LouieB Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 I got a chance to catch the late show at the OTS on Saturday night and was certainly not disappointed. Joe Henry played with his regular rhythm session and while he is not the spectacular musican Jon Brion is, his wonderful songs more than made up for his lack of musicianship (don't get me wrong he is no slouch.) He had a nice laid back attitude, encouraging the audience to ask queestions between songs and did a nice selection of songs from his current album, as well as some older stuff. The longer I listen to his new album the better it becomes. LouieB Quote Link to post Share on other sites
cryptique Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 Wendy, Leo and I saw him at The Ark last night here in town. This is his old stompin' grounds, so he was in a pretty good mood. The show was spectacular -- I'm not too intimate with his catalog, and that usually detracts from my enjoyment of a show, but it didn't matter this time. Those guys were mesmerizing. The whole set was acoustic (Joe on guitar or piano, a stand-up bassist and a drummer), but I had to remind myself of that from time to time because of the overall energy of their sound. The setlist did focus on the latest album, but its detours through old material were fantastic. If anything disappointed me last night, it was the brevity of the performance. I think they only played for about an hour. It was such a dense hour, however, that I didn't feel cheated. When the bass player came out on stage he looked like a gas jockey, or maybe a prison escapee (just the way he was dressed). But damn, that guy can play. Louie, I didn't find Joe's musicianship to be lacking at all (I mean, come on, you compared him to Jon Brion). Plus, he's such an amazing lyricist... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LouieB Posted February 5, 2008 Author Share Posted February 5, 2008 When the bass player came out on stage he looked like a gas jockey, or maybe a prison escapee (just the way he was dressed). But damn, that guy can play. Louie, I didn't find Joe's musicianship to be lacking at all (I mean, come on, you compared him to Jon Brion). Plus, he's such an amazing lyricist...Well I was just comparing him to Jon as they both have a similar career path. And his rhythm section is amazing (the bass player is incredible), whereas he is an okay guitarist and piano player, nothing flashy or anything (and he did seem to hit a few wrong notes here and there at the OTS.) All of this is quite secondary to his incredible songs and his equally good singing, so it wasn't really a knock or anything. He makes incredible records and he mentioned that he is going to be working with Allen Toussaint again (who is playing the OTS this weekend). Did I use the word incredible enough??? (Jon Brion is not even in the same songwriting ballpark by the way...) Funny story. I took with me some friends from Royal Oak who didn't know anything about him. After the show they were saying he never seemed to be in Detroit (not that they would know, not being fans) and when I checked his website he was playing two dates in Michigan, one in Kalamazoo, just a few miles from where these folks daughter lives and where they were stopping back the next night and then the gig in Ann Arbor the following night. Funny..... I truly think his new album is up there with the best of the year last year and it never gets mentioned by hardly anyone here, so I always do. LouieB Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tangara Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 Aw, cool to see a review of the show. I wanted to go, but ended up seeing Buffalo Tom instead. Did he play anything off Trampoline? That's one of my favorite records of all time. And it's nice to see an endorsement of his new record; I'll have to check that out. I thought Joe Henry was from the Detroit area originally? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
cryptique Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 I thought Joe Henry was from the Detroit area originally?Yup. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Leo Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 Aw, cool to see a review of the show. I wanted to go, but ended up seeing Buffalo Tom instead. Did he play anything off Trampoline? That's one of my favorite records of all time. And it's nice to see an endorsement of his new record; I'll have to check that out. I thought Joe Henry was from the Detroit area originally?He played Trampoline last night. I didn't recognize any other tracks from the album. It was a special show. The Ark in Ann Arbor has to be one of the finer venues in the country. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
cryptique Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 I'm pretty sure he played the following last night (not in order)... TrampolineThis AfternoonTime Is a LionYou Can't Fail Me NowCivil WarStopI Will Write My BookOur SongSoldEdgar Bergen I'm sure I forgot a few, though it was a pretty short set. Leo, Wendy, feel free to correct me/add stuff. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tangara Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 Oh, I would really have liked to hear Stop. Damn. I wish he toured more. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
cryptique Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 His introduction to "Stop" was great ... referring to Madonna: "I recorded it as a tango ... she recorded it as ... a hit." "I'm not sure why I didn't think of that." Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tangara Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 Heh. That's awesome. I like his version better anyway. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ms. yvon Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 I'm pretty sure he played the following last night (not in order)... TrampolineEdgar Bergen I'm sure I forgot a few, though it was a pretty short set. Leo, Wendy, feel free to correct me/add stuff.!!!! edgar b. is a terrific song! and trampoline is so rich live.oooooh, man. lou, i am a big fangirl of joe's drummer, jay bellerose. first saw him with joe in support of "fuse." was are lucky enough to see him play with a wide assortment of musicians in los angeles. most recently, he played with jon b. on a largo night. i've been meaning to post a set-list/review of the joe h./louden wainright III show. boy oh boy, what a fantastic time! leo, crypt. thanks for the notes on the michigan shows, too! man, i would have loved to have been there. you know, he does play a short, tight set. the only really long show i've seen him do was the strange civilians show w/louden. and lou: CIVILIANS is a fantastic record. "our song" just lays me out like "flag" or "scar". gonna put that on now! