Scott H. Biram w/ Black Pistol Fire 9/27/13 Cafe 9

An evening of outlaw blues. Opener BPF was a guitar and drums duo like the Black Keys. Twangy energy had their set concluding with guitarist standing on bass drum shack-shaking their finale.
 Scott H. Biram is a hard drinking, hard living, one-man fuzz blues outfit. In 2003,  Biram crashed head-on into an 18-wheeler, lived, and continued to perform with IVs on stage. Booze, guns, and wimmen (not necessarily in that order) pervaded most songs. Biram could coax many styles from his collection of old beatup guitars. His voice also occupied many styles, from woody guthrie dustbowl folk, johnny cash drawls, darth vader rants, and twangy tuvan throat singing. Did a great Dazed and Confused, Bukka White, and R.L. Burnside tunes as well. Spoke fondly of a tribute he performed for Blind Willie Johnson, but I'm sure the evening ended with booze, guns, and wimmen. As the evening went on, Biram's inter-song banter became less discernible and devolved into a monolog of, er..cho..cow..wuh..pow..tuh, which I'm sure is the language of booze, guns, and wimmen.

Lettuce 9/19/13 Toads

Eric Krasno's post-Soulive funk outfit Lettuce hit Toads for some instrumental funk. Hat wearing hollow-body guitar wielding Kras is a great guitarist. Sax, trumpet, congas, keys, drums, and a Sneaky-jack alike on bass made for a crowd on stage....second guitarist too. I often crab about instrumental bands, lacking pizzazz and sustain. That criticism holds for Lettuce, technically brilliant but wanting for a singer. In an instrumental show, songs often blend into a same-ness. Opener Nigel Hall came out to sing closing tune "Movin on Up" which was the highlight,

Califone w/ Richard Buckner 9/17/13 Cafe 9

Opener Buckner is an acquired taste. Woozy poetic folk is punctuated by Buckner's dylanesque delivery that sounds like he's singing while walking around with a rock in his shoe. This notion of sliding in to notes and phrases is off-putting if you are not fully engaged. With a new recording of "jaunty little numbers" (sic), Buckner seemed unphased by the crowd's indifference, and why not? He's been consistent in his craft for decades.
   I am not familiar with Califone's output, but have heard their name for years. Ring-led by Tim Rutilli on guitar, keys (when they work), and noises, this group sounds very Wilco-y. With drums, female percussionist, and bass/keys rounding out the quartet Califone gave a collection of folk songs interspersed with an odd selection of drones and squall. Their new recording Stitches was showcased. Rutilli is the true artists artist. At one point he stopped mid-song to call out a fan for shooting video from the front row ("what are you doing with that phone?, it's driving me f-ing nuts"). During another song he stopped to say that he could not finish the song because "the piano is broken", which was odd because I detected no break in the piano part. The evening was a refreshing blend of music and uncompromising artistry that seems rare today.

Barrence Whitfield and The Savages 9/6/13 Cafe 9

BW has been wailing in the northeast for decades. Boston-based, BW is a mighty stage presence. Wearing a WWII army helmut, he screeches his way through his set. The Savages, a tight bluesy backing band matches the energy. Decent crowd for a friday. BW must be getting old or tired or both, because he skipped the customary serenade while walking down the bar, no matter this guy still puts on a show

Josh Ritter w/ The Low Anthem 8/18/13 Toads Place

The good thing about a double bill where both acts are solid, is that you look forward to an entire evening of music. On paper, that should have been the case on this night. Unfortunately, opener The Low Anthem exhibited little resemblance to the band that got a good review in this blog a few years back at the Green River Festival. TLA has a couple of excellent recordings (Oh My God Charlie Darwin, and The Smart Flesh) with a knack for quiet>>>loud songs. On this evening, with a new female violinist and harmonica player, TLA seemed to plunge straight into cacaphonous squall omitting the song structure entirely. While this plan of attack may work in the jazz world, it seemed silly in the alt. americana landscape. The song about Ozzie Smith was humorous, but their set left not much else.
   Josh Ritter has had a couple of releases since I last saw him. Armed with a tight band, tight songs and a permasmile, Ritter burned through much of his catalog. Band consisted of bass, drums, keys, lead guitar, with Josh on guitar and vocals. Large crowd for a Sunday night. Josh has also been through a marriage breakup recently which seems to have energized his stage presence. Josh seemed genuinely excited to play Toads, a fabled venue he read about in Rolling Stone as a child in Idaho.

Wayne Escoffery Sextet 8/17/13 New Haven Green

Closing out New Haven jazz week, local product Escoffery and company took the dwarf stage at the green. The green was well attended, they should have sprung for the real stage. Escoffery studied at ECA and has evolved into a "young lion" of jazz. Channeling Coltrane, Wayne played tenor and soprano sax. College chum Jeremy Pelt on trumpet. Unusually dressed Rachel Z on keys, laptop, and atmospherics. Orrin Evans on piano, bass, and drums rounded out the group. With a ten year catalog. Escoffery had plenty to draw on. Tune about a bay on the Red Sea was beautiful. Glad to see so many people able to come out and enjoy some straight ahead jazz on a nice August night.

Vinegar Creek Constituency 8/12/13 Cafe 9

Band picture looked like a four piece bluegrass unit. I arrived late to two guys, mandolin and guitar and vocals so I may have missed the lineup change explanation. Good chops and songwriting for the five or six tunes I caught. Ended with a nice Psycho Killer. What is it about bluegrass and the Talking Heads, YMSB do an awesome Girlfriend Is Better, which I happened to view close up back in the day.