By Paul T. Mueller
Three singer-songwriters named Welch playing the same show – what are the chances? Pretty good when it’s the Welch Family Throwdown, featuring Americana veteran Kevin Welch and his talented progeny, son Dustin and daughter Savannah (plus cellist Mark Williams). The inexplicably small audience notwithstanding, the evening at the Dosey Doe, just north of Houston, turned into a warm and intimate 90-minute set that included originals from all three Welches and a few well-chosen covers.
Welch Family Throwdown
It was something of a holiday show – when putting together the set list, Kevin said, “We’re just looking for songs with the word ‘Christmas.’ ” Thus the opener, a sweet rendition of Joni Mitchell’s regret-laden “River,” featuring lead vocals by Savannah, a member of The Trishas. The theme continued later with Dustin’s take on Mark Germino’s “Lean on Jesus (Before He Leans on You),” set at a mission on Christmas Eve and featuring a nice solo by cellist Williams, whom Kevin had introduced as “the littlest Welch.” A few songs later came “Santa Had a Dream,” which began as an eighth-grade writing project of Savannah’s and reimagines the origin of the Santa Claus legend as a dream experienced by an exhausted, impoverished West Virginia coal miner, “way back before Christmas had been invented yet.”
Most songs featured fine harmonies along with strong lead vocals. The playing was excellent as well, with Dustin alternating between standard and resonator guitars and banjo, and Savannah playing guitar and mandolin as well as percussion. Kevin stuck with one well-worn acoustic guitar, picked and strummed, and Williams’ fine cello added atmosphere and texture to the arrangements.
Other highlights included Kevin’s gentle love song “Millionaire”; a lively rendition of “After the Music’s Gone,” with a capella harmonies to finish; “Gawd Above,” a song Dustin wrote with John Fullbright that’s become a staple of the latter’s sets; “Come a Rain,” Kevin’s whimsical reimagining of a long roster of historical figures, and “Dust Devil,” a new song by Kevin that he said was inspired in part by an atmospheric event that damaged his car.
The show closed with a beautiful rendition of William Bell’s soulful “Everyday Will Be Like a Holiday.” The song featured solos by Williams on cello and Dustin on resonator; its optimistic tone, underlain by melancholy, seemed perfectly suited to the season.