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Wendy Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 I like his version better anyway.That's what the audience last night said as well - to which he replied, "I've done all I can for her." It was really a great show. And it was longer than 1 hour, more like 1-1/2 including the encores, no? But yes - great songs, great musicianship, great banter. I have to thank Ms Yvon for first introducing me to Joe Henry. Very recent interview in the Detroit Free Press: http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article...310319/1039/ENT Five questions with Joe HenrySinger-songwriter and music producerJanuary 31, 2008 Monday's show at the Ark will be a homecoming of sorts for singer-songwriter Joe Henry, who moved with his family to Rochester when he was a teenager and later majored in English at the University of Michigan. Now living in Los Angeles, Henry has a parallel career as a music producer, working with the likes of Elvis Costello, Solomon Burke, Bettye LaVette and Ani DiFranco. Henry will be supported at the Ark by the terrific rhythm section of bassist David Piltch, who has worked with K.D. Lang and Holly Cole, and Jay Bellerose, the drummer on Robert Plant and Alison Krauss' spectacular duet "Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved On)." QUESTION: Did Detroit's rich musical heritage and history have much of an influence on you when you were living here? ANSWER: Romantically, absolutely it did. I had grown up in the South and the kind of soul music I heard growing up there was more Ray Charles, Curtis Mayfield and the Impressions and stuff like that. To get to Detroit, where soul music meant Motown, which was much more urbane, orchestral pop music, I was just electrified by it. Q: How did you get involved with doing production work for other musicians? A: My friend T-Bone Burnett was encouraging of it for years before I had any notion that I would have an interest in such a thing. When I first moved to Los Angeles in 1990, my album "Shuffletown" was about to come out, and T-Bone had produced it. When I landed out here, he enlisted me to help him as a production associate. I looked at it as something I could do to earn money and still be called a musician. I didn't see it as part of my career journey, and I never made a decision to start doing that. The more I started to produce records, the less distinction I began to see between my work as an artist and my work as a producer. Q: What work do you have coming out soon? A: I just finished (producing) a record with Rodney Crowell. It's beautiful and really different from anything he's done before. I've been working on another record with Loudon (Wainwright III) in pieces that's really wonderful. I'm curating a music festival in Germany in the fall -- it's called the Century of Song. It's kind of like making three records in a way; I'm curating three different performance periods in August, September and October. Q: What are your thoughts on the state of the music industry? A: People in my racket on both sides of the fence, the artistic side and the business side, are in a bit of a tailspin. It's not like the idea of music is dying. Don't mistake the fact that the industry is being forced to rethink a dead model, which is overdue and happening anyway, with the notion that the public's interest is waning. That couldn't be farther from the truth. But always, always, music is the thing. The way it's delivered, whether it's an Edison cylinder or streaming over your computer speakers, it's all just a window in. None of those things define what the music is and decide whether it's meaningful or not. Q: If you could pick up the phone today and call an artist up and say, "I want to produce your next album," who would it be? A: There's a few. The first person who comes to mind is Bill Withers. I've spent two years trying to make that phone call, as a matter of fact. He's a retired person and very happily so, but, yes, I'd love to make a record with Bill. I'd love to produce a Prince record, actually. I'd love to produce the Roots, but Questlove seems to have that sewed up. I'd also love to make a great, direct jazz record with Wayne Shorter or Joe Lovano or Brad Mehldau. By Martin Bandyke, Free Press special writer Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tongue-tied lightning Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 you knew I had to get in on this thread. seeing Joe Thursday night. My second time in the past 6 months, how lucky am I. Yvon, Our Song might be the best thing he's ever done. I encourage everyone to get the word out on how great he is. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tugmoose Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 ARGH!! He's at World Cafe Live in Philly tonight with The Last Town Chorus! A doublebill to kill for. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LouieB Posted February 6, 2008 Author Share Posted February 6, 2008 Aw, cool to see a review of the show. I wanted to go, but ended up seeing Buffalo Tom instead. Did he play anything off Trampoline? That's one of my favorite records of all time. And it's nice to see an endorsement of his new record; I'll have to check that out. !!!!and lou: CIVILIANS is a fantastic record. "our song" just lays me out like "flag" or "scar". gonna put that on now!I got into Joe through Short Man's Room, with the Jayhawks, and I just think he keeps getting better and better. As good as Trampoline is, Scar and Fuse are also excellent and I thought Tiny Voices was even better. But the more I listen to the new album, the better it gets. Most artists don't get better over time, Joe is one who is not only writing better songs as he gets older, his production is also improving due to his work with others. I have probably told this story before, but the only other time I have seen him was at the second Flah fest here in Chicago. It had rained like crazy so the place was a mess. Joe was in a side