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2008 > September > 26 > Entry
By John T. Davis
| Friday, September 26, 2008, 02:32 PM
Ears ringing from the sonic assault of Austin’s the Steps, winners of the Sound and the Jury who were ringing the rafters of the Dell Stage, listeners made their way toward what proved to be musical balm from Gilead by comparison—Rodney Crowell’s acoustic set on the AT&T stage.
It wasn’t so much that Crowell’s songs can’t flourish in an electric
setting—the guy can rock with the best of them. But the tensile intelligence of
his writing and the tongue-in-groove tightness of his melodies, it can be argued,
come across best in a more intimate context, stripped down to bone and nerve.
And Crowell’s set was nothing if not intimate, the cavernous setting of the AT&T
Stage notwithstanding. His show was more evocative of a club set than a festival
showcase. Audience members helpfully supplied him with a lyric when he blanked
during “I Wish It Would Rain” (“Thank you for helping me in these senior
moments,” he said sheepishly.) And the sunbaked crowd seemed to catch it
collective breath as Crowell’s female fiddle player crafted a passionate extended
solo at the conclusion of “Wandering Boy” that climaxed and waned to the trill
of a hummingbird’s wings. It was a transcendent moment, and Crowell seemed as
engrossed and entranced as the audience.
The first portion of his set derived from his new album, Sex and Gasoline, a
collection of songs from and about a female perspective. Songs such as “Moving
Work of Art,” the Dylanesque title track and ”The Rise and Fall of
Intelligent Design” all reflected the razor-edged focus and seemingly offhanded
craftsmanship which have marked Crowell’s entire career, both as a Nashville
journeyman and, more lately, a maverick tunesmith pursing his Muse wherever it
happens to lead him.
The balance of his show drew from the three critically acclaimed albums he has
released since 2001. Cherrypicking songs like “Fate’s Right Hand,” “U
Don’t Know How Much I Hate U” and “Earthbound,” he still left some
fans unsatiated. “I SO wanted to hear ‘Shame On the Moon,’ lamented one
listener afterward. Ah, well.
Photo: Jay Janner AMERICAN-STATESMAN
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ACL 2008: Friday, ACL Festival
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By Andy
September 30, 2008 10:52 AM | Link to this
Does anyone know who the female fiddle player is that preformed with him at this show? shes excellent and i cant seem to find anything on her
By jake barnes
October 2, 2008 12:33 PM | Link to this
her name is Jenny Scheinman. She is indeed excellent. Crowell has a long history introducing and playing with other great musicians.