So I saw Hank Williams Junior on Friday. The outlaw country guys - with the exception of Willie Nelson - sort of had a rep of being unreliable live; not that they weren't good players, but lots of drunk/drugged/late performances. I talked my friend Jim into going, thinking a) we'd see a lot of outlaw women, and b) if nothing else it'd be something to talk about.
Man, oh man.
Bag on country all you want, but the real pros from Nashville are a cut above. They really are. Hank came out almost to the minute on time and was clearly sober and in control. He only played for about an hour and 15, hour and 20, but he played 20 songs and it's pretty clear why this guy was Country Music Entertainer of the Year something like four years running. He appeared to me that he was playing live (or is the greatest actor since Pacino and had the set memorized down to the minute) and his voice was crystal clear and strong (he's a fantastic vocalist on record). I can't tell if he tuned down, but he didn't revamp ANY of the vocal lines and hit all the notes (including the last line of "A Country Boy Can Survive"). He took about half or so of the leads, and while his band was pretty tight, he played a good portion of the rhythm guitar as well. One song he played electric fiddle. Several of the songs were sort of mini-medleys, in that they started with one song and ended as another.
For about three or four songs, he played acoustic on a chair, with the curtain closed behind him so it was just him and a guitar (I LOVE that). He was playing a little loose with the arrangements, so it didn't match the records exactly, but it was definitely HIM playing, and it showed. I was really blown away by how professional and proficient he was/is. It's hard to describe, but there's a sort of feel when you see someone who is extremely comfortable doing something, and it's second nature to them. Music is literally in Hank's blood, and it's pretty clear that he's been doing this since his single digit years becuase he loves it. In hindsight, I should have headed up to Mass. on Saturday to have seen him again, since he doesn't tour the northeast all that frequently. In any event, Johnny Cash's "guitar pulls" were legendary, where guys like Hank and Willie and Waylon and Kris would show up, they'd sit around and drink and what not and preview the songs they were working on... watching Hank with just a guitar captivate 8 or 10,000 people (I couldn't see the lawn, but the lower bowl was probably 80% full) I can only imagine how special those sessions were.
They're blurry because they're taken off the screen.
Topic: Oldest musician you've seen perform live (Read 1608 times)
