Songwriter's Beat

Wednesday night we played the Songwriter's Beat at the Cornelia Street Cafe in Greenwich Village. Val Ghent is the host and a phenomenal singer and songwriter with an impressive resume and vocal range. There have been about two hundred fifty performers there over the years at the Songwriter's Beat, each playing as many brand new tunes as they can muster. There were four of us on the bill on Wednesday, afterward we took the group photo. The fellas and I debuted a couple of new tunes, one that might be called "Two in Return" and another that could be "Sake of Believing." Once I get a decent recording I'll post them here so's you can check them out.

In the photo, left to right:
Billy Masters- accompanied Susan Kane on guitar and dobro.
Susan Kane- opened the show with some beautiful folk songs.
Val Ghent- if you've read this far you already know a little something about Val.
Elijah Tucker- my man on the bass and vocals.
Dave Tutin- great stories and a full set of brand new tunes in some funky tunings.
Philipp Gutbrod- the legend.
Me- no link here cuz you're already there.

Bootleg at the Knit

I bootlegged my own show at the Knitting Factory the other day for a couple of reasons. One, the fellas in the band and I wanted to hear what we sound like live at this point in our collaboration. Two, I thought I'd post it on this here blog so that other people could hear what the fellas and I sound like at this point in our collaboration. The quality of the recording isn't great, but it's enough to get a sense of our show. What sounds like an empty room in the beginning was in fact more or less just that. It filled out by the end of the set as friends straggled in from wherever it was there were. You can hear them talking near the voice recorder as they arrive. By the end there were maybe twenty five in the room. All right for a 10:00 gig downtown on a Wednesday. Most of them got there after the doorman had abandoned his post so they got a free half a show (...we didn't get paid more than about a half a falafel's worth each).

Philipp Gutbrod is on the drums.
Elijah Tucker playing bass and singing harmonies.
Bill Bell on the keyboard and mandolin.

Here they are in chronological order. Click on the song title to listen:

Red Sand- hello Tribeca
Straniero- one from the archives, circa 2002.
Band Introductions- some bull shit about Elijah's hat choice.
Blue River- I think I prefer this one on the acoustic guitar, but here it is on the electric.
New Paltz Waltz- Bill switches from the mandolin to the piano toward the end and it couldn't sound sweeter.
Treat Pam right tonight- tuning to open d is a good time to remind folks to tip the bartender.
Ya Sabia- Elijah's bass isn't quite tuned to the same d as mine.
Tectonic Plates- click here to check out the elephant painting an elephant on Youtube.
Around My Thoughts- we tried out a different ending...
You Won't Burn Me- man, that piano kills me.
Jesse on the sound- he had to be out of there by 11, kind of him to let us keep playing.
Where We've Been- I'm partial to this one.
Camera Shot the Truth- a good one to close on.
Amongst the Ranunculas- one time I bought a bunch of ranunculas for Ramona and sent her on a scavenger hunt around the apartment to find them in their hiding places.