several years ago, i went to see mary gauthier at (imho) one of the worst venues in louisville, uncle pleasant’s. for the reasons that made the place is a great neighborhood bar, it was horrible as a listening room. the place was loud, smokey, people rambling around, talking loudly and getting loaded up fast.
then, this unassuming guy with a full “homeless” beard, seemingly walked on stage from the audience, quietly stood behind the mic and without a word or introduction, started to sing acapella. before the end of the first verse, the place was stunningly quiet and stayed that way for the rest of the set. that guy was joe manning. i’ve been a huge fan ever since.
tonight was one of those “secret” type shows, in was mentioned on joe’s facebook page, only 90 tickets were available @ cherry bomb, a quirky vintage clothing store and you weren’t told of the secret venue until you opened your sealed ticket. and that was one of the coolest parts of a very cool night, the venue, “the workhouse ballroom” was actually long, narrow, “bunker” built into the side of a hill on lexington road. it was easy to assume that this was some kind of weapons storage or safety shelter from the civil war era. all that was visible from outside was a door on the side of the hill, i’ve driven past it many times, never having noticed it before or having any idea of it’s existence. inside, it was long, narrow with rounded walls and ceiling made of hand laid stones, it was literally “underground.”
being halloween eve, about half the crowd was dressed for the holiday, there were mummies, a mozart, nurses, vampires, etc mixed it with the crowd (there appeared to be well over the 90 number announced). it was a “byob” event and everyone seemed to be having a great time and were respectful, appreciative and supportive.
“spirits of the red city,” from minneapolis, opened and they were wonderful. a quirky five piece, their set was all un-mic’ed/un-amped acoustic and the room handeled it perfectly. i knew virtually nothing about them and really enjoyed their set. they are definitely worth looking into.
next up, ironically, joe started the night much like the first time i saw him, unannounced, with people still milling about, he (joined by the lovely joan shelly) opened with a quiet acapella and within a few seconds, the room was still and quiet. for the rest of his set, until the last few songs, when joan rejoined him. joe was accompanied by his longtime friend and bandmate in “the obscure handsome brothers,” glen dentinger. they played about 45 minutes of originals by joe, and these guys lay down some of the most incredible harmonies that you will ever hear. amazing stuff.
joan came back up for the last three songs, the first of which was her beautiful song, “unbound,” joe introduced it “as a hundred year old song that joan just wrote,” it could be. and they ended the set much as it was begun, with joan and joe nailing and old, traditional irish folk song, acapella.
i’m so glad i went to see mary in that shitty little bar years ago and found joe’s music…
(it was too dark in the place to get any pictures, and there is nothing that i can find on youtube of joe, here’s a video of joe joining joan on “unbound.”)
what we need is music 