Why You Wanna Live In Raleigh -- A Scott Miller Review

If you lived in Raleigh... which you want to do, obviously, then you'd get to have a night like I had last Friday night. It was a night where you can decide to get together with a gang of your good friends for dinner and a beer after work before the Scott Miller show. You could decide to drive downtown, park for free, in a well-lit and safe parking garage, walk two blocks alongside a green city park, and into Tir Na Nog -- the finest of Raleigh's many Irish pubs.

On the way past Pullen Park, you might notice a slight twang to the air. Is that? Oh yes, it is -- a Bluegrass band downtown. This is so much of a common occurrence however that you might decide to just walk... on... by... like I did, to see if any of your friends are inside. Being the first one there, I skipped on over to the park to find out it was Old Habits playing that grass in the park. Evidently it was some sort of private BBQ function in a public park, but with the music free for all. (I was good. I didn't crash the barbecue buffet.)

Old Habit was good! They're a young group, all in their twenties and thirties it looked, and they were fine pickers. I didn't get to hear much of their stuff, however, as their noise permit evidently expired about five minutes before I walked up. What I heard was good, though. They ended their set with I Know You Rider, and it pretty solidly rocked.

So back to the beer. And there was lots of beer. I hung out at the bar and was quickly joined by my friends. All this time we're listening to some fine Irish tunes sung to finger-picked guitar and squeezebox. (No fiddle, unfortunately... but it's probably for the best as my friends would probably get pissed if I'd ignored them all night.) Finally I decided we better get a table and sit down, so the hostess leads us across the other side of the bar to a table.

Now a big reason that I decided to drag my friends out to drink that particular night at Tir Na Nog (which is Gaelic for "the land of eternal youth", by the way), is because it's two doors down from the Pour House, a great little venue for seeing Americana music. (It wasn't always that great, but that's another story. Either way, it is definitely cool now.) So it's a no-brainer. Late show at the Pour House? Early dinner at Tir Na Nog. Easy peasy.

Well, evidently we weren't the only folks with that thought. It was still fairly early... 8ish, and the soon-to-be packed Irish pub was still pretty empty. However, after about ten minutes, I realize that, yes, indeedy, that's Scott Miller and his whole gang sitting at the table next to us. I'm telling you -- this shit happens in Raleigh -- all. the. time.

(Oh and by the way, the Wrinkle Neck Mules are playing Tir Na Nog this Saturday. Thought you might want to know.)

We let Scott and his posse just chill. We know they're there, and I think they know we know they're there, and that's just fine. Recognizing them next to you I think is flattering to them, going over and talking to them is just annoying. Besides, James and I have made a habit of making asses of ourselves at Scott shows. We decided to just let this one slide.

So, one shepherd's pie and several beers later, it's time to mosey on over to the show. Scott and his merry band had already taken off about an hour earlier. We say good-bye to some "early night losers," and we head down to the Pour House for another round of drinks. Oh, did I mention that the Pour House is only one of several bars in the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area with over thirty beers on tap? Several. Sure, in Washington, D.C. that ain't no thang, but Raleigh's no sprawling metropolis. I think it's pretty cool that good beer is so plentiful.

We get to the opening show late, and what a mistake that was! Whoever was supposed to start didn't show up, so who took the stage? Freakin' Caitlin Cary and friends, including Tonya Lamb, her compatriot from the Tres Chicas. Not a bad damn starting band, let me tell you. And I think I've already said it, but I'll say it again -- this shit happens all the time here.

We hang out, seeing friends from our favorite mailing lists and festivals, etc. I've said it before that Scott Miller shows in Raleigh are like their own little cliqué. You see alot of the same faces, get to make friends, and even see other members of other bands in the crowd. (I see Kickin' Grass members new and old all the time, etc.) It rocks. Let me restate that -- It freakin' rocks.

This is no huge theatre full of people you don't know or will never see again. This is a tiny two-story, standing-room only pub with thirty+ beers on tap. These are people you see at shows all the time. This is the scene -- big enough to be cool, not so big you get lost in it. It's a great time to be young in Raleigh with an ear for the twang.

Anyway, I think I said this was going to be a show review, didn't I? Well, it's Scott Miller. It doesn't really require much to describe it. It freakin' rocked. High energy, loud rock n'roll. He played mostly new tunes, but with a few older ones for good measure. He didn't play much V-Roys stuff, but he did play their old cover of Neil Young's Moving Pictures which I'd never heard anywhere but on their live CD.

I hate to be so blaisé about it, but what can I say? I'm a gigantic Scott Miller fan. This is well-known. I've gone on and on and on about this in the in the past, repeatedly!. So why beat that dead horse, er... Mule? The show was great!

His new CD? Well, of course you already own it, right? No? Okay... not sure I believe that, but I'll humor you. It's very rocky, but with driving country beats on some songs and enough twang on others to meet your expectations of a Scott album.

The stand-out rocker is 8 Miles A Gallon, a biting, but still funnily-rocking commentary on Scott's politics. My favorite line is the bridge -- "Invent a big engine, make it run on bullshit, put it on the highway, buddy it'll never quit..." Dude, you can't play this quietly, or for that matter drive slowly, while this one is playing. Drive and listen with caution, my friends.

The rest of the album is just plain great. I know, I know... what a bland review, but like I said -- I freakin' worship this guy! Scott Miller is up there with Gillian Welch on my favorite songwriters pedestal. Gillian on her folk/Bluegrass step, right next to Scott on the rock/country step.

Great songs -- Freedom Is A Stranger, one of Scott's signature-style high school "backseat lovin'" through "mortgage and kids" narratives; Wild Things kinda reminds me a little bit of Ciderville Saturday Night crossed with Virginia Way; Hawks And Doves is another great Neil Young cover that was amazing live! Only Everything actually had better vocal harmonies live than on the album, surprisingly enough. It had a great three-part build on the "Oh... oh.... oh... VIRGINIA!" They don't seem to do that on the album, though, which is very odd. Long Goodnight is a perfect show closer... kindofa Closing Time by Lyle sort of song, crossed with a Goodnight Loser V-Roy's sound. It was his final of three encores Friday night. Seriously, I've never seen Scott in Raleigh or Chapel Hill not play three encores... except that one time he opened for Tim O'Brien. He kept saying in typical Scott fashion, "I ain't afraid of you, Raleigh!" "You don't scare me, North Carolina!" Are you with me? Are you?

Okay, honesty time -- Worst song? Jody. It's too cutesy for me, but I'll be damned if it doesn't have a catchy melody. It's freakin' infectious, but still, the lyrics are too sing-songy and silly for me to take it seriously.

But all in all, "it's a mule-train world," and I'm all aboard. I'm looking forward to seeing Scott Miller's long and successful career. But I'm going to see it all from here... in Raleigh, where the music is good, the people are good, and the livin's good. (And there's good beer.)

(But just like Scott... deep down, we all miss Knoxville.)