Late yesterday afternoon I tool a break from job searching and so on, to take in some live music -- not a difficult thing to do here in Music City USA. I hied myself down to the Station Inn. I've mentioned this little "dive" (outside appearance) near downtown in several posts, a couple of which have it or the live music within as main topic.
Radio station WSM-AM 650 hosted its fairly new show "Station Inn Sessions" with Mike Terry as deejay-emcee. Upon my entering, he smiled as he caught sight of me. It was good to see one of my WSM buddies again, as I hadn't been to a "Station In Session" in some months. (There's usually one monthly, but recently some months didn't include a live radio session at Station Inn.
However, THIS session was worth the wait and effort to be there! You see, dear reader, featured artists were Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver. This Bluegrass band had been guests of Eddie Stubbs on his "Intimate Evening" show a few months ago, in the Country Music Hall of Fame souvenir store. (The usual venue for Stubbs' show, Ford Theater at opposite end of the building, still wasn't completely repaired from May's Great Flood. Despite the literally "intimate" setting in the store, Doyle and his group provided a quite delightful evening of live Bluegrass - including a superb a cappella Gospel number (see my posting of 13 July for more).
Well, this evening at Station Inn they performed in just as intimate a setting. And they gave us just as delightful a concert! Perhaps even MORE delightful. Doyle et al. certainly had the crowd stirred up. But then again the audience at these Sessions typically IS "stirred up" - not solely due to Mike Terry urging applause and other noise!
The only regrettable feature is that this concert only lasted an hour, not counting Mike's interview with Doyle Lawson for about half an hour or so before start of the live music at six. During "Intimate evening" the show went two hours. But then again, Eddie Stubbs conducts much more interviewing and much less live music. So probably we heard more last evening of live pickin' and singin' that "high lonesome sound" than did the crowd at Eddie's show!
About midway or so thru the hour the six fellows put down their instruments and some of them sang a cappella another Bluegrass-style Gospel song (not the "Zion Medley" of the earlier show). Then picked up the instruments and did another Gospel number, plus a couple more standard (not Gospel) Bluegrass offerings. They ended one with little more than five minutes left 'til seven (start time of "Opry Country Classics" on WSM). This one was so rousing that we gave them a standing ovation. Then with Mike's egging we made noise for an encore. Mike requested "Blue Train". This apparently is an Old Bleugrass standard. But let me tell you, when the tenor stretched up toward the stratosphere on the stretch-out of the words "blue train", it was awesome! I can't say it was ear-piercing, but as they held out that high note I could imagine somebody listening onsome old-time radio, the big floor-standing kind with lots of glass tubes in the innards -- and this extended not breaking the glass!
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