Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Monday, July 2, 2012
The Workingman's Poet; Merle Haggard and Marty Stuart 6/24 Concert Review
Even though I just saw Mr. Haggard, a year and a half ago, it was well worth it to go see the legend again, with a fairly big name opener in Marty Stuart. Plus he didn't play my favorite song last time....
I'd never been to the Family Arena in St. Charles, so this was a first. It's sort of off by itself in a forested area near the Missouri River I believe. And it's basically just a small arena.
I forked over the few extra dollars for the good seats. The old man came along this time, probably more than seeing Haggard again(he saw him in the early 70s at Kiel Auditorium with Loretta Lynn) he wanted to see Marty Stuart. And we were in the fifth row, dead center from the stage. And being a country concert, it stared close enough to being on time at 7:30.
Marty Stuart and his Fabulous Superlatives came out firing with Stop the World (And Let Me Off). His claim to recent fame, is his own show on the RFD Network in the vein of the Porter Wagoner Show and Wilburn Brothers shows of old, which he mentioned, "is the only place you can see them, and buy a cow and a tractor in the same place."
Stuart and company made it a hard act for Haggard to follow. 'Cousin' Kenny Vaughan on guitar(who looks even weirder in person) was hot on guitar, 'Apostle Paul' on bass and 'Handsome' Harry Stinson on drums are the Fabulous Superlatives and they can cook, with different styles of country. Stuart let each of them have one song to sing, giving them a part of the spotlight.
They played 15 songs over an hour, hitting his most well known hits, The Whiskey Ain't Working, This One's Gonna Hurt You (For a Long Long Time), Tempted(Which I've always thought sounds like a Springsteen song) and the set closer Hillbilly Rock(which he ad libbed in St. Charles during a verse). And he gave several stories about Johnny Cash and what the man meant to him, before preforming Dark Bird.
Other songs they played included Hummingbyrd, Farmer's Blues, a mandolin solo by Marty, Country Music Got A Hold On Me(Kenny Vaughan singing), Heaven.
Stuart kept the crowd entertained, with quips like, "People ask what's it like to be married to a big time country star. I tell them 'I think Connie's getting used to it'." And early in the show, "I hope you like our show. If you don't...too bad, we've already got your money!" And after the final number Stuart left to the band playing the outro to his television show.
After a thirty minute set changeover, the lights dimmed and the Strangers played Merle on, who opened with the same song as last time I saw him, Silver Wings, along with Marty Stuart coming out introducing the Hag.
After the first two songs, I was worried about Merle's voice as it sounded shaky and light and both songs were over quickly. But I guess the got the sound and volume up and with the third song, it got the place really pumping. And it was also my favorite song of his, Ramblin' Fever, which is the one I wanted to hear him do most, especially since he didn't play it last year at the Fox. He also played my second choice of songs, he didn't play then, Today I Started Loving You Again, as well as That's The Way Love Goes. I think out of the 20 songs he played, 11 were different ones than he played at the Fox. I've read he before he usually doesn't plan out too much of a set list and it varies to good degrees each night, which it looked like at times, he was telling the band which song to go to next.
Set List
Silver Wings
Mama Tried
Ramblin' Fever
Tonight The Bottle Let Me Down
Kern River
T.B. Blues
Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Star
I Think I'll Just Stay Here and Drink
Big City
Workin' Man Blues
If I Could Only Fly
That's the Way Love Goes
Motorcycle Cowboy
Today I Started Loving You Again
Folsom Prison Blues
Working in Tennessee
Take Me Back to Tulsa
Thirty Again
Momma's Prayers
Okie From Muskogee
Merle didn't talk as much this time with the audience, his first words were, "Here's a song for the drunks," before Tonight The Bottle Let Me Down. And he recited the same joke from last year about, 'writing all these songs at sea level in my 20s and here I am in my 40s'. And he gave intros to a few of the other songs, including showing his own reverence for Johnny Cash, breaking out Folsom Prison Blues. He also did the same joke with 'introducing the Strangers' by having them all shake hands like they're introducing themselves to each other for the first time.
He brought out his fiddle, for Working in Tennessee and Take Me Back to Tulsa. And Thirty Again was a fun song, that I don't think I'd ever heard before. And like last time he did no encore, leaving after Okie From Muskogee. He used my favorite line from Kris Kristofferson's version of the song, "We don't smoke that deadly marijuana, we get drunk like God wants us to do." Love it.
He only played for 70 minutes, but he got 20 songs in there, which is pretty stout for a 75 year old performer. The heat might have had some influence for that maybe. I know the seats were bunched together and I had little room to maneuver around.
