On a plane somewhere between Nashville, TN and Oakland, CA: When I get home from the road and go to see live music – and actually enjoy it – it’s a real treat for me since 9 times out of 10, I’d rather be sitting in my office, listening to Drone Zone than go to another venue when I’m not working a show there.
Last week, I took the opportunity to check out some live music. First up, Sheryl Crow at the Sommet Center. I’ve been a SC fan from way back when and when I worked on the John Mayer / Sheryl Crow co-headlining tour, it was like listening to my iPod live each night. However, there’s something about going to a show in Nashville – especially at the big arena – where everyone there knows somebody (or thinks they are somebody) and spends more time critiquing the music rather than enjoying it… because they all know somebody else (or are somebody else) who can do it better than those performing. Needless to say, I had reservations about how I should perform, myself, at the show, but as a non-music business but music-loving friend encouraged me, “drop the 'industry-I-am-too-cool-to-sing-along' look and belt it out. They will see your pass and know you are a big deal, so it'll be fine.” And that’s exactly what I did. Such freedom in grooving to old standards (“All I Wanna Do”) and new favorites (“Love Is Free”) in the middle of an arena… without caring about who was there!
The thing that I love for the world at large but hate for Sheryl personally is that when she goes through life’s hardships, she writes INCREDIBLE songs. Uncomfortably-too-familiar tunes such as “Over You” and ripping-your-guts-out songs like “Weather Channel” are just so freaking powerful, I can barely stand to listen to it, for fear of becoming a permanent character in the music video in my mind.
Then there’s the one that takes you to the crossroads of your life and reminds you that it’s not ALL bad, that even those heartaches have a purpose. Her latest is the title track to her new album, “Detours.” At the show, she joked with the audience:
“I’ve been pretty busy over the past three years – I was engaged, then I was not engaged, I had breast cancer, then I beat breast cancer, I adopted a baby and I finished a record. So much of lives we try to control or think we know what’s best for us, but it’s life’s detours that really show us who we are."
Paraphrasing a bit (with thanks to Maribeth for her memory!), the overall message is just that – no matter what WE think is going to happen or what we try desperately to make happen (or not happen), those times that we get sidetracked or get off course is actually what is forming us into the imperfect, flawed, struggling, beautiful people we are becoming today.
Check out this version of “Detours” -- a live / in studio cut:
Next up, I went to a much more low-key venue to see a band that could (and, I believe, eventually & definitely will) someday fill up a big arena. The Silver Seas played the 3rd set of their month-long residency at The Basement. One of the things I like about this club (literally in the basement of Nashville’s independent and hip record store, Grimey’s), is that although there are also music big wigs there, they are unassuming and come for intimate feel and the stiff whiskey.
Normally, I don’t go out of my way to check out bands I haven’t heard of or don’t know their sound, but if there’s someone in the band I personally know, I’m all about supporting the people. Daniel Tashian, the Silver Seas’ lead singer, is a friend of mine when he played with Josh Rouse on the Mayer tour. He was a great sideman then, so I was excited to see what his current project as front man would sound like. I don’t mean to sound like my mother – who likes anything I do because it’s ME, not necessarily about the piece itself (love you, Mom!) – but this band is SO GOOD! I’m not sure exactly how to describe it or who to compare it to (so much for writing for Rolling Stone), but words like “vibey” and “drifty” come to mind. Seeing The Silver Seas in that little club – partly the whiskey, partly the music – makes me want to make out with someone.
I so look forward to hearing new stuff from them, but I love discovering their “old” stuff – when they were known as The Bees (US) – for the first time. Someone actually took video from the show I was at and one of my favs is here – enjoy “The Country Life.”