Music & The Machine–An Enchanting Evening

Dave Rawlings Machine – photo from ABC RN Facebook

This is the first opportunity I have had to post about the Dave Rawlings Machine concert at the Palais last Friday night.

Seeing the Gillian Welch / Dave Rawlings duo a fortnight ago, certainly didn’t jade the pallet for more divine music from the pair.

We had better seats this time, four rows from the front, so even though, disappointingly, photos were not permitted, it didn’t in any way detract from the pleasure of the night’s entertainment.

It was quite a different set up and sound. The added accompaniments of Willie Watson on violin, banjo and guitar, Brittany Haas on violin and Paul Kowert on double bass delivered a deeper and richer sonic landscape; quite bluegrassy in fact.

In the Dave Rawlings Machine, David Rawlings assumes lead vocals, while Gillian Welch sings background harmonies and plays her rhythm guitar, though she did sing a couple of songs as lead. Gillian’s voice is warm and honey coloured and stands out even when several male vocalists are singing harmonies.

Willie Watson added his distinctive voice to many of the songs and was lead vocalist on Stewball, a traditional ditty about a racehorse He was formerly a member of Old Crow Medicine Show, so I’ve seen him before performing with them. And Paul Kowerts also took the lead on the gospel inspired He Will Set Your Fields On Fire.

As was the case in the Gillian Welch concert, there was an intermission of approximately 30 minutes half way through the show, where the band goes off to do mysterious things (David Rawlings words) and the audience does likewise.

However, we didn’t go next door to Luna Park and ride on the Scenic Railway as the band purportedly did and cheerfully admitted when they returned on stage for the second set.

Gillian Welch and David Rawlings have been driving to all their Australian concerts, crossing the Nullabor early in their tour, performing shows at Perth and Adelaide, then Sydney, Canberra, Bangalow and Melbourne. They have an aversion to flying, which explains why it took them 11 years to return.

Both the Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings Machine shows were wonderful in diverse ways, so I’m glad I seized the opportunity to see them this time around. I doubt if they’ll be back this way anytime soon.

Setlist (from Setlist.fm)

1. The Weekend

2. Bodysnatchers

3. Pilgrim (You Can't Go Home)

4. Wayside/Back in Time

5. To Be Young (Is to Be Sad, Is to Be High) (Ryan Adams cover)

6. Bells of Harlem

7. Keep It Clean (Charley Jordan cover)

8. The Trip

9. It's Too Easy

Intermission

10. Ruby

11. The Last Pharaoh

12. He Will Set Your Fields on Fire (Bill Monroe cover)

13. Sweet Tooth

14. I Hear Them All / This Land Is Your Land (Woody Guthrie cover)

15. Stewball ([traditional] cover)

16. Short Haired Woman Blues

17. Queen Jane Approximately (Bob Dylan cover)

Encore 1:

18. Look at Miss Ohio (Gillian Welch cover)

19. Method Acting / Cortez the Killer

Encore 2:

20. The Weight (The Band cover)

21. Didn't Leave Nobody But the Baby ([traditional] cover)

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Music Festival time is only a few weeks off, when music lovers in Australia are spoilt for choice.

I’ve got tickets to five upcoming shows in March, April and June.

I’m looking forward to seeing Jason Isbell at Melbourne Recital Centre on 29 March. His opening act is non other than the delightful Eilen Jewell, whom I’m catching again the following night in a headline show at Thornbury Theatre.

On April Fool’s Day Frazey Ford (of The Be Good Tanyas fame) is at Caravan Music Club, and local singer writers Liz Stringer and Suzannah Espie are performing there together on 21 April.

And in June I’m seeing John Mellencamp at Rod Laver Arena, courtesy of a Ticketek Gift Voucher from Nu Country.

Wayside Back In Time–An Evening With Gillian Welch

Gillian Welch & David Rawlings – press photo by M Seliger

St Kilda was buzzing.

At Luna Park the rides were all screams and flashing lights and the sea was sparkling in the bright sunshine of early evening as we reached the seaside suburb for an early dinner at an Acland Street restaurant, prior to attending the dazzling Gillian Welch concert at the Palais Theatre.

It was a sold out show as had been the concert the previous night, witness to the love affair Melbourne has with the Nashville duo.

Gillian Welch and David Rawlings last graced these shores in November 2004, where I had the pleasure of seeing them perform at another Palais, an intimate venue (no longer in operation) in Hepburn Springs.

I have been a fan of their music for 20 years – has it been that long - so their concert was a must see for me, and the group of friends who also attended the 2004 show.

It was a younger audience this time, some of whom would have been babies when Gillian Welch released her first album, Revival,  in 1996.

Thunderous applause greeted the couple as they stepped on stage to begin their first set, kicking off with Scarlet Town, a track from Gillian Welch’s lastest album The Harrow and the Harvest.  This was followed by Elvis Presley Blues and My First Lover from Time (The Revelator).

Songs from across Gillian Welch’ s five disc repertoire were performed as well as several wonderful covers, a highlight being their thrilling cover of  Jefferson Airplane’s White Rabbit in the second encore.

It’s like being in an alternate reality witnessing Gillian Welch and David Rawlings play their bleak Americana songs that encompass blues, country, bluegrass, gospel and old style rock n roll. A great many of their songs deal with death and desperation, which the couple cheerfully acknowledged with comments like “The next one’s a killing song”, or “this one’s faster, but sadder –more people die”.  They have established their own style and have a perfect on stage chemistry that is memerising to watch.

David Rawlings unique guitar playing is wondrous to behold and beautiful to hear. Quite a few songs contained an extended “jam” session,  David exhibiting his consummate skill on his old guitar to rapturous applause.

At one stage Gillian broke from her usual staid stance and danced a jig to Six White Horses, with thigh slapping accompaniment, lifting her long skirts to reveal cowboy boots.

Melbourne audiences fell in love with the duo in 2004, where they sold out four or five shows at various venues in Melbourne and rural venues.  Melbourne has a long memory for musical excellence, as the first Melbourne concert this time round sold out in 45 minutes.

The duo were accorded several standing ovations that coaxed them back on stage for three encores. The final song, Long Black Veil was sung unmiked to a hushed audience, Gillian remarking that it was the first song the duo performed together.

I’m pleased I’ll get to see them again on the 19th February in an extended band called David Rawlings Machine. No doubt it will be quite different and hopefully photos will be permitted, so I can get some memorable shots of the King and Queen of Americana Gothic.

Setlist (from Setlist.fm)

Set 1

1. Scarlet Town

2. Elvis Presley Blues

3. My First Lover

4. The Way It Will Be

5. The Way It Goes

6. Make Me a Pallet on Your Floor ([traditional] cover)

7. I Want to Sing That Rock and Roll

8. Annabelle

9. Wrecking Ball

10. Red Clay Halo

Set 2

11. Hard Times

12. Down Along the Dixie Line

13. Wayside/Back in Time

14. Six White Horses

15. Revelator

16. Sweet Tooth (Dave Rawlings Machine cover)

17. Tennessee

18. Caleb Meyer

Encore:1

19. Look at Miss Ohio

Encore: 2

20. Everything Is Free

21. I'll Fly Away (The Humbard Family cover)

22. White Rabbit (Jefferson Airplane cover)

Encore: 3

23. Long Black Veil (Lefty Frizzell cover)