I know the old man had a good time as well, even if he didn't get the certain song he was looking for. He was hooping and hollering throughout, cheering and signing along. Merle and the Strangers and Marty and the Superlatives gave us some good old fashioned country and some real music.
I'd never been to the Family Arena in St. Charles, so this was a first. It's sort of off by itself in a forested area near the Missouri River I believe. And it's basically just a small arena.
I forked over the few extra dollars for the good seats. The old man came along this time, probably more than seeing Haggard again(he saw him in the early 70s at Kiel Auditorium with Loretta Lynn) he wanted to see Marty Stuart. And we were in the fifth row, dead center from the stage. And being a country concert, it stared close enough to being on time at 7:30.
Marty Stuart and his Fabulous Superlatives came out firing with Stop the World (And Let Me Off). His claim to recent fame, is his own show on the RFD Network in the vein of the Porter Wagoner Show and Wilburn Brothers shows of old, which he mentioned, "is the only place you can see them, and buy a cow and a tractor in the same place."
Stuart and company made it a hard act for Haggard to follow. 'Cousin' Kenny Vaughan on guitar(who looks even weirder in person) was hot on guitar, 'Apostle Paul' on bass and 'Handsome' Harry Stinson on drums are the Fabulous Superlatives and they can cook, with different styles of country. Stuart let each of them have one song to sing, giving them a part of the spotlight.
They played 15 songs over an hour, hitting his most well known hits, The Whiskey Ain't Working, This One's Gonna Hurt You (For a Long Long Time), Tempted(Which I've always thought sounds like a Springsteen song) and the set closer Hillbilly Rock(which he ad libbed in St. Charles during a verse). And he gave several stories about Johnny Cash and what the man meant to him, before preforming Dark Bird.
Other songs they played included Hummingbyrd, Farmer's Blues, a mandolin solo by Marty, Country Music Got A Hold On Me(Kenny Vaughan singing), Heaven.
Stuart kept the crowd entertained, with quips like, "People ask what's it like to be married to a big time country star. I tell them 'I think Connie's getting used to it'." And early in the show, "I hope you like our show. If you don't...too bad, we've already got your money!" And after the final number Stuart left to the band playing the outro to his television show.
After a thirty minute set changeover, the lights dimmed and the Strangers played Merle on, who opened with the same song as last time I saw him, Silver Wings, along with Marty Stuart coming out introducing the Hag.
After the first two songs, I was worried about Merle's voice as it sounded shaky and light and both songs were over quickly. But I guess the got the sound and volume up and with the third song, it got the place really pumping. And it was also my favorite song of his, Ramblin' Fever, which is the one I wanted to hear him do most, especially since he didn't play it last year at the Fox. He also played my second choice of songs, he didn't play then, Today I Started Loving You Again, as well as That's The Way Love Goes. I think out of the 20 songs he played, 11 were different ones than he played at the Fox. I've read he before he usually doesn't plan out too much of a set list and it varies to good degrees each night, which it looked like at times, he was telling the band which song to go to next.
Set List
Silver Wings
Mama Tried
Ramblin' Fever
Tonight The Bottle Let Me Down
Kern River
T.B. Blues
Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Star
I Think I'll Just Stay Here and Drink
Big City
Workin' Man Blues
If I Could Only Fly
That's the Way Love Goes
Motorcycle Cowboy
Today I Started Loving You Again
Folsom Prison Blues
Working in Tennessee
Take Me Back to Tulsa
Thirty Again
Momma's Prayers
Okie From Muskogee
Merle didn't talk as much this time with the audience, his first words were, "Here's a song for the drunks," before Tonight The Bottle Let Me Down. And he recited the same joke from last year about, 'writing all these songs at sea level in my 20s and here I am in my 40s'. And he gave intros to a few of the other songs, including showing his own reverence for Johnny Cash, breaking out Folsom Prison Blues. He also did the same joke with 'introducing the Strangers' by having them all shake hands like they're introducing themselves to each other for the first time.
He brought out his fiddle, for Working in Tennessee and Take Me Back to Tulsa. And Thirty Again was a fun song, that I don't think I'd ever heard before. And like last time he did no encore, leaving after Okie From Muskogee. He used my favorite line from Kris Kristofferson's version of the song, "We don't smoke that deadly marijuana, we get drunk like God wants us to do." Love it.
He only played for 70 minutes, but he got 20 songs in there, which is pretty stout for a 75 year old performer. The heat might have had some influence for that maybe. I know the seats were bunched together and I had little room to maneuver around.
I know the old man had a good time as well, even if he didn't get the certain song he was looking for. He was hooping and hollering throughout, cheering and signing along. Merle and the Strangers and Marty and the Superlatives gave us some good old fashioned country and some real music.
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