The
tunes that guitar wizard Bill Frisell selected for his “Guitar in
the Space Age” set at Kilbourn Hall were double-dipped in novocain,
pumped with helium, and set adrift to cascade and careen about the
packed hall.
This
was Frisell waxing a little more rudimentary than usual. It’s not
to say he is ordinarily tuneless. It’s just that he has a heightened
sense of melody. Not one to dumb it down, Frisell keeps it trippy and
abstract — except tonight where he adhered to melodies that the
average Joe could more easily pluck out of the air.
Tunes
by the Kinks, the Beach Boys, the Ventures, Steely Dan, and Lynyrd
Skynyrd got the Frisell treatment, which this time meant playing
closer to the tune as opposed to taking the six-string expressway to
the moon. What didn’t change were the dreamy soundscapes and the
master’s curious and picturesque refrain. It was over entirely too
soon. What a gas.
And
what a mob, what a crowd, what a scene, what a show at Abilene. You
see, you take the front man from Nashvegas’ damnation tent-revival
rockers the Legendary Shack Shakers, one Colonel JD Wilkes and cross
him in wedded and onstage bliss to a Fairport girl, one Jessica
Wilkes, and man you’ve got the Dirt Daubers and the one show I’ve
truly been waiting for this week.
Wilkes
does the majority of the singing when he’s not blowing some
hellacious harp through a Green Bullet. He’s an antagonist and a
contortionist and knows how to fire a crowd up. So does the missus,
as she commandeered the doghouse bass in a tight black dress and
heels, only to swap out with her hubby so she could belt the blues
and break hearts while he minded the bottom end. They blew the doors
off the joint.
The
Dirt Daubers have gotten much more ragged and raw, with a sinister
slither and twang. They had the crowd in a howling frenzy, inviting a
cat on stilts to join them on stage, and a dance floor that looked
crammed full of incurables. It all really add to the Pentecostal
revival feel in the tent. I think a few were saved. I’m afraid it’s
too late if you missed it. I’ll light a candle for you.
This article appears in Jun 25 – Jul 1, 2014.
Good review of my favorite band(s); go see them if you get the chance.