Kevin Gordon @ The Garage - Winston Salem, NC

Kevin Gordon came out to play at this little tiny bar in Winston Salem last night. He seems to come through about 2-3 times a year, and I really don't know why. This town sucks. It sucks mighty Morphin Monkey Ass. People will not come out to see live music. They wouldn't come out if you were giving away free beer and free blowjobs. The Garage is a cool place, but the people in this town suck.

We have no local radio that plays any of Gordon's music, I ain't even sure if they play him on the Satellite, and that's a damned shame as well. Originally from somewhere in Louisiana, Gordon now makes his home over in East Nashville, where all the other bohemian musicians live. He's the Southern version of Bruce Springsteen, except he's better than Springsteen, he has more soul, more groove, more inner Negro, at least to my ears.

His songs have been recorded by a bunch of different people including Levon Helm and Keith Richards., Lucinda Williams and others I just can't think of off the top of my head. I've been a fan for a long time.

My 10 year old daughter is also a fan. In fact she told me last night that I needed to take her to the club to go see him play, she didn't care what I had planned, she really wanted to go. So, We get dressed, I fill up the truck, and stop off at the ATM., and hit the drive-thru window for a quick burger and head for teh club. . Cover is $8 a piece. It's a fair price. We get to catch the opening act, Athens, Georgia's Richard Shefrey. My daughter tells me that she didn't like him. that he sounded like he was drunk. I thought he did okay. Lots of energy, which was impressive to me, especially since nobody seemed to be paying any attention to him. I've had those kinds of gigs before and know first hand how hard they can be. After he finished at 10, we had to wait until 10:40 pm for Gordon to start. Buy this time, my daughter is leaning on me, snuggling in, falling asleep. If I recall correctly, She fell asleep last time he played too.

Kevin Gordon rocked the house. I mean he set the place on fire. He played as a trio along with drummer Paul Griffith and bassist Ron Eoff. They were tight as hell and throwing down. There were maybe 10 of us that were there to see him play. He acted like there were a 1000 of us instead. He took requests, he played selections off of all of his albums. To be honest, I was disappointed that the room wasn't sold out. The place only holds about 100 folks tops. Gordon should be playing 500-700 seaters and selling them out. Like I said, this town sucks. People started filing in for the last band on teh schedule, a local band called the Bo Stevens. They are a good band and it was the lead singers birthday, but damned if it didn't seem like they were all part of some hipster scene. Rockabilly kids with saddle shoes and ducktails and shit. They were more interested in talking than listening. I wanted to take a hammer and start hitting people in the forehead, dropping them like cows in the slaughterhouse. You fuckers go outside to talk, I'm trying to listen to Kevin Gordon.

I enjoyed myself. My 10 year old daughter is asleep in my arms. A drunk chick in front of me is showing me the tattoos on her tits, adn Kevin Gordon is playing a bunch of my favorite songs ("Duece and a Quarter", "Burning The Churchhouse Down", "24 Diamonds", "Watching the Sun Go Down,")

Look, I could give you a set list, but unless you were familiar with they guy, it wouldn't mean anything to you. Instead, what I'll do is post his website info as well as his MySpace page and his facebook info. Check him out, I think you'll dig him. Kind of a an articulate blues player without all the wankerery. It's more about the songs than it is about how much he can bend a guitar string (and he's a damned fine guitar player). Think Lightning, Think Jimmy Reed, Think Fred McDowell.

Thanks Kevin for playing our shitty little town.


http://www.kevingordon.net/

Kevin Gordon on Myspace (Music & Videos here!!)

Kevin Gordon on Facebook