The Old Town School of Folk Music

March 14, 2009

Chicago, IL

Review By: Richard

This was our first ever trip to Chicago, which was exciting, in and of itself. But with two Patty shows at such a historic venue, along with sightseeing, St. Patty's activities, and meeting up with PLNers, especially our surrogate daughter, it was almost overwhelming. We flew in on Friday morning for a day of sightseeing. There was some pre-sightseeing anxiety, however, when we picked up someone else's carry on bag upon leaving the plane. We discovered the mistake when we arrived at our hotel. We managed to get the bag back to its owner. Then, the search began for our bag with Southwest. We were tremendously impressed with their service. We expected the usual runaround, the "oh, sir, we cannot help you", but instead got a wonderful personalized response. In the end, we got our stuff back late Friday night, after my bag flew to Reno and San Diego, before returning to Chicago.

We got a great tour of Chicago on Friday afternoon, seeing all of the sights. My only regret is that we did not do more research in finding some blues venues for our Friday night entertainment. But our Saturday night entertainment made up for that in bunches.

The Old Town School of Folk Music is located near Wrigley Field on the North Side of Chicago. It has been a school and concert venue since the 1950's. It was a haven for blacklisted folk artists, like Pete Seeger, during the shameful McCarthy years. Roger McGuinn, the founder of The Byrds, learned how to play 12-string guitar from folkie Bob Gibson at the school in the early 60's. Many other folk artists have been associated with the school over the years.

Cole and her adorable niece and newest PLN member, Paige, picked us up at our hotel and we arrived at the venue before 4:00 p.m. Our mission, at that point, was to score tickets for Cole and Paige for the sold out first show. The cosmos lined up properly, as they got a fine table for the first show. We then met up with Mike H. at a restaurant on the same block as the venue. I guess it was fitting for us to get the ditsiest waitress in North America to wait on us. She was upset that she put her last customer's bill on her own VISA card. That says a lot about our experience with her. It was all good, especially getting to spend quality time with our new niece and our surrogate daughter. It's been a long time since we have seen each other. It was also great to see Mike, who we last saw at the Ram's Head shows in November. He kindly picked up the tab in his hometown.

I must say that Jim Lauderdale was the best opening act (outside of Marcia's brief stint) for Patty that I have ever seen. His presence was also perfect for the venue since Jim is a prolific singer/songwriter and the finest embodiment of a solo acoustic folk act. He performed completely different songs for each show, in the finest folk music tradition. But Jim is more than a singer/songwriter and most assuredly more than an opening act. His music is labeled as Americana, the hip sub-genre of Gram Parsons' Cosmic American Music. But Jim rises beyond genres. He has had musical associations and collaborations with Nick Lowe, Ralph Stanley, Robert Hunter (the long-time lyricist for the Grateful Dead), Garry Tallent (of the E-Street Band) Del Reeves, The Dixie Chicks, Al Perkins, James Burton, Ronnie Tutt, Buddy Miller, Harlan Howard, Lucinda Williams, and, of course, Patty Loveless.

In terms of Patty's musical direction, maybe Jim's inclusion at the shows will have the effect of pulling Patty more in the direction of Americana and away from mainstream Nashville. She has been moving in that direction since Mountain Soul, so maybe this is a natural progression. She records on a small Indie label, which has given her and Emory the artistic latitude of following their musical instincts and inclinations. This is certainly in the spirit of Americana music. Her passion and genuineness in choosing songs and singing them is the soul of what used to be called Cosmic American Music. Ah, but I digress.

We have not heard PL sing since the fantastic Lincoln Center show in January. We were not disappointed as we got our goosebumps for the first time in two months. Since Deanie was on the road with The Chieftans, George Jones's fiddle player, Hank Singer, filled in admirably. He certainly knew the George songs. I assume that the band did not get much rehearsal time before the show. But that did not stop them from kicking into overdrive. Tom Britt, Pete Finney, Garry Murray, Marcia Ramiriz, and Hank Singer were in fine form. The rhythm section of Martin Parker and Jimmy Johnson were the anchor of the band. They hit their groove early and never let go.

Patty was well . . . the finest singer there is. Although she told the audience that she caught laryngitis from Mr. Britt, you could not tell that from her singing. She hit all of her notes with her usual precision and passion. Listening to her sing, you would never know that she had laryngitis. Listening to her talk, however, was different, as she clearly was hoarse. She did not let the audience know about her ailment until the end of the second show, being the trooper that she is. She was kind enough to sign and pose with fans for pictures in the chilly night after the second show. Getting two shows in one night is nothing short of bliss. I know that I have rambled on, but it's pushing Tuesday and Patti and I are still buzzed. I am looking forward to Cole's review to fill you in on what I forgot.

The set lists for both shows were similar. She sang Nothing But the Wheel in the second show. From what I remember, that was the only difference between the sets.

Blame
On Down the Line
Miss Me (I kept looking for Lauderdale to join her on the chorus)
Lovin' All Night
Windows Why Baby Why
Crazy Arms
Sleepless Nights
Color of the Blues
My Old Friend the Blues
Here I Am
Halfway Down (I was hoping again for Jim to come out)
You Don't Even Know Who I Am
Cold Cold Heart (encore)