wine and breakfast borritos

Beth and I decided last minute to go see the Iron and Wine concert at the Ryman Auditorium last night. We'd talked about going a long time ago, then put off the decision and figured it'd be sold out. When we saw it wasn't we called up the Ryman and got tickets without any trouble, and $5 cheaper than through Ticketmaster.com (ie Ripoff.com)

It was great to get out of the house and do something new and fresh. (How is going to see a band while living in Nashville new and fresh you ask? Well for us it is. We aren't known for a big enthusiasm for the local live entertainment.) So there we sit, in the Ryman, waiting for the show to start and find out what Blizten Trapper sound like and see how Iron and Wine sound live. I've enjoyed Iron and Wine for a little over a year now but don't own many of their records. I tend to listen to and buy a lot of moody music, so in an attempt to stop and get more upbeat, fun, rock or pop stuff, I've avoided buying the nice, mellow, lush Iron and Wine CDs. I really should get more of them. I have a few songs from their AOL live show and we own The Shepherd's Dog but nothing else.

Blitzen Trapper came out right on time (odd) and played a good set. They have a sort of throw back southern rock meets folk slash Neal Young meets Bob Dylan vibe. (hey I should work for Rolling Stone eh? That sentence probably means nothing to most people....like most CD reviews) After their set I couldn't help but think that they sounded good, but a little rough around the edges. Like, I wouldn't be suprised if I saw them again in a year and they had changed their sound some and maybe lost a band member and focused their style more.


After what seemed like an overly-lengthy set change, Iron and Wine came out and started their set off acoustically with just Sam Beam and his sister Sarah. I figured that they would play a lot of their new stuff since this tour was aimed specifically to promote their current album, The Shepherd's Dog. I liked that they started off the show on a mellow, intimate note though. I was a bit disappointed that they had his acoustic guitar plugged into a DI instead of miced. Iron and Wine's records sound so close and intimate and detailed that I was thrown back by the thin sound of his acoustic guitar. I realized later on the main reasoning for this but it was still a disappointment. What can I say, my job is to record music well, I'm picky about the sound when I go to concerts.

After several great songs, a piano player joined the stage, and then the full band. This is where the show really opened up for me and I really got into the songs. The band was killer! I'm not sure who all the players were but they were all great. Drums, bass, percussion, piano and a multi-instrumentalist playing accordion/xylophone and some guitar. As I figured too, this is when they started playing a lot of the songs off of the new record. They changed all the songs slightly but the performances were killer.

Overall I really enjoyed the entire show. It had been a very long time since I'd gone to see any concerts of note and this one didn't disappoint at all. If you ever have the opportunity to check out Iron and Wine, do it. It'll pull you back to a place of inner calmness, and on other songs let you release your cooped up energy.





We're heading back home (my home) tomorrow for Thanksgiving with the Lawrence's. I'm really looking forward to it. I haven't been home in a long time and it will also be nice to get our heads out of the new house stuff, and show off some pictures of the house to my family.