Ben Sollee & Brigid Kaelin played on friday at The 930 Art Center in Louisville, KY. This was my first trip to the 930, so for those of you who haven’t been, the building is an old elementary school and now the Sojourn community church which makes the art gallery easy to miss if you’re not sure what you’re looking for. I had to actually stop at the liquor store at the corner of Oak & Mary to get there.
When I got to the venue, the place was absolutely packed. Every seat was taken & the walls were lined with kids. It was encouraging to see this number of people showing up for a cellist & a Nashville girl in Louisville. The venue itself was really nice, with an exhibit entitled “Homeless: Telling Our Own Stories” with some very touching pieces. I highly encourage making it over soon.
Ben Sollee went on around 9. I had the opportunity to interview Ben earlier in the week. Ben plays the cello, and he does it amazingly well. He plays a folk/pop kind of style, with a touch of occasional melancholy. He makes the cello fun and unless you have a very adept ear, you’d never know he was playing what for years was considered a boring instrument. This was probably never more clear than on the very fun “Boy’s Don’t Cry”. His slightly country voice was comforting and sets his style of play off nicely. That said though, songs like “Change is Gonna Come” really showed off the Paul Simon influence and his range.
On “A Few Honest Words”, Ben showcased his ability to play the cello in a way I’ve never seen. He was very playful at the way he picked & his words were very emotional and heartfelt as he sang “Just a few honest words, it shouldn’t be that hard.” At one point, he sang “Love is a bitter fruit we’ve learned to eat” which I thought was simply a great line. What caught me off guard about the song is that in all its passion and emotion and beauty, it took a shocking political turn in the last line as he sang “tell me again about democracy” which I’ve not yet decided whether I liked it or not (though I think I did).
Like myself, Ben’s 7 week old son Oliver West Sollee got to see his father perform for the first time. Ben told us the story as the lead in to the song he wrote when he decided to tell everyone that he and his wife were going to have a child. It was a surprisingly intimate moment as he relayed the story to us that as a musician and touring with a new wife, that Oliver wasn’t entirely planned. It was somewhat refreshing honesty, but a little uncomfortable too. They say having children changes everything, and I think the lyrics to “Try” are as clear an indication of that as you can get as Ben sang “I can’t wait to hold your hand.”
Ben got on guitar a few songs later for “I Can’t”, and noted how easy life would have been if he’d had frets over the last 15 years. Finally, Ben finished the set with “Bury Me with My Car”, which seemed to me to be a commentary on the American lifestyle. For this one, he brougt up a Sojourn Community staple Brooks Ritter, who brought a lot of soul to the show.
The show was a very relaxing an enjoyable show. If you’ve not gotten the chance to see Ben yet, I highly recommend watching out for his next show.
Set list:
Built for This
Teach Me Baby
A Few Honest Words
Change is Gonna Come
Try
Boys Don’t Cry
Chocolate Jesus (Tom Waits cover)
I Can’t
Bury Me with My Car
Brigid Kaelin came on next, with her ruby red slippers her mom gave her and looking like she needed to be on a yellow brick road. Behind Brigid was some of the best musicians Louisville has to offer. Steve Cooley who is one of the most famous banjo players alive (though unfortunately not playing the banjo that night). He has been nominated for Grammy’s on 3 occasions. On guitar was everyone’s favorite, Peter Searcy. Scott Langford was on drums. This was also my first chance to see Brigid although Nick has seen her a time or two. Honestly, I was a little hesitant because I thought her sound was a little more country than I typically like. Brigid reminds me of so many people that I met and saw play in Nashville on the strip of venues there. I don’t write that to mean that she was miscellaneous at all, because I hold the people playing in those bars with incredible esteem. Brigid started her first song of the set called “Whiskey in the Faucet” and it was pure and fun Nashville alt-rock. What Brigid could do that so many can’t though is show her broad range, playing guitar, piano, accordion, yodeling and even a hand saw on Over the Rainbow. Not to mention she was much jazzier than I’d realized.
I spoke a little with Brigid recently and she was talking to me about her new album, which she literally just finished recording in the past few weeks. Fortunately, we didn’t have to wait to see what she’d made because she played a significant amount of the new album that night.
She was very vocal during the performance. She explained “You Make Me Want to Go to Church” that she’d met a man in Nashville and she told him that the way he sang made her want to go to church. He told her that if she was a songwriter that she’d better go home to write a song under that name before he did. The song seemed to turn drastically from the original story (or maybe it didn’t), but it was incredibly sexual as she sang how he made her want to get down on her knees.”
Later, she performed Sunday Afternoon from the new album on piano. The new song was very playful & cute and I couldn’t help but think of high school summer love from the years prior to over analysis, fear or inhibitions. It was a beautiful song that really took me out of the room and into my own imagination, which is something rare, but impressive.
Perhaps the most touching song though, and I’m not lying when I say I was near crying, was “Ballad of Motorcycle Joe”, a song about a friend of hers who operated the door at countless concerts. She performed this song from her first album solo, which was best. Recalling him, she laughed and claimed he looked like a pirate. He had his motorcycle stolen one night, and became so depressed that he literally drank himself to death within 2 months thereafter. It was beautifully tragic.
Finally, the crowd got what many of them no doubt waited for as Brigid yodeled two songs in a row. First was the 1935 country uber-classic “I Want to be a Cowboy’s Sweetheart” by Patsy Montana, and lastly the WFPK favorit, the driedel song. I found it great she closed out a performance in a church with a song about Judaism, but it seemed to be appropriate I guess. Overall, the show was very entertaining. A big part of the entertainment value was the interaction between Brigid and her backing band for the night. I think it was a little impromptu as a back-up band, so I think they truly enjoyed getting to all play together.
Setlist:
Whiskey in the Fountain
Betty Jean
You Make Me Want to go to Church
Watch Out
Keep Your Secrets
Sunday Afternoon
Ballad of Motorcycle Joe
Over the Rainbow (instrumental)
Hold Me Like that Old Guitar
Future Mr. Used-to-Be
I Want to Be a Cowboy’s Sweetheart (Patsy Montana cover)
Dreidel Song
For pictures, (more…)
![[BRKYCHROME+(actual+dimensions).jpg]](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_EHs0miHshJ0/S4GQWpgaS7I/AAAAAAAAAFc/k6FNwt4ZTs0/s1600/BRKYCHROME%2B%28actual%2Bdimensions%29.jpg)
