Scott Miller, Sept. 28, Horseshoe Tavern, Toronto

I usually scan my ticket stub, but since this show was free I scanned Miller's promo material.

Scott Miller was screwed before he even got to Toronto. First, all of his stuff was stolen after the previous night's gig in Buffalo. To quote Miller, "Fuck Buffalo." He played his mini set at the Horseshoe Tavern, part of the free "Dave Bookman’s Nu Music Nites," with borrowed gear. Next, his set was placed between two local bands, and most of the audience members were there to see the first or the third act, and didn't pay attention to his set at all. The audience annoyingly chatted loudly, and maybe ten of us were actually paying attention to Miller. The 'Shoe should have had Miller play first. You can't blame Miller for being somewhat grumpy given that the world seemed to be conspiring against him that night.

Regardless, Miller pressed on with a way-too-short 45 minute acoustic set. He's a funny dude, and even picked on the audience at one point. "Did y'all come in one car?" He told stories about his songs, and mostly took requests. See the below video for the history behind the song "Ciderville Saturday Night." He even pulled out an early Christmas song saying, "I hate babies, but I love the baby Jesus. He's my second favorite Jew after Sammy Davis, Jr." Look for the Christmas album sometime after Thanksgiving (that's the end of November for you Canadians).

1. I Won't Go With You
2. I Made a Mess of This Town
3. Freedom's a Stranger
4. Mary (The V-Roys)
5. 8 Miles a Gallon (live).mp3
Buy: Reconstruction (2007)
6. Yes Virginia (?, from a forthcoming Christmas album)
7. Ciderville Saturday Night
8. Across the Line
9. Daddy Raised a Boy
10. Drunk All Around
11. Amtrak Crescent



Below you can download the song "Appalachian Refugee," a beautiful track from the 2009 album For Crying Out Loud.

September Feel Bad For You

From our friends at AltCountryTab.ca - the monthly forum users comp! The above "cover art" is a photo I found on my camera after the debauchery from Sunday, September 19 - see the previous post on NQ Arbuckle. That's my shoe on the lower left. Hot! The comp will be available as a zipped file for one week only. Cheers!


1. Nathaniel Rateliff - "Brakeman"
In Memory of Loss (2010)
A fine selection off of my favorite album so far this year.

2. Parlor Hawk - Every Bone.mp3
Buy: Hoarse and Roaring (2010)
Off of an interesting album from a Salt Lake City area band.

3. Frontier Ruckus - "Dark Autumn Hour"
The Orion Songbook (2008)

4. Jimmy Bo Horne - "Spank"
Single (orig. 1979)
A co-worker of mine gave me this tune once as it was his favorite disco era tune. This is the closest I could find to what I once had. Good stuff.

5. Budgie - "Napoleon Bona Parts 1 & 2"
Bandolier (1975)
Classic Brit hard rock from Welsh aces Budgie. Play loud.

6. The Golden Palominos - "I've Been The One"
A History (1986)
Lovely version of the Lowell George classic. That's Syd Straw on vocals and Dennis Hopper at the beginning "a little louder and a little more confused..."

7. The Babys - "If You've Got The Time"
The Babys (1976)

8. The dBs - Molly Says.mp3
From: Sound of Music (1987, out of print)
My favorite dBs/Holsapple song…love the line:
“She could stand at the top of the world
And still complain that she could not see
She could stand in a deep dark hole
And still look down on me”

9. Boston Spaceships - Come On Baby Grace.mp3
Buy: Our Cubehouse Still Rocks (2010)
IMHO, this song reaches the heights of some of GBV's best material.

10. Miracle Legion - "With a Wish"
Drenched (1992)
'90s jangle pop at its finest.

11. Three Dog Night - "Liar"
Naturally (1970)

NQ Arbuckle, September 19, Dakota Tavern, Toronto

Ever been at a bar or a show and you saw someone who was so embarrassingly drunk that you felt badly for them? I'm pretty sure that was me last Sunday night. My good friends Jen and Ryan got themselves hitched last Sunday, September 19. After their spectacular wedding and me drinking my weight in wine at the reception, I grabbed a cab to the Dakota Tavern to catch the last two of sets of a gig by NQ Arbuckle.

