Earlier in the day, I was fantasizing that Hiatt would look over his shoulder back at Cody Dickinson and shout, "Y'wanna do the funk version or the shuffle version?" before launching into Memphis In The Meantime. Not surprisingly, he didn't say that before closing the set with it. On the other hand, hearing Luther's guitar start feeding back as Hiatt walked onto the stage at the beginning, signaling they were about to kick off with a blistering version of Perfectly Good Guitar, goes right into my memory bank of finest musical moments. That he bookended his set with two from the Pigs list was a pretty neat trick.
And then when he came back out to do a solo piano version of Have A Little Faith before bringing the North Mississippi Allstars back for one more closing romp -- well, it was a pretty fine culmination to a pretty amazing musical day.
As usual, City Stages was a mix of great sets by people I'd never heard of before, revelations by people whose reputations I'd known for years without ever having a chance to listen to their stuff closely, and superb work from longtime favorites. I find myself thinking, "Why do I only have four John Hiatt albums? What's wrong with me?!" And, "How quickly can Compadre Records send me everything that James McMurtry has ever recorded?" And, "I wish I could see the faces of the rest of the Pigs lined up watching Luther Dickinson play that slide guitar with that rapturous look of joy on his face..." And, "Aren't those kids in The Bridges way too young to be sounding that good...?"
After watching the noontime Unplugged sets, TG and I had a wonderful lunch at the newly opened 26 Restaurant at Five Points, and then headed over to Design & Display to pick up my mixer, speakers & amp. We were back downtown just before the gates opened, so we were able to set up our chairs about a first down's distance from the stage. At the singer/songwriter/Americana stage (currently the mypeople.com stage -- the sponsor seems to change every couple of years), the street is divided into a half for people with camp chairs and a half for people to stand. So we typically stake out a good spot there, and can then wander the festival knowing that we've got good seats when we come back. The system works pretty well.
Hiatt and the Allstars hooked up awhile back to record his latest album, Master of Disaster, but I didn't realize they'd be touring together. It's a match made in heaven (or, at least, in Mississippi). The Allstars did a fabulous long set of their own, and then, after a bit of a break, came back with Hiatt to finish up the day. The amount of fun that these guys have on stage together is positively inspiring.
The real revelation of the day for me, however, was McMurtry. I've know about him for years, but I doubt I've heard more than the occasional song or two. The sound mix was really good (not always the case on the first night of the festival), so the lyrics came through very clear -- biting, clever, sarcastic, sharp... And he's a superb guitar player as well. The name of his band is the Heartless Bastards, and it suits.
We'll head back down early in the afternoon today. There's a lot more music waiting...
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