Rams Head

October 31

Annapolis, MD

Review By: Cole

God Bless Southwest Airlines. When I arrived at BNA to fly to Baltimore the Friday before Rams Head, I had all sorts of visions of having a horrific check in, and flights like I did when flying to see PL in Maine a few months ago. I was checked in, through security, and waiting at my gate in a span of 11 minutes of arriving at BNA. My flight landed a few minutes EARLY, and I had my luggage and was ready to roll before Richard even got there!

I flew in a day early to have a little more time with Richard & Patti and enjoy the "jam session" at their place that night. Patty was at the top of our minds though, of course. I returned to work with Richard and as I sat in his office, Patti brought me markers and a posterboard to make our FIRST IN LINE sign for the Birchmere on Sunday. (At that moment I instantly became the little kid coloring in the office, waiting for parents to get out of work!)

A little too much wine had me in bed before the main part of the jam session, but that just meant I was VERY well rested on Saturday morning and was roaring to go to Annapolis. We piled in the car with our trusty chair & sign and made a quick trip to Alexandria to stake our front spot in line at the Birchmere before heading to Annapolis, where we quickly met up for pre-dinner drinks with our other PLN'ers Bob, Barbara, Jackie, Dennis, Mike H and Steve. Our group kept growing all night, at dinner, and then the show-- I think we had seats at a total of 5 tables.

Rams Head is the smallest, intimate place and by far one of the best places for Patty to play her acoustic set. I repeat again that it is SMALL, I was VERY impressed when we walked in and saw that they were able to fit all the band, Patty, AND her stools, lamps and radio onstage!

After the radio played "Walkin' After Midnight" and "I'll Go Steppin' Too", Patty took the stage to thunderous applause, and welcomed everyone to a show that was going to include songs that were about "real" people before launching into "The Night's Too Long". I can't really remember a tour when she's come out and talked so much prior to the first song-- I love how she does it. And I'm sure I've already said it, but I love opening with "The Night's Too Long", epecially the way they're doing it. It's a forgotten gem.

She went from that to "Nothin' But the Wheel" and "On Down the Line". Now I'll admit--- "On Down the Line" is not my favorite PL song. People would shout for it last year and I was honestly truly surprised at how popular it was. And now, every single show I see-- people go crazy when she does that song! Afterwards she took a few minutes to say hello again to everyone--and wish them a Happy Halloween.

Patty kept the same set list, so up next were "You Don't Seem to Miss Me" (where Patty gets to brag about her much deserved CMA Vocal Event of the Year with George Jones in 1997), "Lonely Too Long" (which she says brought a lot of Lonely people together), and "Lovin All Night". Patty explained that Rodney Crowell wrote the song about his lovely wife, Claudia, and after meeting her, Patty understands why he wanted to write the song about her. That left Guthrie to let loose on his guitar solo while Patty got her drink and took a seat on her stool. She sits back and genuinely enjoys watching her band play, and you don't find too many artists that do that. The crowd was thoroughly impressed and cheered him on, but Patty was sure to encourage them to give him just a LITTLE bit more love.

Patty mentioned she took a sabbatical and she needed some time to re-invent herself musically, and figure out where she wanted to go next, and began talking about honoring the artists before her-- some who were no longer with us, and some that were--- and specifically, artists at the Grand Ole Opry. (Which is where she now mentions how she was inducted in 1988. I am SO GLAD she mentions this at EVERY single show. It should never be left out that she's an Opry Member. Old school tour intro used to be "Please Welcome the 65th Member of the Grand Ole Opry....") That led to the Sleepless Nights set of "Crazy Arms", "Color of the Blues", and "Why Baby Why". "Crazy Arms" is by far one of the biggest hits of the night, every single show. The crowd goes crazy from the split second she starts "Now Blue....". Pete Finney held his solo in the song just a little longer than usual, giving him a chance to show off a little more. The entire band, including Patty, all grinned watching him. During "Why Baby Why" it was nice to get to hear Sydni singing along so well-- I'm not sure if it's the venues or what, but I've had a hard time hearing her on a lot of the songs she sings. Sydni wasn't feeling well and having a few throat issues, so there were a couple songs that she ended up just having to stop singing along to. Clay came ontstage during the show and handed Sydni a spoon, and Patty turned around to tease her and said "Get your medicine!"

