I can't remember if I've ever seen Patty Loveless get a standing ovation before she sang a note, but she got one at the Spring Bluegrass Fair in Columbus, Ohio.
We saw more than 10 hours of high-quality bluegrass May 15 and it was topped off by a great hour-long performance by Patty. It was a set list to die for if you like the mountain side of Patty's music best. Take a look at this:
The Boys are Back in Town.
Someone I Used to Know.
Those Memories.
Handful of Dust.
Cheap Whiskey.
Lazarus.
On Your Way Home.
Blame it on Your Heart. (Acoustic version, of course).
Harlan.
Pretty Little Miss.
I'll Never Grow Tired of you.
Daniel Prayed
That Ain't the Grandpa that I Know.
Pretty Polly.
Sound was a momentary problem at the start of Patty's set, until a stage hand raced on stage and turned all the mics around. The rest of the show went without a hitch and the audience was knowledgeable and very appreciative.
Patty seed to be enjoying herself. She was in a talkative mood, explaining the background and mentioning the writers of many songs. She and Emory were gardening when the idea for Lazarus took place, she said.
She introduced "Pretty Little Miss" by saying a little girl at a recent concert asked her to "sing that song about me."
She mentioned the Stanley brothers a couple of times and, prior to singing Blame, said how much she loved the late Harlan Howard.
The band sounded good. It was nice to see Deanie back and making that fiddle smoke. Deanie also played with a local group prior to Patty's performance.
Travis sang on Pretty Polly and had to be prompted by Patty on the words a couple of times. He sounded great, though.
My wife and youngest daughter, Molly, attended the show and we took along a friend of mine who is a guitar picker and has been a bluegrass addict since he was a kid. I think we now have another Loveless Lunatic on our hands.
One minor disappointment. There was no encore and, after watching hours and hours of shows, I just wasn't ready to have a Patty performance, not to mention the entire day, end that abruptly.
When you are a Patty Loveless fan of this magnitude you need one more song to prepare for the end!
From the looks of the set list, I guess we were lucky. Three songs of the 14 sung were marked as "out" if time did not allow. (Patty's performance didn't start until after 10 p.m.) But still, Patty, don't do that to us. True Loveless Lunatics need you back "one more time," so we can show our appreciation and have "closure" on another concert.
Ah, yes, the fashion report:
Patty looked (and I don't think this is too strong of a word) sensational. Hair blonder and longer than in the past. Looked like she was wearing the same or similar outfit she wore at the Johnson City show.
Eat your heart out, bluegrass fans, here was the lineup for the day, starting at noon:
Lonesome River Band.
Peter Rowan.
John Cowan Band with Pat Flynn and Vassar Clements.
J.D. Crow and New South.
Tony Rice Unit.
Seldom Scene.
Patty mentioned watching Seldom Scene from back stage and said she was a little intimidated by all that talent.
But, intimidated or not, Patty was clearly the star of this day-long show. She was billed in the advertising as "Patty Loveless for a special bluegrass performance."
And special it was.
