sin City”; Brandi Carlile helping out on “Calling All Angels” and the Traveling Wilburys’ “Handle with Care”; Buddy Miller doing “Let It Be Me” (made popular by the Everly Brothers) and “Poison Love”; Lucinda Williams singing Parsons’ “Hickory Wind”; Richard Thompson with his “A Heart Needs a Home” and a cover of the Animals’ “We’ve Gotta Get Out of This Place”; the Louvin Brothers’ “My Baby’s Gone,” featuring Luke Bulla, and Colvin with her “Diamond in the Rough,” getting assistance from Keith Sewell.
Michelle Malone kept the energy level high on the pool deck with a mostly electric set at 10:30. Highlights included “Weed & Wine,” a lament for lost youth; “Chicken Lickin’ Boogie,” featuring Jimmy Galloway on guitar; a vigorous rendition of “Preacher’s Daughter” that included an extended acoustic guitar workout by Malone, and “Feather in a Hurricane,” with help from Kristy Lee and the Black Lillies’ Cruz Contreras.
Rodney Crowell’s 11:30 Spinnaker set was a loose and joyous affair featuring a crowd on the stage and a bigger one in front of it. It was standing room only as Crowell and a plethora of guests – Joanne Gardner, Luke Bulla, Shawn Colvin, Steuart Smith, Keith Sewell, Dave Jacques and David Bromberg, among others – ripped through a rich and varied set list. Highlights included Gram Parsons’ “Return of the Grievous Angel”; a lively rendition of the Staple Singers’ soul hit “Respect Yourself”; a happy sing-along version of “Like a Rolling Stone,” featuring nice solos from several guests and enthusiastic audience participation, and Crowell’s own “Ain’t Living Long Like This.” After a crack about “long solos and sloppy endings,” Crowell summed up the show as “11 fast songs and one ballad” – the latter being his closer, a moving rendition of his “ ’Til I Gain Control Again.”
At that point, with disembarkation only hours away, many Cayamoans had had about all the musical fun they could stand. But others who weren’t done partying headed for the Atrium and the “No Sleep ’Til Land Jam,” led by the Band of Heathens, which continued well into the small hours of Saturday morning.