w/ Herman Put Down The Gun
Well, the show was a blast, like always. It’s always pretty relaxing playing something other than my stuff, even more relaxing when all I have to do is sing. I sang on Styx’s “Lady” and ELO’s “Don’t Bring Me Down.” “Lady” is a song that I can only sing a couple of times before I can’t hit the high notes any more, so with two sets and two songs in each I was a little nervous I might not make it through (the first time we did “Lady” my voice was completely shot on the second set). But somehow it all went smoothly, apart from botching the words to a verse in the ELO song in the first set. I will admit, too, that in the late set, when I came up onstage the crowd kinda… well, they really cheered loudly. I was caught off guard, to be honest. Anyway, I can’t thank the band enough for continuing to have me at these shows.
The opener for the late show was Sonia Tetlow‘s band. I told them repeatedly after the show that I was totally amazed by them, god knows if they believed me. I realized that I’ve known Sonia for about 10 years or so; Radiant City played a show with her at Dottie’s (a now-gone club in Atlanta that I could not possibly describe, let’s just say at one show we found a bullet on the floor, at another I helped break up a drunken fight in the parking lot). I’ve been on other bills with her over the years.
Local bands are a short-lived species for the most part. It’s rare enough for one to last more than a couple of years and rarer still when you get to actually watch them grow as artists. Sonia’s show Saturday was just incredible, her music has really evolved over time. I don’t mean for that to sound condescending, but if you heard her the first time I did, and then Saturday night, you’d never know it was the same person. I don’t just mean talent, her sound has really matured, it’s much more melodic and nuanced. The change is really noticable, even between now and the show we played last year. I remember seeing the same change in the Gentle Readers, after they’d been doing shows as Susi French Connection for about a year or so. Sonia, on the other hand, spent the last year or so playing with Cowboy Mouth. I think in both cases the extracurricular bands are a big part of why their sound made such a sudden leap forward.
Anyway, it was a good night all around, helpful to me for trying to recall why I liked doing it before.