Then it was time for everyone's favorite part.... all the Mountain Soul stuff. Matt and Garry stepped up to fill in for Del McCoury & his boys on "Workin' on a Building", and from the second Patty opened her mouth for the opening line, the crowd began cheering. This has to be one of my favorite songs of the night. This night though, Patty had a little goof with the lyrics, and as she said "If I were a drunkard... I'd tell you what I'd do... I'd keep on drinkin' and I'd work on a building too". She immediately caught what she said, and Garry literally just stopped and laughed out loud. Patty threw her hands in the air and laughed and said she'd quit her drinkin' tomorrow.

The Mountain Soul II set really couldn't be any better. "Building" was followed up with "Handful of Dust", (which she explained Tony Arata wrote about the birth of his daughter, and Sydni Perry sang on on the actual cd as well), "Prisoner's Tears", and "Bramble and the Rose". I notice that every time she does these, in which she made sure to give props to their writers as well.

Patty asked if we were all hanging in there, knowing the show was a long one. The crowd responded enthusiastically, and started calling out a few songs, which made her laugh. Richard got the last word in, saying "We'll Never Grow Tired of you, Patty!" She's clearly amazed with all the songs requests this tour and genuinely appreciates them. She said during the show that she had a really hard time trying to figure out how to fit so many songs into the show.

"Busted" came next and it really is fantastic live---- I've noticed the past couple shows that the tempo seems slower on it though for some reason. After the show Richard asked if I noticed the tempo slower, and "Busted" was the one song I could REALLY tell the tempo was slower. She told everyone the story of cutting it with the original coal mining lyrics, but how Harlan changed the lyrics --- and she could just picture Harlan scribbling out the words to get a cut. Being a Coal Miner's Daughter, she knew a lot about coal mining and the original lyrics were perfect for this project.

Patty took the next few minutes to talk about growing up as a Coal Miner's Daughter, and how hard her father worked in the mines to support his family..... but he always came home with a smile on his face, because he'd survived another day there and got to come home to his family. She spoke of losing him in 1979, and that in 2006, her mother went to be with him, and she knows they are together again and have the best seat in the house at all of her shows--- and started a haunting version of "You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive", which had everyone leap to their feet afterwards.

It's got to be hard to figure out how to follow up something like Harlan, but I think they do a fantastic job of Deanie and Sydni's twin fiddles leading into "The Boys are Back in Town".

She went back to do a couple of her bigger hits, "Here I Am" and "You Don't Even Know Who I Am", and "Trouble with the Truth". I think "Truth" might be the only song in the set that has so many of her band members singing--- Matt, Sydni, Garry and Deanie ALL chimed in on the tune.

She closed the set with a beautiful rendetition of "Too Many Memories", explaining that Stephen Bruton wrote this beautiful song, and sadly passed away this year, losing his battle with cancer. She said he left everyone with a lot of memories. I dont think you'd find a soul in the building that didn't have tears or goosebumps after that one.

We were treated to the full encore--- "My Old Friend the Blues" and "Diamond in My Crown". After "My Old Friend...", Guthrie and Pete began to walk off stage (and turned off a lamp on the way), and Patty thanked both of them and introduced them one last time. Garry headed over to the other side of the stage to start the intro to 'Crown"......

I love that both of them are in the encore, but "Crown" is the most amazing encore I think she's ever had. It's just phenomenal. Garry and Deanie sound amazing replicating the pump organ with their fiddles, and Patty's vocals are just spot ON. The selfish part of me does wish she sang it alone live though. From the moment I got my hands on MS II, I wanted that to be in the set list, and I just envisioned how amazing it would be with just Patty. It earned her another standing ovation, and she graciously thanked everyone, walked over to turn off the last remaining lamp, and left the stage.

We all piled out to the lobby to quickly discuss the show with all the PLN'ers, and then Richard, Patti and I headed out, so we could get set up with plans for the camp out at Birchmere. This was one of those weekends were we didn't have to be bummed the show was over--- because we still had more to hit!