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We’ve all seen people who are utterly comfortable onstage. They don’t rely on false bravado to command the crowd and take over the room. They were just born to perform in front of people. It’s one of those qualities that, when you see it in a person, the realization comes on slowly, but there’s never any doubt once it’s there.
Then there are the people who are a step above that. People who are completely comfortable with the material that they’ve been given to perform. Think Alec Baldwin in just about anything. He’s not be the most rangy actor, but he’s always confident and calm, and never hesitant about a decision.
Finally, there is the rarest of rare in performers; the person who is utterly comfortable onstage, completely comfortable in the material that they’ve been given, but also completely at ease within that material. The pace of the song or scene isn’t dictated to them and they don’t necessarily dictate to it, but they’re complete free within that framework anyway. It’s hard to properly describe, but like the other two, you know it immediately and completely when you see it. It’s stunning and enthralling and beautiful and twice as rare.
One good way to see that third kind of performer nowadays is to head out to a Justin Townes Earle show. Steve Earle’s little boy is that rarest of rare. He ambles his 6’6”, wire-thin frame (think Jack Skellington in A Nightmare Before Christmas) around the stage in fits and starts, jerks and stomps. Songs are punctuated with “baby” and “honey” and “momma” liberally and always in the right place.
The first time I caught him live, I thought I had stepped back in time 60 years into a Hank Williams Sr. show. You could say, at only 29, the guy is more authentic than just about everyone alive in country music aside from Loretta Lynn and Willie Nelson. That’s saying a lot, but it’s the fuckin’ truth.
Even when he’s off, I’ve never seen anyone so comfortable within the confines of their own music. There’s never hesitation, never a second thought. He becomes each song completely when he plays it and forgets it just as fast. We’ve been lucky enough to see him play live four times in the past three years and each time, songs that we’ve heard dozens of times sound completely fresh and new and urgent. Even when we caught him at a particularly strung-out moment a few years back (he was arrested and went to rehab just a few weeks later, though it could have happened just as easily the night we saw him, he looked rough and that’s being generous), he is still enthralling.
Last night’s show at the Aladdin was a mixed bag. It was a co-headlining tour with Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, who I had never heard before, which should have been a bad sign. The opener, Caitlin Rose, suffered from terrible sound that drowned out her very solid voice. She could stand to take a lesson from Neko Case. If you have a good voice, bring it to the fore, don’t let it be hidden behind a cacophony of over-driven lead guitar, squalling pedal steel and splashing cymbals.
I did catch a few videos of Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, shot in-studio up the road at KEXP in Seattle, and they sounded decent. Not my usual taste, but nice, down-home country music is something, when it’s done right, that I can always get into. Unfortunately, much of his performance was sullied by electric guitar wanking of the highest order. Based on my small sample of him and his band, I’d suggest he stick with the acoustic guitar and a less bar band-y approach. His songs were pretty well-written and catchy, so I can see the appeal, but seeing a band and a performer get in the way of their own talent is frustrating.
Justin’s set started out slowly. His usual fiddle player, the fantastic Josh Hedley, isn’t on tour with him this time around and his replacement was- how do I say this politely -well, let’s just say that she was lacking. I don’t know if she was familiar with his repertoire or if she just picked up the fiddle last week or what the deal was, but she was hitting wrong notes all over the place and playing hard and loud to make up for her shortcomings. I’ve never played the fiddle and I can barely play the guitar, so I’m not the best person to critique. But my darling wife, who actually played the violin for four years, was far more critical.
Despite the rough start, Justin and his double-bass stalwart, Bryn Davies, held things down. The abbreviated set (due to the double-bill), was tight. Like I said earlier, he’s an amazing performer and an equally adept songwriter, so even seeing a rocky, shortened set is well worth the price of admission.
The first time I heard one of his albums, The Good Life, I was so sure that it was packed with covers of old country songs that I was running around Google trying to figure out who the original writers were. For such a young man, he’s got an ancient sensibility when it comes to songwriting. Of course, when Steve Earle is your daddy, you’ve got good genes working on your side when it comes to hard-living and great songwriting, two things Justin has in spades. It also doesn’t hurt that his middle name, Townes, is a tribute to Townes Van Zant, a man on the top of the mountain of the best songwriters of all time.
Justin is quickly climbing his way up that mountain, though. If he keeps his head above water, he’ll get there sooner than later.
