Sorry, folks, it's been a busy, scary week (my Mom had a health incident, but thankfully she's fine now), so haven't had a chance to post before this.
Lineup for the set was Eric, Adam, Ken Beck on drums, Jillinda (I've been misspelling her first name all this time) Palmer on piano and accordion, Matt Young on standup bass and Mark McConville (Matt's bandmate in Dustbowl Cavaliers) on pedal steel guitar (thanks for telling me what this was, CR boardmates
). Jordan is still out touring, so he was MIA at this end.
The sound check was pretty appealing, with an instrumental of the "Lesson Learned" intro employed to make sure the mics, amps, etc. were all working properly.
First up was "No Love at All," with Jillinda on accordion and Ken on shakers, Matt on bass and Mark on the pedal steel. Very soulful vocal harmonies.
Next was EUTS, with Adam on harmonica, Jillinda on piano and Ken on the cojone. This was a slightly different arrangement than usual, with a more country feel. The harmonica was used as a counterpoint and Matt's bass provided very hard rhythm under the melody.
"Plan Ahead" had Jillinda back on accordion, Adam providing a harmonica intro then seguing into lead vocals and Ken on snare drum, super-fast, almost double time.
Mark McConville took solo vocals on a song he wrote -- "Down in the Easy Chair" maybe is the title (no, not the Dylan cover). It was announced it will be on the new CR/Dustbowl Cavaliers joint album. Mark was on Eric's acoustic guitar for this number, with Eric on electric guitar, Adam on harmonica and Jillinda on piano. There was a very pretty descant on the harmonica and guitar.
Eric took his acoustic guitar back, Mark went back to the pedal steel, Jillinda stayed on piano and Matt did lead vocals on the first verse of a cover of "California Stars," with Eric taking lead vocals on the second verse and the two harmonizing on the chorus.
Next was "To Our Health," one of my favorite "newer" songs. Adam was on glock, Eric on lead vocals and everybody sang on the last chorus.
Next came "Trumpet," which was dedicated to Jordan, "who's in St. Louis." Mark was on electric guitar, Adam on lead vocals, Eric joined in on vocals on the second verse, Jillinda was on accordion -- and Mark Evan Jackson taking the stage for a surprise trumpet solo in the middle. (Really interesting look on Eric's face and Adam laughing so hard he was crying.)
The on-mike set wrapped up with a very forceful rendition of "Bitter Honey," with Mark on electric guitar, Jillinda on piano, Adam on harmonica, Eric on lead vocals and everyone singing on the choruses.
The set wrapped up with an off-mike song I don't know -- "You Can Bend the Truth?" -- Adam was on triangle. Adam sang first verse, Eric sang the second verse, they harmonized on the second. Mark stayed on stage playing the pedal guitar very low and Matt tapped gently on the bass strings.
And that's the report
Shapenew