“Ever had one of those nights where you just couldn’t get drunk?”—Bill Callahan

No, I haven’t.

We got to Bill Callahan’s “secret” show with Jonathan Meiburg and Thor Harris (both from the band Shearwater) just in time to listen to them warm up during their soundcheck (and snap a picture through the window). Callahan is one of my favorite songwriters, so I was excited to see him again (we saw him a couple years ago in Cleveland).

Jonathan Meiburg opened up with a round of songs on banjo and guitar. Then Callahan came out with Meiburg on guitar and Harris on drums.

Great set. Harris and Meiburg gave the songs a heavy edge—much different than the Cleveland show with a fuller, subtler band (including the fantastic Jim White on drums!)

Setlist:

• Sycamore
• Nothing Rises to Meet Me
• Our Anniversary
• Diamond Dancer
• Say Valley Maker
• Rock Bottom Riser
• Cold Blooded Old Times
• Vessel In Vain
• a new song about birds: “too many birds in one tree…“
• Let Me See The Colts

Encore:

• The Well
• In The Pines

Here’s a four-minute Youtube reel of video clips I shot:

Links:

• Bill Callahan, Retread Session
• Jonathan Meiburg and Thor Harris, Retread Session #2

“I’m New Here,” from the wonderful Smog album, A River Ain’t Too Much To Love :

No No No No
I did not become someone different
I did not want to be
But I’m new here
Will you show me around

No matter how far wrong you’ve gone
You can always tournaround
Met a woman in a bar
Told her I was hard to get to know
And near impossible to forget
She said i had an ego on me
The size of Texas

Well I’m new here and I forget
Does that mean big or small

Turnaround turnaround turnaround

And I’m shedding plates like a snake
And it may be crazy but I’m the closest thing I have
To a voice of reason

Turnaround turnaround turnaround
And you may come full circle and be new here again

I listened to this song in the early morning one night in Texas when I couldn’t sleep and the a/c was broken. It felt like heaven.