tent, with a floor of mud and a totally lousy sound system. He was singing to no one (this is not an exageration) but me and after a couple songs I ducked out to go back to the main stage. He was singing alone and I felt guilty about it, but it really wasn't happening. I saw other great stuff that day, but Joe Henry sadly was not one of them. I am so happy for him that he is becoming/has become an A list producer. Because he mentioned Allen Toussaint being at OTS this week I snapped up one of the last available tickets to see him too. Joe is a literate songwriter, who writes songs with deep feeling and Civilians may be the deepest yet. While I am the kind of record collector who is nearly always six or so months late to every party since I wait to find stuff used, I bought Civilians brand new and have not stopped listening to it since I got it. (Nor promoting it to others...) I have a bunch of older VC buzz singers in my car and home that I listen to that are "okay" (should I name them?? Iron and Wine, Fruit Bats, Marah) but most are just okay to me and either don't speak to me very directly or do the strum and mumble way too much. Joe on the other hand sings clearly (something many singers don't do anymore...this also is not an exageration) or aren't singing about anything important. Songs like Civil War and Parkers Mood and Scare me to Death, and the rest do. Great stuff. LouieB Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ghost Of Bob Cumming Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 LouieB, I agree with just about everything you've just said about Joe. How he is not much, much more widely known than he is, is simply bewildering. The run of splendid albums since Shuffletown is unparalled in my view (alright, so I slightly turn away when the subject of Fuse comes up - that was below par for him IMO). I too got into him at the time of Short Man's Room - that and Kindness Of The World blew me away. Wrote to him on 2/3 occasions around this time and he always sent a witty postcard in reply (though sadly, and due to circumstances beyond my control, I no longer have these). Saw him in London in 96 - bumped into him in the toilets (!) and he was as friendly as you could hope for. Unfortunately I've not seen him live since (there was a show pencilled in for Newcastle about 3/4 years ago, but never confirmed - if anyone connected with Joe is reading this, please encourage him to come to the North East of England), but you are spot on, Civilians is brilliant. Deeply envious after reading about these shows. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tangara Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 I got into Joe through Short Man's Room, with the Jayhawks Same here. You'll be at the Chicago shows, won't you, Louie? We should meet up and talk music Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Wendy Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 Tom, I can't add much to the setlist from my memory at this point except that for "I Will Write My Book" it was just Joe & his guitar, no band. YouTube of Joe Henry playing and talking about his album "Civilians". Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LouieB Posted February 6, 2008 Author Share Posted February 6, 2008 Same here. You'll be at the Chicago shows, won't you, Louie? We should meet up and talk music All five if I live that long...always up for talking about music. Sadly I do not own anything before Short man, but ordered one of the earlier ones used. Some are going for big money on Amazon through dealers. I have seven and I guess there are 10. Why is he not better known? Because there are hundreds/thousands of recording artists out there. There are just too many people making music out there. (listening to Jesse Malin as I write this, someone I just recently started listening to through his latests, also a very good singersongwriter...and not a mumbler either...) There just isn't room for all the talent out there. At least one the one thing Joe Henry has going for him is his longevity at the moment. Had he not found a place as a producer, he may not have made it this far. Oh and yea, Fuse is slightly less up to par than the others I suppose, but Scar is so good from about the same time. (I think). LouieB Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tongue-tied lightning Posted February 8, 2008 Share Posted February 8, 2008 Joe was great last night, at a fab venue overlooking the great city of New York. Ms. Yvon, jay bellerose was there, and might be my fav drummer now Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LouieB Posted February 8, 2008 Author Share Posted February 8, 2008 Where did he play?? LouieB Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tongue-tied lightning Posted February 8, 2008 Share Posted February 8, 2008 he was in the Time/Warner building. You got up to the 5th floor the Allen Room. the stage was in front of afull veiw window, which you could see Columbus Circle. http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=htt...l%3Den%26sa%3DN Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bböp Posted February 8, 2008 Share Posted February 8, 2008 Great seeing you last night, Drew. That room is a bit hoity-toity for my taste (and the ushers can be a bit uptight and the tickets pricey), but it's a gorgeous space and the sound is immaculate. It was a treat to see Joe with guests Brad Mehldau on piano and Don Byron on clarinet (for two songs), not to mention that fabulous rhythm section. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
gogo Posted February 8, 2008 Share Posted February 8, 2008 Pretty! Sounds like a very cool show. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ms. yvon Posted February 8, 2008 Share Posted February 8, 2008 jay bellerose was there, and might be my fav drummer nowhe is terrific. jay's working with a lot of different musicians these days. the last time i saw them play together, as joe was introducing jay he described him as, "too popular for my taste. he's hard to schedule." he often plays with grant lee phillips, too. he's got an economical set up, and sets a tone and groove so perfect...that nyc venue looks lovely! does look a bit reserved, but gorgeous! i will not badger you about a set list as i've yet to post the one from months ago. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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