Joe Henry @ The Taft Theatre/Cincinnati, OH (12.18.2010)

OK, in any resonable universe, Joe Henry is no opener, no supporting act. The man, in his own right is an immense talent and prolific artist, singer/songwriter, producer and headliner that has worked with many of the greatest artists in the business.

During the recording of Over the Rhine’s “The Long Surrender” at his home studio “the Garfield House” in South Pasedena this year, Karin & Linford developed a wonderful partnership, relationship and friendship with Joe (and his family) that led to the opportunity for this incredible show on Saturday night.

For those unfamiliar with Joe or his music, don’t be any longer. Go buy “Blood From Stars,” and “Civilians” immediately (and while you are there, pick up Allen Toussaint’s “The Bright Mississippi” that he produced also). A friend described him, after hearing him for the first time Saturday night…take Randy Newman and Tom Waits, put them in a shaker and shake well, pour them out and you have Joe! That’s actually pretty damn close. I might add, include a dash of Louden Wainwright III as a garnish, for seasoning.

He is a very intense and animated performer and his writing is very intelligent and literate, yet laced with off kilter humor and real life observations…in short, brilliant in every way.

His set was mostly culled from his most recent two releases, “Blood From Stars” & “Civilians.”

bellweather
Channel
Progress of love
Sold
All blues hail mary
truce
the man i keep hid (w/k&l)
Flag
Our song
Civilians

Over the Rhine: “The Long Surrender” @ The Aronoff Center/Cincinnati, OH (12.17.2010)

The Taft Extravaganza: Night One

12 years ago on December 9th, 1999, Over the Rhine moved their annual Christmas “Homecoming” show from the Emery Theatre to the Taft Theatre, I was there that night, and have been at every one since. And in all honesty, I can not imagine missing one of these shows. Ever.

With this years recording of “The Long Surrender,” Karin & Linford took the opportunity to expand the usual two day weekend of shows into three with a live debut of the record for those contributors that helped fund the project.

Tonight’s show was @ the beautiful and intimate “Jarson-Kaplan Theatre” in the Aronoff Center for the Arts in downtown Cincinnati, it was a perfect venue for the band and the music. The band consisted of Karin, Linford, Nick Radina (cuatro, percussion, guitar), Andy Borger (drum kit, percussion), and they were joined by David Piltch on upright bass, Levon Henry on tenor sax and Joe Henry on vocals and guitar.

I was in for soundcheck and could tell a nice groove and vibe had formed among them and they were definitely ready “rock on, rave on.”

They hit the ground running with a nice little comment from Linford when he hit the stage “We made a record…” and never looked back the rest of the show.

Karin was dead on vocally and the band was in such a tight, yet improvisational groove, that it was incredible.

Night one set the bar high for the weekend, writing this after the fact, I’ll clue you in…they kept it high, with nary a let down.

The setlist kind of goes without saying, it was “the Long Surrender” with “Drunkard’s Prayer and Joe’s “The Man i Kept Hid” as encores.