A personally viral ear worm has taken over my playlist. You know the type, a random addition occasionally shuffles its way to the top and gives a mainline hit to your smile bone. The Cass McCombs 2023 single “Vacation From Thought” is one such worm. Upon inspection, it appears to be a one-off collaboration with an unknown band named Weak Signal. That song was enough to get me off the couch for this Friday night performance. Cass is a quirky singer songwriter from California who has been churning out under the radar nuggets since the early aughts. On this evening, Cass and band high light the recent recording Interior Live Oak. The setlist: Priestess, Miss Mabee, Asphodel, A Girl Named Dogie, Home At Last, Missionary Bell, Harmonia, Peace, I Never Dream About Trains, Your Mother and Father, Big Wheel, Music is Blue, I’m Not Ashamed, Bum Bum Bum, Sleeping Volcanoes and encored with County Line and Sacred Heart. The band was excellent, lead guitar, lefty bass, drummer, and occasional pedal steel. Cass started on electric and stretched out the slow burn of A Girl Named Dogie to excellent effect. He switched to acoustic and performed the beautiful Missionary Bell. One further move had Cass doing a few tunes on keys. You don’t call yourself a touring musician for twenty years without attention to concert detail, and Cass controlled a beautiful arc. Soft ballads, slow building jammers, off beat lyrics made for an enjoyable show. One of the best tribute recordings in recent memory is the mammoth Day of The Dead (Grateful Dead) recording arranged by uber-hipsters The National. The sprawling release is a Who’s Who of indie rockers and hippie jammers. Cass has the coveted spot of performing Dark Star with none other than Joe Russo. The moral of the story is trust your ears, and the worms that may inhabit them.
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