Slaid Cleaves @ Iota

Slaid Cleaves
May 11, 2008
Iota, Arlington, Va.

“I don’t do a lot of these matinees,” Slaid Cleaves said after honoring a young fan’s request early in his Mother’s Day show at Iota. “I’m not used to hearing 5-year-olds singing ‘Horseshoe Lounge’.”

The Austin-based singer-songwriter, who used to play at the Horseshoe and other honky-tonks during his formative years, was caught off guard again during the next song, “Drinkin’ Days.” A fan in the back of the small room – perhaps trying to create a little of that barroom ambiance – let out a hearty whoop at the mention of another Texas watering hole. Cleaves, who has come up a bit in the singer-songwriter world since arriving in Texas from his native Maine, and doesn’t have to play the bars and barbecue joints anymore, started a bit at the outburst and flubbed the next line.

“You kind of scared me there,” he said, smiling, before picking up the song again.

If he was at all shook up, Cleaves didn’t show it. The entire show was loose, conducted with the casual air of a house concert. Cleaves was accompanied by guitarist Charles Arthur, and the two had a good rapport built on years of playing together and many, many miles shared in the car. (Cleaves and Arthur were due in Easton, Md., that evening for another show.) Cleaves complimented Arthur on his twangy solo during “Drinkin’ Days,” commenting that it made him want to go to the bar to buy two beers … “one to drink, and one to cry into.”

Cleaves’ easygoing charm and soft tenor suit his material well. Cleaves sang often about regular guys and gals, folks just trying to make their way in the world the best they can. Sometimes they’re looking for a change in their luck (“One Good Year”), and other times they’re just trying to find a part in the junkyard (“Skunk Juice”). His unassuming delivery, paired with his fine material, has earned Cleaves a nice following, including several families with children in tow on this pleasant Mother’s Day afternoon. His set was well-received, and the audience sat in rapt silence as he unplugged his acoustic guitar and stepped away from the microphone to perform “This Morning I Am Born Again,” a song Cleaves composed with Woody Guthrie lyrics. (The silence was especially sweet after spending the previous two nights in a chatty rock club.)

Cleaves commented that he was pleased to see so many mothers in attendance, but the latter part of his set list made for an odd celebration. Cleaves picked up on this after playing “Flowered Dresses,” from his 2006 release, “Unsung.” Upon finishing the song, a child’s remembrance of a mother who suffered silently through a rocky marriage, he said, “I guess that’s a Mother’s Day song; a little bit on the sad side.”

It wasn’t nearly as sad as the closer.

“This has to be the saddest of all mother songs; the mother of all sad songs,” Cleaves said while introducing “Lydia.”

It was sad indeed, as only a song about losing a son and a husband in a mine fire can be. There were a lot of damp eyes around the room (mine included), but nobody went home visibly unhappy. One woman stopped to chat with him for a few minutes after the show and gave Cleaves a big hug before heading out with her family. That’s a sure sign the show, sad songs and all, was mother-approved.