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Saturday Night at Church

Sunday, January 13, 2008  

The picture above is deceiving. For one, I took it from my seat, with my iPhone buried deep in my chest, pointing up over the brim of the stage, so the perspective is distorted. Also, it's actually two photos combined in Photoshop. I was sitting so close I could never get all four performers -- Patty Griffin, Emmylou Harris, Buddy Miller, and Shawn Colvin -- in a single shot. I was sitting so close, in fact, that the only two people in the theater sitting closer to Emmylou were Patty and Buddy (sorry Shawn). The two photos below are a better representation of my view.

Three Girls and Their Buddy, as they've named this tour, stopped by the Tennessee Theatre last night. Sitting side-by-side with no other accompaniment, each of the singer/songwriters took their turn at the mic, beginning with Emmylou ("I'm the oldest, so I get to go first"). They played for just over two hours -- four cycles through plus a groupsing of "Green Pastures" and two encores, "Didn't Leave No Body but the Baby" (the sirens' song from O, Brother) and Patty Griffin's gorgeous ode to her grandmother, "Mary."

I titled this post "Saturday Night at Church" because the whole show was gospel-flavored -- though after finally seeing her live, I suspect the same could probably be said of every concert Emmylou has ever played. By the midpoint of the first song, "Red Dirt Girl," I was nearly crying. It was the damnedest thing. I'm starting to think she's an honest-to-God angel.

A few other observations: Patty Griffin's voice just isn't fair, I want to live inside Buddy Miller's guitar tone, and Shawn Colvin tells a great fart joke.

Here are a couple new Songs of the Moment (finally), a few of which they played last night. They'll give you a good sense of the show, which might have been the best I've ever seen.

• "The Pearl" by Emmylou Harris
• "Trapeze" by Patty Griffin
• "That Don't Worry Me Now" by Shawn Colvin
• "Wide River to Cross" by Buddy Miller
• "Green Pastures" by Emmylou Harris

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