Library Show
The Patrick Bryant Trio played at the Decatur Library last night, and from where I stood, it was a great show. Not that our performance was just sublimely beautiful or anything, but the venue was nice and the audience was fantastic, and there was just a happy confluence of factors that made everything feel "right." In fact, on our side, there were some goofy gaffs, such as me completely blowing the lyrics to a song I wrote over 15 years ago or my own cell phone ringing loudly in the middle of the quietest moment of "Moonshiner," but it was the kind of audience that would let us joke through that kind of thing and move on without much embarrassment.
There were a couple of high spots for me in this show. "Moonshiner," had it not been for the ringing phone, felt very nice. There's something haunting about Shelle's harmony on that song, the way her pure voice contrasts with the desperation of the speaker, who's saying "when the bottle gets empty, [life] ain't worth a damn." Last night we had her microphone good and loud so she could sing with the quiet nuance she needs and still be heard. It gave me chills. Also, I thought our "She Walked Away" was the very best we've performed it. I wish I'd had tape rolling, because I'd like to remember the exact pacing: somehow we just hit the right groove, and it felt great.
For me, the most important moment was debuting a new song: "Stay Close to Me." I was unusually nervous about playing it, for some reason. Maybe because it's the first song of significance (to me) I've written in a long time. It's a lot easier to perform songs that are laid back or tongue-in-cheek or ironic. But this one tries to capture something like straightforward emotion, and the only way to perform it is all out, and I felt like if it flopped, I'd feel like I was pretty much standing there naked. But it was received warmly, I thought, and I was relieved and immensely grateful.
If you were there, thanks!
Here's what we played:
Louis Collins
I Didn't Feel
Novocaine
101 Degrees
Pain Rhymes So Good
Moonshiner
A 'Rovin On a Winter's Night
Falling
Fish Hook
Stay Close to Me
NC2U
Waves
She Walked Away
