From perfect picking to punk pandemonium

Mara Lovejoy at Carmody's for Homegrown. Photo by Jill Fisher.

First off, I want to remind any and all readers of the Listen column, that the views expressed herein do not necessarily represent those of the owner or editor of this newspaper but are mine alone and just one person’s opinion (well, sometimes the Curmudgeon weighs in).

A case in point is what West owner Bob Boone reported was the response of several attendees to the Albert Cummings show—"Greatest show yet” to paraphrase. This in striking contrast to my assessment in last week’s Reader. Just saying.

And so, more of my opinions: The Pat Donahue and Friends performed at the West Theatre on Thursday, April 25. An unusually scant number of folks turned out to hear four fine musicians take us on a tour of Americana music.

Pat Donahue and Friends

St. Paul native Pat Donahue is renowned for his finger-picking guitar and many of us older folks recall Donahue as a regular cast member of the Prairie Home Companion radio program who for nearly 20 years sang and played acoustic and electric guitars alone and with guest performers.

On this evening he was joined by friends and fellow musicians John Wright (acoustic bass guitar), Richard Kreihn (mandolin) and Paul Mayasich (AKA P.K. Mayo, playing acoustic guitar, dobro and mandoguitar). My first observation as these four took the stage was there was no percussionist, all were playing stringed instruments. I wondered just how that might sound since I am partial to drumming with heavy driving beats. Turns out they sounded pretty darn good, especially considering they don’t constitute a band that plays regularly together. As for rhythm it appears Wright was key to providing a unifying thread that kept them in time with each other, no little feat.

The first number was a frisky jug band tune that set the tone for the evening. Upbeat with precision coordination that alleviated any reservations I may have had. Donahue explained that rather than developing a playlist ahead of time—which he said has tended to mess him up in the past by accidentally combined songs on the list—the group would decide what it wanted to play as they went, letting the concert develop organically and spontaneously. This was another aspect that made me wonder what craziness we might be in for, but in the skilled hands of these four talented guys, it turned out just fine. Or, as we are wont to say in the Midwest and true to the title of Donahue’s original composition “It Could Be Worse” (avoiding extravagant praise).

Is rock and roll in the category of Americana? Well, in Donahue and company’s hands it is as they transformed Chuck Berry’s “Rock and Roll Music” into “Gotta Be Old Time Music” with some more of that jumpin’ jug band sound. A cover of J.J. Cale’s “Whippoorwill” was very nice as was an instrumental featuring P.K. Mayo’s gorgeous slide work on his dobro guitar with Kreinhn’s sweet mandolin accompaniment.

John Wright and PK Mayo

For the most part the guys shied away from political commentary but the original tune “In My Opinion” does give a sense of where Donahue at least is coming from.

The friends’ cover of “Mabeline” transformed the song into a musical conversation between the lines of the lyrics, where high pitched noodling gave voice to the Mabeline character and alternated with the low growls of the bass and guitars. This reminded me of the kind of sketches typical on Prairie Home Companion (too cute!) and demonstrated how tight the players were as they shifted back and forth with their mini-solos. “What Goes Up,” a song of “heartache and regret” as described by Donahue wrapped up the first set and brought us back to something more heartfelt.

After the intermission Donahue began with stories about his interactions with guitarist Chet Atkins and showed off his own famous guitar picking on “Stealin’ From Chet.” It was indeed a bit of a guitar lesson for us all, as he demonstrated how to mitigate a wrongly played note by simple repetition. A cover of the Allman Brothers’ “Blue Sky” was played as a tribute to the recently deceased member of that band, Dickey Betts. It was just so nice, and this pretty much describes the entire concert.

Kreihn sang lead vocals on two tunes: “Sittin’ On Top of the World,” a real old timey country blues tune first recorded in 1930 by the trio Mississippi Sheiks, and the Appalachian folk tune “Lazy John” adapted from a 1947 recording by western swing artist Johnny Lee Wills. Wow, what a great voice!

The solo number “Somewhere Between You and I” by PK gave us a chance to appreciate more of his slide guitar playing and singing as well. He plays regularly around our region and now that I’ve become acquainted with him, you can bet I will seek him out.

Another humorous song was “Eighteen Holes,” a clever send up of Meryl Travis’s “Sixteen Tons” about the frustrations of golfing. Then the group got around to playing what was called “Sunday go to meeting music” and out came PK’s small, white “mandoguitar” for the traditional gospel tune “Jesus On the Mainline.” (Sweet!) This number was followed up by Donahue’s 2003 “The Road to Kingdom Come” that replicates the gospel sound. PK’s 2003 “Texas Toast” in which everybody soloed finished out the second set.

Two songs were performed for the encore. The first was Donahue’s original “The Dead” with lyrics borrowed from the short story by James Joyce. It was simply beautiful. The second encore song was “Irish Blues” that despite the title left the audience feeling energized and happy. This was the most recent in a string of really fantastic concerts put on at the West and everyone I spoke to afterwards expressed complete satisfaction with it.

The only disturbing aspect is the dwindling audience of older folks these seasoned performers are drawing. One would like to think that our younger local musicians would be among those eager to attend and be inspired by the likes Pat Donahue and Friends. I wound up the evening with a stop at Carmody Irish Pub to catch one of the last performances of “Jazz Jam! Duluth.”

A small crowd of jazz fans remained late into the evening to hear locals jamming it up. Among them were Jacob Mahon playing keys, Joe Anderson on saxophone, Manny Eisele on bass guitar, Tommy Kasheta on congas and Garth Anderson on drums. One can expect to see more jazz from of these players in the future so be on the lookout!

Gavin St. Clair at Homegrown

Finally, Homegrown is here! It was a raucous kickoff at Hoops Brewing Company in Canal Park with Winzige Hozen performing after the Founder’s Reception (in lieu of a Mayor’s Proclamation as in years past). The place was absolutely packed, buying a beverage was an ordeal, with folks having to climb over tables to get to the bar! I missed the set by Dog Talk but got out to hear groups performing in venues on East Superior Street in downtown Duluth. Among the ones I caught were Mara Lovejoy at Zeitgeist Teatro and also Inga Entheos in that venue—both eye-opening performances; The Gavin St. Clair Trio (actually a quintet!) and The Shane Nelson Band at Carmody; Willem Defoe Fan Club at Pizza Lucé (the Curmudgeon split off to see NeatNeatNeat at Blacklist); then it was back to Carmody for Sidestreet Detour and some good rock and roll dancing. There’ll still be lots happening on this roller coaster ride of musical events called Homegrown after this Reader issue comes out. Get out and enjoy and I’ll see you there!