"The Monday Morning Nobody-Asked-Me-To-But-Here-I-Go-Anyway Concert Review" - Emmylou Harris!

(or, Why I Will Never Be A Professional Concert Reviewer)

Egads!

Caramba!!

Oy!!!

Yowza!!!!!

Well, you get the point...

Last night Mrs. That Dan Guy and I had the immense pleasure of seeing an artist I've been a fan of since I was a young whippersnapper, and have never had a chance to see perform live before.

Well, that's not entirely true. This review (such as it is) needs just a little bit of preamble first.

Way back in the mid to late 70's, I was walking around downtown Fargo or Moorhood, I really can't remember which one it was. But frankly they're twin cities, so how could I even know which was which - they don't dress differently??

Unless that's Minneapolis/St. Paul, which also may be twin cities. But I'm pretty sure it was Fargo/Moorhead.

Anyways, as a young teenager wandering around, I happened upon the back entrance to a concert hall, and parked just outside that entrance was a tour bus, with big bold letters: Emmylou Harris.

I had already come to know of Ms. Harris through a couple of her stellar 70's albums, and having seen the cover pictures, felt it might not be such a bad idea to linger, in hopes of catching a glimpse of her.

After about a half hour, and no visible signs of life from the tour bus (what a turkey - they were probably already inside rehearsing!!), I moved along, a crushed and broken young man.

Happily, I rebounded, and have led a terrific, normal life. Which was capped last night when that Blue Kentucky Girl strolled out onto the stage last night, in her famous silver cowboy boots!!

Egads!!

Caramba!!

Oy!!

Yowza!!

That incredible voice remains pitch perfect. And for a woman turning 60 next month, she still looks better than that witless wonder that can't remember to put her underwear on in the morning.

But I digress...

Ms. Harris brought along the wonderful 5-piece bluegrass band Carolina Star, some of whom she played with back when she was first starting out. Which ended up being very much of the feel of the evening - nostalgic, and acoustic. No drums, no keyboards - just guitar, fiddle, upright bass, mandolins, and dobro. Oh yeah, and a banjo on two or three songs!!

You couldn't complain about her set list - old classics, like Wayfaring Stranger, Born To Run, and a sublime cover of Pancho & Lefty. We've seen Willie Nelson do his version, and I think both are tied for the best.

She also added some of her newer recordings, plus a mini-run of a few bluegrass spirituals, capped off with an amazing acapella song.

Just as she seemed to be getting started, they wrapped things up, and we discovered by the light of my Indiglo watch that she had already been on for almost 90 minutes!!

We left after the second encore, but plenty satisfied...

Chow for now!!