Posts Tagged “songs ohia”

It took me four years to see Magnolia Electric Company (MECo). I had bought What Comes After the Blues (Secretly Canadian, 2005) and Didn’t It Rain (Filed under “Songs:Ohia” with Secretly Canadian, 2002) in the Summer of 2005 before heading off to Columbus. Both albums struck deep chords in me, and since that introduction, I have laid hands on just about everything in the MECo/Songs:Ohia catalog. My chance to see MECo finally arrived whilst they have set about their most ambitious tour since 2007, fast on the release of their new LP “Josephine” (Secretly Canadian, 2009). Having got to spend a little bit of time before the show at soundcheck, little did I imagine I would hear MECo. launch into the hot Austin night with the high lonesome “An Arrow in the Gale”, swan song on the Josephine LP ending with the lines—“Which of us is free Josephine? Now in the time I have become a MECo fan, I have seen school days come and go, seen separation, buried family, handled an estate, lost all my property to vandals, been shot, moved three times, only to get a divorce and move cross country—which goes to say, as Molina puts it in “Leave The City” (What Comes After the Blues, 2005) —it was a hard time that I’ve come through…it’s made me thankful for the blues.” These are hard words to listen to if you dont know what it means, and difficult earn—if you can know it. Altogether, impossible to fathom the dignity of—without hearing it in Molina’s soulful iambic tremelo vocals. I get it that people think MECo are Americana/Blues aspirants, but two distinctions must be made—Americana is American roots, not just delta and chicago blues, but Ohio/Virginian and Kentucky too. Molina being an Ohia expatriate, its honest, and the man is direct and sincere off stage as much as on stage. Second, MECo aint genre blues—and testament to this fact—is keyboardist Mike Brenner’s funky carny fingering on “Little Sad Eyes” —which sent a visible wiggle through the crowd while stashed bottles began to appear and people pushed forward to the stage until they were 3 feet from the MECo guitar strings. At this point two more questions came to mind—one, how would MECo manage the handheld-radio engineered sax laid down on “O’Grace” sans a sax section? Second, what, if anything would we hear from the back catalog, between the sheets of MECo and Molina’s solo work? The answer to the first question came with Brenner’s keyboarding on “O’Grace” which filled the composition so well, it must have been an alternate take at some point. The answer to the second question began to unfold as MECo took right away into a searing rendition of “The Dark Don’t Hide” —which in all the live versions I have heard—cannot be matched by seeing it in person—“Something held me down and made me make a promise/ That I wouldnt tell if the truth forgets about us”.  Forward, when in Texas—2-step, so hot off the rails of “The Dark Don’t Hide It” MECo  laid down a beautiful version of the mournful “Shenandoah”, and I did 2-step, if only for a few bars, with a beautful dark haired spanish woman who had already had had too much to drink barely five songs in—“There’s just so much a man can miss/And just no end to what he can regret”. Shifting pace again,  MECo moved into “Leave the City”, aforementioned favorite—and a Spanish flavored honky-tonk rambler that live, left me and the crowd howling as Molina finished “Baby both of us have had enough.” Now to the quasi-arcane material—”Hard to Love a Man” recorded with Jennie Benford on the What Comes After the Blues LP highlighted what MECo are capable of vocally as they delivered it without leaving any unintended space in rendition, no small feet, the track full of quiet. If you don’t own the Sojouner Box Set (Secretly Canadian, 2007), then two tracks from the set might have left you wondering—a track entitled “What Comes after the Blues” a country/waltz driver from the Nashville Moon LP that presses so hard into the dirt, Molina’s gospel roots show right through—“Now Noah must have had a lot of room on the ark/ For all of them broken hearts/Stay with me now old crimson pal / Pain like this will even outlive the dark.” “Shiloh” from Josephine followed, itself a re-working of “Shiloh Temple Bell” from the Shahola LP of the Sojourner Box Set— another gem that lends credence to the fact that MECo aren’t playing from their musical heroes, but playing alongside them. Jason cursing Austin’s condo curtained noise ordinance before saying goodbye, MECo ended the night with a cover of Warren Zevon’s “Lawyers Guns and Money” and played it with sass  that easily makes it a choice for a future live compilation.  10 songs, 5 new, 4 older and re-imagined and one cover worthy of a live cut.  All, worth the wait.

If you’ve waited, dont read the critics, just take this as notice of what to prepare before arriving. Buy and listen to, Jospehine. Repeatedly, you’ll be rewarded by being able to appreciate the little things. Stash your flask and be sure to bring enough to share. Hit the ATM for $50 cash so you can buy a MECo poster designed by a local artist just for tour stop ($10) and to purchase the Sojourner Box set($40)—which, you can get signed on the spot. Plan on being three feet from MECo and the band members saying hello. Get there early enough to see The Donkeys and The Monohans, they play their hearts out. Leave ready to check back over the catalog, and last but not least, between now and when you go, make a donation to the Evan Farrell Memorial Fund, former MECo. bassist who died in December 2007 —and whose influence and spirit loom large on the Josephine LP, the intense tours schedule and Magnolia Electric Co’s live show.

For a complete listing of Magnolia Electric Company 2009/2010 tour dates, Click here

Tags: jason molina, magnolia electric co, on tour, review, songs ohia