Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Chris Knight, Cody Canada and Charlie Robison @ Joe's. The acoustic tour.

After playing the KNBT 92.1 annual Americana Music Jam in New Braunfels Texas, Chris, Charlie & Cody came up to Chicago for one of the last stops on their acoustic tour. The crowd at Joe's were ready to see and hear what some of us got a larger dose of at the Musicfest in Steamboat back in January and the guys were glad to be back in Chicago. Chairs and tables were set up again and each person or group was escorted one by one to their reserved seats. Cody said they sang "Chicago Is" by Frank Sinatra all the way on the plane because Charlie said he gave him a pill for flying. Cody was still singing it after the show not because of those pills but because he's also a Sinatra fan and loves being in Chicago. Charlie started the show off with "Feelin Good" off of "Beautiful Day" from his latest release. After that Charlie said "Cody was nice enough to leave a copy of the Courtyard Hounds CD on my pillow the other day, i hadn't read any of the lyrics yet but i know my divorce songs are way better than her's." It was Cody's turn next and he said "well here's the song that got me out of a divorce, and my lovely wife is sitting right there in the corner" and he played " Flowers" for Shannon.

Chris Knight was next after Cody introduced him and he started right in on "Rural Route" off his "Enough Rope" CD and Cody took most of the guitar solos for the whole night. Charlie talked about how he and Chris didn't get along, i think he was joking but then Cody said they actually loved each other and Chris jumped in and said well "not LOVE love each other, we just get along" about then my little digital tape recorder quit that i use to remember things like this so i lost any other details of the show. Charlie played songs like "Loving County" and "My Hometown" and rattled off some great one liners like "the toughest guys wear the gayest shirts". Cody played "Bluebonnets" and "Dimebag" and even "51 Pieces" which were cool to hear acoustic and Chris and Charlie joked about how Cody was lacking in having as many murder ballads to sing as they had. Chris sang "The River" and "If I Were You" and even "Love and a .45" and it was great to see Chris in a good mood and smiling, even trading insults with the audience after someone yelled out and said "just play the song, you dumb redneck!" which Chris responded by saying "I know what i am, i know what you are too!" After the show Chris even came out to sign autographs and pose for pictures. Out by the bus Cody took a photo of my KNBT t-shirt and sent it to the station's owner Mattson Rainer, then he called him and handed me the phone, i didn't really know what to say and i just rambled on about how much i listen too and like the station. We hung out a while, Charlie and Chris were sleeping by then and we left Chicago around 2 am for the drive home.

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Roger Creager and Luke Bryan @ Joe's.

Early in the morning i woke up and continued the drive toward home from Lucky Maggies in Missouri hoping to make it in time to catch the Roger Creager & Luke Bryan show at Joe's May 7th.
I didn't get much sleep the night before closing down Lucky Maggies and then getting on the road around 5am so i had to pull over a few times and take short half hour naps to be able to keep going. After waiting in traffic and checking into my hotel i made the show just in time as Roger was already on stage. His band was crowded in by all of Luke's gear already on stage but they seemed like they were having fun. I don't think Roger played any new material but i think he won over some new fans that without Luke would otherwise miss the chance to hear him.Luke always pulls in a great crowd at Joe's so you can always count on it being standing room only like the other times i have seen him there and so since there is no photo pit i usually have to wait near the front of the stage early to get any good shots. Running late i wasn't able to do that so i had to shoot from the outside areas plus i was so tired i didn't feel like trying to get into that crowd.
Luke put on another great show, sang a few good classic rock cover songs and poured a few beers for people in the audience and one guy even snuck in a guitar somehow that was passed up to Luke to sign. I was tired, watched a lot of the show from the TV screens upstairs but the redbull's weren't working so i didn't hang around too long after the show.