I don't have a lot to say about the show other than it rocked, and I danced and sang along like an idiot. My buddy Steffen took a set list and e-mailed it to me the next day. Steffen took the above photo and some other bitchin' photos at TurnItUpOrTurnItOff.com. He also essentially saved my life by lending me $20 so I could get home that night. I'm such a waste-oid.

Glad you made it home ok! Setlist below - for the set you didn't see and the songs you don't remember seeing. -Steffen

Set 1:
1. Saskatoon Tonight
2. Officer Down
3. Cheap Town
4. Sleepy Wife
5. Marco Polo
6. Anyhow, I Love You [Guy Clark]
7. Sun’s Hanging Low
8. Part of a poem by Alden Nowlan called Ypres: 1915
9. Mixkin Dancehall Blues
10. Windfall [Son Volt]

Set 2:
1. Punk Rocker.mp3
Buy (Amazon.com): Hanging the Battle-Scarred Pinata (2002)
Buy (Maple Music): Hanging the Battle-Scarred Pinata (2002)
2. Huntsville Affair
3. Fireworks
4. Walls Are So Thin
5. Song for Kathleen O'Hara
6. Angels And Devils
7. When I Come Back
8. Outside The Stars
9. I Liked You Right From The Start > The Gambler [Kenny Rogers] > You Can’t Always Get What You Want [Rolling Stones]
10. Snake Farm [Ray Wylie Hubbard]

Set 3:
1. Sleepy Wife
2. I Can See The Moon.mp3
Buy (Amazon.com): Last Supper in a Cheap Town (2006)
Buy (Maple Music): Last Supper in a Cheap Town (2006)
3. You Look Like A Wreck
4. X O K
5. Atlantic City [Bruce Springsteen]
6. My Baby
7. Don’t Remember Me.mp3
Buy (Amazon.com): X O K (2009)
Buy (Maple Music): X O K (2009)
8. Postcard From Princess
9. Downtime
10. In Another Time > Record Body Count [Rheostatics]
11. Goodnight Irene On New Year's Eve

Encore:
1. Danko/Manuel [Drive-By Truckers]
2. Skydive Home

The best band that you aren't listening to: The Fox Hunt

The Fox Hunt is the best band that you are currently not listening to. They hail from Martinsburg, West Virginia, and as their Appalachian roots may suggest, they play a mean version of modern bluegrass. The band has two primary songwriters, John R. Miller and Matt Kline, who both cover a range of human emotions in their music. Women, sinning, drinking, misery, temptation, you know, the happy subjects, are covered in depth in their lyrics. Their music is mostly uptempo country/folk, filled with vocal harmonies, and lots of banjo and fiddle, rounded out with acoustic guitar, mandolin, and upright bass. And the musicians frequently rotate instruments and share lead vocals. Now that's talent!

I first become familiar with them from their stellar 2007 debut, Nowhere Bound. If you don't already own this album, go buy it now. NOW! In 2009 they released America's Working So We Don't Have To, an album of traditional Americana folk songs with their own unique arrangements, followed by a self-titled EP of four original tracks.

This year they released another album of originals entitled Long Way to Go which is quickly becoming my favorite album of 2010. It spans an entire range of roots music, with a mid-tempo opening track called "Screw Me Up" which is about a woman messing with a dude's head. Later, a snappy song called "It Suits Me" which is ostensibly about a one night stand (the instrumental outro kills me, listen below). One of the best songs on the album, "Four Horses" is a slaying meditation on life and death. "No one said that life was easy. No one said that life was fair." Gulp. My favorite song on the album is about breaking the bank to please your lush of a woman (see the "I'll Drink Cheap" video below).

It Suits Me.mp3
Four Horses.mp3
Buy: Long Way to Go (2010)

I once read an interview with Dallas Good of The Sadies where he said (paraphrasing), "I've said it a million times. Bluegrass is faster than speed metal." Watch the below video and you decide.