“It’s so good to be back for another night,” Gillian Welch said as the Dave Rawlings Machine took the stage at Austin’s Parish Room Monday.
Their last show of the first tour and the second night at the venue, the five-piece band (also including Ketch Secor, Morgan Jahnig and Willie Watson of Old Crow Medicine Show) pulled out all the stops for a fantastic evening of music.
Rotating through all the songs from the new album, A Friend of a Friend, they played for nearly two hours. “It sure is a swinging town if this is what Mondays are like,” Gillian laughed.
An assortment of covers like This Land Is Your Land weaved into I Hear Them All, the gospel number He Will Set This World On Fire and Dylan’s Diamond Joe and Queen Jane Approximately fleshed out the set.
They even managed to slip in a few Gillian songs, No One Knows My Name, Throw Me A Rope (which David mentioned will be on her next record) and Look At Miss Ohio with special guest guitarist Mark Ambrose.
Throughout the night, the five traded jokes. After a shouted request, which was quickly followed by a “Sorry.” Dave said, “That was the first request-slash-apology I’ve ever heard. People who yell ‘Free Bird’ are never sorry.” He added that there has to be a “Free Bird Clock” like the Population Clock counting down the time until yelling “Free Bird” will stop being funny.
Gillian teased the guys about their denim outfits, noting that Ketch had picked up some new duds at Allen’s Boots on South Congress. “The Canadians called, they want their tuxedos back,” Dave laughed. And, as usual, there were the many light-hearted laughs about tuning the banjo.
Returning for the encore, Willie Watson sang a slowed version of the Old Crow Medicine tune, CC Rider and Gillian’s song about a “farm boy who can’t get clean,” Red Clay Halo. They ended the show by trading verses on The Band’s The Weight.
Sarah Jarosz
Opening the show was 18-year-old rising star, Sarah Jarosz, who was recently nominated for a Grammy for her song Mansinneedof from her first record, Song Up In Her Head.
The multi-instrumentalist (banjo, mandolin, guitar and piano) played a short set including Tim O’Brien’s Red Dog Morning, Patty Griffin‘s Long Ride Home and several new originals.
Set List
Ruby
How’s About You
Hot Corn, Cold Corn
I Hear Them All > This Land Is Your Land > I Hear Them All
Monkey and the Engineer
Diamond Joe
Throw Me A Rope
Sweet Tooth
It’s Too Easy
Spodiodie
No One Knows My Name
Look At Miss Ohio
Method Acting > Cortez the Killer
He Will Set This World On Fire
Bells of Harlem
Queen Jane Approximately
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CC Rider
Red Clay Halo
To Be Young (It To Be Sad, Is To Be High)
Sarah Jarosz was wonderful…despite the venue….I’d never been to The Parish before, and will certainly not return…worst experience I’ve ever had. The doors were supposed to open at 7, so the line was around the block by the time they opened the doors at 7:45 with the show supposed to start at 8pm…Sarah didn’t come on till 8:30..so we were on our feet 90 minutes before things got under way…then ofcourse there are no seats and evryone was pressed in tight…it was hot as hell, with the freaking fog machine making things even more unbearable. Add to that $4 beers and $7 shots of tequilla…the staff was rude as hell, and they turned the house tunes back up immediately following Sarah’s set, so there was no oportunity for an encore.
Despite the hell hole, we were intent to hang to see Gillian Welch and David Rawlings. Well, after another 30 minutes on our feet in the hot stuffy, smokey room, they appeared. I must admit that I went to hear Gillian Welch, therefore was very disapointed. She was definetly a special guest, and it was all about Rawlings and his buddy Ketch on the fiddle and fake baritone vocals. I enjoy the stuff that Gillian and Rawlings put out under her name,
but won’t go around the block to see “the machine”again…the most disingenuous presentation of old timey music that I’ve seen..Their original stuff was hard to watch…with the self-appreciating manner of Rawlings and his denim sidekick Ketch…it was unbearable. Much to my belabored legs delight, we left after about 5 songs. I feel “The Machine would do themselves a favor
by watching the manner in which young Sarah composes herself through the course of a performance.
Geeeezzzz, Jeff I would suggest to get a life ,but It appears that It may be way too late for that.Sounds like from the tone of your comment, your were a little pissy before the show even started.Did you forget to read your tickets or the Marque? I am pretty sure mine said “Dave Rawlings Machine” A special guest is supposed to be just that… Special. I am also sure the “delight” was not just limited to your “belabored legs” but probably the rest of the people around you as well.Maybe a couple more of those $7 tequilas would have improved your nasty disposition.Next time , stay home and watch re-runs of American Idol. I am certain that you will enjoy the canned production as well as the fact they advertise well in advance what level your “entertainment” expectations should be.
My family and I caught the Sunday night show. The venue wasn’t that comfortable, but the band was incredible. To see the Dave Rawlings Machine again, I would stand up a while longer.
The Dave Rawling Machine show was a flat-out terrific night. This evening was a really special treat to hear and dance to the band because it was the last night of their tour. The chemistry of the band and audience was ON, and the harmonies well aligned. I would go see this outfit again, based solely (and souly too!) on the sheer enjoyment of the resulting bliss of crowd excitement and shared electricity. This was a WOW night to really make the end-of-the-year season of joy, worthwhile to any acoustic music loving fan.