Apple Pie Moonshine - A Songwriters Roundtable Review

Shannon leaned over to me and said, “I love when there is Lincoln/Omaha crossover at shows.” I couldn’t agree more.

I don’t know if you all understand how much I love Lincoln and how I basically leave another piece of my heart on the stage when I play there. I was personally coming off the show of a lifetime at Duffy’s, and here I was, in a rarely visited part of Omaha, staring Shannon Claire in the face. For those of you who don’t know, Shannon is the photographer who took that sweet black and white picture of me with the gun that I use all over the place. You’ve actually probably seen her work all over the place as she frequently shoots for HearNebraska (and I believe Omahype). Shannon is also from Lincoln, and she is a rockin’ lady. I was staring Lincoln in the face, and I was happy to be there.

Enter $2.25 margarita number one.

Enter Heather Barney of The Betties. The Country Darlin’ of Lincoln (now in Omaha for medical school) joined our table and our conversation. We were staring at Gerardo Meza (The Mezcal Brothers, The Tijuana Gigolos), Brad Hoshaw, Andrew Bailie (Moscow Mule, It’s True!), and Tara Vaughan, pontificating on how we were excited to see such a diverse group of folk on stage and how excited we were for what was about to happen. Respectively, we were looking at the Rockabilly King, Omaha Folk Royalty, a Blueshound, and a Pop Goddess, and I couldn’t help but think about how much I would have loved to play this round. The amount of diversity in this group could have been fun to play with. Not to mention the astounding amount of mastery sitting under all the lights of the Ozone stage. Everyone from Round One played masterfully, naturally. They all proved their ability to write a song. They all told stories (I’m personally biased to Tara and Gerardo, as I’ve done roundtable/songwriter nights with both of them and have they are so much fun and have a great relationship with their audience). However, there was no crossover. Hoshaw played two songs that I wasn’t personally very familiar with, and I consider myself to be pretty familiar with his body of work. It was a little Omaha heavy, and still, I guess the unfamiliarity among artists was too much, which was unfortunate.

Also, I told him to his face, so I’m not stepping on toes when I say playing Tom Waits at a songwriter roundtable is a cheat, Andrew Bailie. It was recieved well, but your songs are just as good, and you play them just as masterfully. Look at you, breakin’ all the rules.

Enter $2.25 margarita number two.

After a successful first round (it was, don’t doubt it), a stranger with a baseball cap pulled over his eyes, Nicki Calhoun, Kris Lager, and Josh Hoyer (Son of 76) take the stage. Lager starts announcing everyone in the round and says Korey Anderson, and I about fell out of my chair because somehow, in spite of the posters and the emails, I had totally spaced he would be there. Korey Anderson, coming out after months of hiding. I was already super stoked because I was staring at some of my favorite Lincoln musicians, and then you add one of my favorite Omaha voices and I just KNEW I wasn’t going to be able to contain myself. I was not part of this round, but it did not stop me from chiming in from my seat.

Let me set the stage for you. We have my Omaha Soul Mate, a virtual unknown to Omaha, the Blues Rock King (doesn’t matter where you are in Nebraska, he just is), and an Old Black Man and his Ivories. Josh Hoyer opened things up with his song I’ve only ever known as ‘Jeremiah Brown’ and totally tore up the place. Elliot (Manny Coon) turned around and looked at our table during both his songs and pointed out what an asshole he was being for just bringing it. Even the bar bought him a drink. Kris Lager was the first person of the night to open up the invite for folks to play along by calling out the the key. (He also had the quote of the night. “I titled this song ‘Bob Dylan’ in case he googles himself.”) From there it was a party. While it was her first time playing in Omaha, at least that I know, don’t discount Nicki Calhoun. She embodied the spirit of the night, told the best stories of the night, and literally got everyone in the round (and everyone in the audience) to participate in the best sing-along of the night. “Fuckin’ Ayyy, it’s been a day.” Then, sitting with two Lincolnites listening to Korey Anderson for the first time was a pleasure. Heather leans in and says, “That man has the voice of a goddamned angel.” He does. He played two of my favorites of his and I did not hold back from singing where I was. It was so nice to see him shake off the dust and be out and about.

I contemplated a third margarita. I did not…(well, I didn’t purchase the third one for myself, anyway.)

After a rousing second round, we switched up and started Round Three. I didn’t get a picture of us because, duh, but in order from first to last, we were Matt Whipkey (Anonymous American, The Whipkey Three, The Seven Deadlies), Heather Barney (The Betties), Manny Coon, Jessica Errett (Edge of Arbor), and myself. I will be honest, I sat in the spot where I knew I would be last. I had a plan. I almost always have a plan, but I’ll get to that. I love everyone that was in my group. I have every album from each of them (well, I have all of Whipkey’s solo stuff and all of the Whipkey Three albums, I figure that’s the best representation), and I see them and listen to them all pretty regularly. I knew I was going to have fun.

Then, Whipkey announces he’s going to play two new songs from his future project all about Peony Park, which is exciting, but 1. Omaha specific in a pretty balanced group of Lincoln and Omaha. 2. No one knows these songs, which means no one gets to participate. 3. Way to be, Whipkey. No doubt, the songs were great and super romantic (I awwwed more than once), but after totally talking up the roundtable where he and Nick Carl totally blew me away, he singles himself out. I called him out on the spot, into the microphone, so I’m not saying anything new or scandalous. I’m not saying it after two margaritas, but I’m not saying anything new or scandalous.

So, when I found out who was in our group, I immediately contacted Jessica. It’s a cheat, but I had an idea of what I wanted to try, so she and I got together earlier in the week and each pulled out one song that we knew we would want to do and try to shine them up. I also played with Heather at that Duffy’s gig, and I remembered to ask her for her one song. So I practiced to sing with her a fair amount between band practice and the roundtable. Also, I totally suckered Elliot into playing “Sweet Virginia,” because I don’t know if you know Manny Coon, but there is definitely a reason he keeps getting nominated for OEAAs in the singer-songwriter category. Songs like that are just one of many. Elliot played along with all of us ladies. He added some real nice touches to Jessica’s already precision fingerpicking. He did some nice solo work with Heather. Then Heather and Jess joined me singing my last song. They totally pulled off what I get all my ladies to do, and Elliot played the eff outta what I gave him. It was a real riot.

No kidding, I love the singer-songwriters from Omaha, and I love the singer-songwriters from Lincoln. I love when I get to be around all of them at the same time. I love the camaraderie of musicians and I like when we take the time out to not take ourselves too seriously. I even love how Miah and Brandon of Kris Lager Band gave me crap for being too “thinky.”

Many, many thanks to Kris Lager for putting together such a fun night. Thank you to HearNebraska for covering the night. Thank you to Shannon for being so awesome and letting me sit with her. Thank you to everyone who came out, and to everyone who sang along (on stage or in the audience). Let’s do this again real soon.

Also, apologies to the Southpaw Bluegrass Band. I took one of those kinds of naps where you wake up and you don’t even know your own name (I’ve been sick and these naps have been pretty awesome while I’ve been in this state). I totally missed you. No doubt you killed it.

 I love a Roundtable.

Posted by all young girls are machine guns 20 June 3 Permalink