So Billy Bragg was a bust because of a ticket snafu. Least said about that debacle the better. Onwards and upwards.
Went to see Richmond Fontaine play last night. They are slowly creeping up to be the band I've seen most live. It must be in double figures now.
The band are touring behind the release of their new album,The High Country. The album is possibly the closest musical distillation of singer Willy Vlautin's lauded career as a novelist. A song cycle, a concept album if you will, about a bunch of sad, lonely people in and around a logging community in the Pacific NW of America.
The gig was fun despite the seemingly grim material. The addition of Amy Boone on keys and the voice of "the girl" on the album was very welcome and added a softer, lighter touch to the music. Her pieces on Inventory and Let Me Dream Of The High Country were superb. Chilling, unspeakably sad yet tinged with softness. It was good to see her take the female counterpoint on Post To Wire too later in the show. She also did a fine song of her own which reminded me of the shamefully forgotten Hazeldine.
The band played the whole album front to back as one piece and finished the night with a selection from their wonderfully rich back catalogue. Winner's Casino, Post To Wire, Lonnie, Four Walls and Moving Back Home #2 all made an appearance.
As for the album itself, I think as a personal experience it works wonderfully well. You immerse yourself in the story and it engages you. As a live piece I feel it loses a little something in translation. Possibly because you want this to be "your" world, "your" experience and sharing it with others who might only be there for a drink and to hang out with friends..well it kind of waters the whole thing down a bit. That is just a personal view though and hopefully those who were there that were not aware of the story of the album were won over.
Either way, once again, Richmond Fontaine..literate, rocking, funny, self deprecating and easily the best American band currently working. Spare a thought for The Girl and The Mechanic. It's a hard road..
Richmond Fontaine, the best band you've never heard.
Lovely! Thanks for sharing. I do get what you're saying about sharing the live experience of High Country. If RF do manage to swing through my part of the country, I'd love to hear the album in its entirety. But you're right, it would definitely be a totally different vibe than when I listen alone late at night, driving thru the desert on my way home.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment, loyal reader. Driving thru the desert with RF on the sounds would be quite the experience. Stay cool, Creekie.
ReplyDeleteListening to Richmond Fontaine, who I first heard about thanks to an Uncut CD, brings me back to my Southern Illinois (near STL) roots -- at least, the refreshing musical bits owing, in this case, to Uncle Tupelo. Tweedy/Farrar are from Belleville, a shitty town about 15 minutes from my shitty town. They played at the excellent Cicero's Basement in what was then an up and coming section of the alternative STL entertainment scene called the Delmar Loop near Washington University. A local, donor-based radio station gave them decent airplay. Strange times, the late 80s.
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