Saw a little gem of a show the other night - Slaid Cleaves live in Ridgefield, CT on July 24. It was an outdoor venue where Slaid and his bluesey guitar playing companion put on almost a 2 hours show that was quite enjoyable, especially considering it was a pretty pleasant New England summer evening.First things first; Slaid Cleaves is a Maine native who's been down in Austin, TX - a place near and dear to the authors of this blog - for about 7 years now. He's put out 3 albums since 1997's No Angel Knows, the latest of which was an album of covers you've never heard of.
He was charming and chatty and engaging and played a bunch of folksy, fun songs. If you enjoy folk ballads, then you'd certainly like to see Slaid live if you get the chance. He's not going to blow your mind, but he's definitely going to make sure you have a great time.
Highlight of the night was definitely 'Oh Roberta,' a lovely tune off of his latest cover album, Unsung that he played towards the end of the show. A few other songs off that album are streaming on his myspace page.
Awesome dude of the night award goes to the guy sitting on a blanket by himself way up front with about 8 empty Sierra Nevada Pale Ales in front of him, and four more to go. This would be far less impressive except for the fact that, to my knowledge, there are no restroom facilities within a quarter mile.
Anyway, if you're a fan of folk music, and have not checked this guy out yet it might be worth your while to do so. Finally, Friday Sept. 7, in Edgerton Park in New Haven Slaid shares the stage with a stellar lineup of musicians including Greg Brown, Mary Gauthier, and The Campbell Brothers in an evening of music that may be worth your while if you're in the locale.
I don't have any Slaid tracks in my catalogue yet, so I'll leave you with a folk ballad by another artist instead. Slan go foill.
No comments:
Post a Comment