Tim O'Brien, Scott Miller, and the B$BB

Thought I'd catch up with a couple of concert reviews from this weekend.

Thursday night I went to see the Tim O'Brien show with Scott Miller opening. I gotta tell you, that's a damn fine billing. I love going to shows where you're just as excited about the "opening" act as you are the "headliner!"

Scott was awesome! I've become a serious Scott Miller fan. He's quickly become one of my most favorite songwriters. I'd never seen him do a solo acoustic gig before, but I'd wanted to since hearing his first solo album, an independent live album called Are You With Me? It's great. Unfortunately I was denied, yet again, my favorite song of his, Bastard's Only Son. He tried to play it though dammit, and it sounded real good until he broke a string about a third of the way into it. Sigh. Oh well... I did get to hear the "I've been drunk all over this town from the downside up to the upside down" song, though. Amy told me he plays it often in Knoxville, but I'd never heard it. Great show, good times.

Then Tim O'Brien got on stage. Wow. The Tim O'Brien band is amazing... each one a name to himself -- John Doyle, a great guitar player (a lefty even, it made me dizzy trying to figure out what key he was playing in) and backup singer. His slight Irish accent in his high harmonies really added a lot to Tim's West VA accent, I thought. Then Dirk Powell, International Man of Mystery, on clawhammer banjo, gigantic acoustic bass guitar (never seen the like... Tim said they like to go boating on it while on tour... I could believe it), and of course a mean accordian. Then last, but certainly not least, was the insane fiddler Casey Driessen. I'd seen Casey at Merlefest this past year, and to be honest, I thought he was amazing... but he was among the top five fiddlers in the world. He's probably the sixth. However, he's about my age, which means with a bit more experience he'll soon be the best fiddler in the world! The word that kept coming to my mind was furious, and Tim called him dangerous. I could see that.

They kicked it off with an old-time fiddle tune with both Casey and Tim playing with twin fiddles. Then after a couple more old-time tunes (including Raleigh and Spencer) from the Songs from the Mountain album (which I recommend) they started playing mostly songs from the Tim's new album, Traveler. It was a great show. He ended the show with his fiddle tune, The Crossing. I was a little disappointed he didn't play anything off my favorite album of his, Two Journeys, until the encore when they played one of my favorite Tim O'Brien songs, The Holy Well.

Then on Saturday night I went to the Southend Brewery to see my buddy Matt's band, the Bottom Dollar Blues Band (abbreviated affectionately as the B$BB). I hadn't seen them in a while, and it was great hearing how much control they have over their songs now. They've always rocked, but they were tighter than ever and really worked the ladies into a frenzy, much to the delight of Matt's wife. (hah!) They played their usual set -- lots of old-school blues with a bit of a rock flavor to it and some Eighties favorites. Their newest crowd pleaser though is a bit unexpected -- a completely rockin' version of MJ's Beat It. I kid you not. It's great!