Lori McKenna at Sundance

This has been "The Summer of My Dreams" as far as concerts go. Up to this point.... Last night I had the privilege to experience one of my favorite all time singer/songwriters in concert, Lori McKenna. I did so in the company of my VERY favorite singer/songwriter Nancy Hanson. She and husband Dave had also come to this last Bluebird concert of the season and joined me and daughter Karen for the evening. Good thing, because something's come up that will prevent me from attending Nancy's Homestead concert for the first time in many years. Being in her company last night will have to suffice! Lori appeared with 2 of Nashvilles finest songwriters Tom Douglas and Allen Shamblin. It was an even better attended concert than the one 2 weeks ago with Matraca Berg, Gretchen Peters and Marshall Chapman. In fact a new attendance record was set with over 720 people on hand. The 2 guys have been noted Nashville writers for many years and have written for all the big country stars. Most of their songs were unfamiliar to me because I choose to ignore the radio as much as possible. I did recognize Martina McBride's hit Love's the Only House when Tom sang it early in the performance and Allen's He Walked On Water, recorded by Randy Travis. Between those and The House That Built Me I was pretty much lost by the songs the guys sang. I really enjoyed their stuff and wasn't at all upset to not be familiar with it. Plenty of others were, including Karen who knew most of them and even sang along. The House That Built Me was co-written by both of the guys and was in fact conceived the last time they were at Sundance several years ago. I was also surprised to learn that Allen had written Bonnie Raitt's I Can't Make You Love Me. That's one I'm definitely familiar with! Lori commented on how she knew going into this that the guy's stuff would get much recognition from the audience while she would be doing stuff that was largely unfamiliar. However, some of the audience members let her know they'd come to hear her! I would number myself among them even though I didn't make it publicly known, Lori's stuff was quite familiar to me. There were 2 new songs she sang, but the rest I knew. As happened 2 weeks ago, the audience demanded an encore and the performers didn't disappoint. They came back and Lori did a Tom Petty cover. Another song unfamiliar to me, but very nice! Nancy asked afterward if the concert met my expectations. The answer to that question is a little clearer to me today than it was last night. I was slightly disappointed by Lori's set list. I was hoping to hear The Luxury of Knowing, If He Tried and Lorraine from the new album and Stealing Kisses from Bitter Town.. All were missing. On the other hand she did sing one of my favorites from the new album, Sweet Disposition and gave a story about it that was pretty cool. She told how she performed it shortly after writing it and a friend of her deceased mother's came up and told how her mother had described her as having a "sweet disposition" in her high school year book.Interesting "coincidence"! Other than the set list, the rest of the concert exceeded my expectations, so I guess if you balance it out, I would have to say the concert did exceed my expectations! The sound last night was superb. Lori never sounded better. It seemed 2 weeks ago when Matraca Berg got vocally loud the sound system got a bit distorted. Nothing of the kind happened last night and I don't think Lori's volume was any less than Matraca's! It was a sweet experience and I did manage to wrangle an autograph from Lori who was very swamped by admirers afterwards. There was a songwriters camp at Sundance all this past week and the participants were all over Lori. One even had her sign a guitar! All in all, a most satisfying night! I'll be most interested to see what happens with this series next year.

The Dreaming Fields

Can you stand a little more Matraca Berg? I promise to move on with my next post, but I did say I'd review the new album, so here goes! I purchased this cd on line so I could take a listen before I saw Matraca perform. I really love this album. It was a long time coming, 13 years to be exact! Believe me, it was worth the wait. I told Matraca at Sundance that I thought it was the best thing she'd done. She agreed! It really covers a lot of territory subject wise, so maybe it's not a tight package thematically, but it's really a good sampling of Matraca's art. She can be fun, serious and everything in between. It starts off with a song I can only assume resulted from all the hanging around she does with Gretchen Peters. The title is If I Had Wings and is Matraca's take on the subject of spouse abuse. It's a pretty song. Subtle. Not the belt in the head of Gretchen's Independence Day, but succeeds in conveying the same message. Nice lead off track. The next is probably the most commercial song, You and Tequila which is doing well for Kenny Chesney and was also recorded by Deana Carter who co-wrote  it. Nice take on life in California. The line in the bridge "It's always your favorite sins that do you in" really hits the mark! Racing the Angels is a beautiful song complete with harmonies from her Wine Women and Song pals Gretchen Peters and Suzy Bogguss. They also join her on the anti-war South of Heaven. Other tracks I particularly enjoy are: The Dreaming Fields, Oh Cumberland and the oh so humorous Your Husband's Cheating On Us. I've had a fun time listening to this album and continue to play it regularly at work. It can be enjoyed on many levels so it works well in the background at work but is also a mental challenge when you take the time to listen intently. Good job Matraca. you knocked this one out of the park!

Here's Kenny Chesney doing You and Tequila with Grace Potter:

 Here's a vid of the Wine Women and Song girls doing You and Tequila:

Sundance

I love an outdoor concert in the mountains like last night's Bluebird concert at Sundance with Gretchen Peters, Matraca Berg and Marshall Chapman. It was a perfect night. Comfortable temperature with the threat of a shower that never materialized. I went mainly to see Matraca Berg, but the others were pretty awesome too! Matraca sang 3 of the songs from her new album. They were: Your Husband's Cheating On Us, Oh Cumberland and the title track The Dreaming Fields. Thank goodness her compatriots talked her into performing the latter. She thought it might be too much of a downer. How wrong she was! The audience loved it. A significant omission was You and Tequilla which is climbing the charts for Kenny Chesney. His version with Grace Potter is outstanding, but I'm kinda taken by Matraca's. Love that low voice! She and Gretchen sang a song they co-wrote which I believe they called Nashville Girls. It was a tribute to Tammy Wynette and was a hoot. Too bad it's never been released. Matraca also sang a song Martina McBride recorded called Cry On the Shoulder of the Road from Martina's Wild Angels album. I wasn't aware that was one of Matraca's, but she's written so many great songs for so many people I'm not surprised to have overlooked it.. Another high point of the evening, not even a musical one, was when Marshall Chapman read en excerpt from her book, They Came to Nashville. It was about interviewing Willie Nelson. I guess it's not easy to get to meet him even for a Nashville regular like her. It was an interesting tale. I wouldn't mind reading the book. As you might guess, it's about singers/songwriters in Nashville.This was the most well received of the Bluebird concerts I've attended. The concert ended much too soon and the audience showed their approval with a standing ovation.The performers came back for an encore even though the house lights had come on and some people had already left. I loved it! I got a chance to meet Matraca afterwards for an autograph. She's as nice in person as she appears to be on stage. Great evening!