Old97s.com

As Frank announced on the Hit By A Train board, Murry is playing a solo show in Chicago at Schubas on Saturday September 20th.  Tickets are now available on the Schubas website:

 http://www.schubas.com/tickets.aspx

I'm counting down the days! 

 

 

Ohh hell yes, we never get this kinda chance over here... I just hope I'm here at the time.

I’m not the most eloquent writer but I’ll try my best to provide a review of Murry’s Saturday night show. Murry took the stage around 7:45 and immediately remarked how much the room reminded him of a place he recently played in Texas (Nacogdoches if I recall). The room itself was very nice with finished woodwork and candles on the walls. It appears the room was previously a church as a large wooden pew winds around one side and the stage looks as though it could have been used as a pulpit. He opened with the haunting What Are They Doing in Heaven Today? and it was every bit as beautiful as on the album. He then told the story of an old friend from the Austin punk rock scene, Bill Daniel, whom he recently reconnected with. Mr. Daniel is a filmmaker and became intrigued with rail graffiti, specifically one sketch which has appeared for over 80 years on cars. The graffiti, known as Bozo Texino, inspired him to start hopping trains in an effort to document the lives of hobos and the hobo jungles. With that he went into Between the Switches and Lost at Sea. After this, the song order begins to blur. However, I believe he moved to the harmonium to perform I Never Will Marry. Before doing so he remarked the stage was a graveyard of old instruments which drew a laugh from the audience. He returned to the harmonium much later in the show for a performance of Rainbow’s End but otherwise alternated between his six string and twelve string guitars throughout the evening. The first 97’s song to be performed was a great version of Color of a Lonely Heart is Blue. He also performed Summer of ’84 from his 1991 album “It’s a Twelve String World” which went straight into Valentine. Other songs performed included Smokers and a fantastic version of Crash on the Barrelhead. He then said he was going to perform some 97’s songs that were taken out of the oven a little too soon (in his words “they’re still a bit chewy”) but with a little more work will probably be released. The first of these was the Blame it on Gravity outtake, Damn Your Misery, and the second was White Port which he first performed at the Obama benefit. Besides performing most of the new album, he also sang two of his mother’s favorite spirituals. One of these, Farther Along, was one of the highlights of the evening. I hope Murry includes a version of this on the follow-up record he is working on. The penultimate song was the highlight of the evening for me. Other, Younger Days was written about a conversation he and his brother had shortly after the passing of their parents. I'm blessed to still have both of my parents but I was very moved by the song. He then finished with I Believe, I Believe and the audience gave him a standing ovation. After the show Murry took the time to take pictures and talk with anyone who approached. My wife told him how our two year old daughter walks around the house singing Next Time Take the Train and he told us his son Tex went through a period where he wanted to hear Dance With Me again and again. He has now moved on to Color of a Lonely Heart is Blue and points to stereo saying Dada, Dada! It was a very cute story. After we said our goodbyes, my wife said it was one of the best shows she has ever seen and I have to agree.

Sorry for the one huge paragraph. For some reason the breaks were lost once I submitted the post.

Thanks for posting the review...nice job...  would've really liked to have been there.