Musical Connections

Here's another one of my concert reviews (as I try to clear out some of my archived material). Enjoy.

Musical Connections
(Pieta Brown with Bo Ramsey, Davey’s Uptown Ramblers Club, Kansas City, MO, 11.15.2003)

Along with growing old, one of the major themes of my life right now is one of change. Changing jobs, changing towns and changing myself. Physically, I am 500 miles away from where I was a year ago. Personally, I am light years away from who I used to be as I struggle to become the man I always imagined myself to be. But throughout all of this, the one constant in my life is music.

Because no matter where I am I know that I can put on an Uncle Tupelo cd and be mesmerized. Or listen to Cowboy Mouth and get inspired to change the world. It’s always there for me, it’s my touchstone, my connection to an ever evolving world. Whenever I need to have my life reaffirmed I turn to music.

I have yet to have a bad experience watching Pieta Brown. First heard of her a year ago as she opened for Neko Case. Standing in front of the stage I felt that this was going to be a tough sell, as Pieta was only going to fill the time until Neko came on stage and I could try to figure out how to propose to her. Instead, within a song I was drawn to Pieta’s music. Slow, sultry, laid back but filled with emotion. Within a set I was a fan.

Next time I saw her was in mid-August of this year. My life was in complete turmoil. New job that I wasn’t completely enjoying, friends scattered to the ends of the earth, and a realization that the vision of the world I keep inside my head does not always match reality. As I entered the bar hoping that music and alcohol would take away the worries of my life I found something else entirely. I found myself talking to Iris Dement, Pieta’s step mother and one of the best singers I have ever listened to. And I wasn’t just saying “Hi, love your album”, we were talking about music and my company and sharing a drink. She even introduced me to Pieta, which was an absolute thrill. The show itself was lackluster, as she played new material and fought a soundsystem that was geared to the Irish rock band that would take the stage later that night. But still, her show allowed me to regain my focus on life.

So, it was with great anticipation that I went to see her again. My life had stabilized in a manner that wasn’t entirely to my liking. But, went to the show and took my usual spot at the bar prior to the set. A couple of drinks down and I found myself drawn into a conversation regarding the Johnny Cash tribute concert on television. Start talking music and life with the guy next to me, who is with two girls who are chatting away. Nothing in the conversation that stays with you, just the usual discussions that you have with a stranger at a bar.

We end up moving as a group towards the stage set up. Get formally introduced to everyone and start talking about music in even more detail. A couple of us had been to the Liz Phair show and shared our views on that show. Melissa described a set of paintings that she was working on that were conceptual pieces on the guitars of singers (Johnny Cash had a guitar of barbed wire, Emmylou Harris had songbirds floating in the background). Just a great time, meeting people that I was immediately connecting to.

Pieta took the stage with Bo Ramsey at her side. The amount of confidence that she has gained in the year and a half that I have seen her play is phenomenal. She is no longer content to just fade away while singing. Her songs have become more and more strident, they remain slow and sultry but there is significant life to them. For two guitars and voice, it is a rather startling combination of sounds. It’s the type of music that leaves you swaying, that takes you to another place. But the best explanation came from the girl standing next to me.

“If I wasn’t sweating right now, I’d have chills.”

Remember that sentence. We will be returning to it.

One could make a lot of comments about how Pieta got to where she is on stage and most of those would be derogatory. She is the daughter of legendary folk singer Greg Brown. Bo Ramsey, who for years has played for and toured with Lucinda Williams, is her collaborator. All of which opens numerous doors for her and places unbelievable pressure on her. Already people are comparing her to Lucinda, which is an unfair comparison. It’s equivalent to calling someone who just picked up a guitar the next Dylan.

Are there singers struggling out there with just as much talent as Pieta? Certainly. There are also a thousand bands that are better than Matchbox 20 but they languish in obscurity as well. What is important is that there is something in Pieta’s glimmering voice that connects with you. That leaves you humming songs. That causes you to buy her cd and leave it in your car for months. To turn to the person next to you and just wonder.

After the show I went back to the bar and started to talk to Kristen (originator of the chills quote). She wanted to know how in the world I had ever found out about Pieta. Then we started running through our mental checklist of favorite artists. Neko Case, Kathleen Edwards, Kelly Willis, the Be Good Tanyas. Her two friends had left the bar and we were still sitting there, discussing music and what it means to be out there playing and trying to make a difference in the world. And life began to look rather interesting again.

Music is a constant. Music is a touchstone. Music can bring people into your life that you would never imagine. Pieta Brown is a conduit for those types of connections. And it makes you look forward to the day that you open the paper and see that she is playing in town again.