. : : March 20th, 2013 : : .
After a great, cohesive set by NQ Arbuckle (if you discount the technical snafus), and countless successful cooperative showcases in the past, I’d be remiss if I didn’t admit some disappointment in the set performed by Daniel Romano, Oh Susanna and Kayla Howran directly following.
Credit where credit’s due: Daniel Romano and his backing band (who supported the entire set) seemed professional and prepared, and undoubtedly held the set together. Perhaps the comfort of familiarity of performing with familiar musicians afforded him that luxury? Neither Oh Susanna or Kayla Howran seemed quite as prepared.
My clearest memory of the performance was disappointment with just how much of the set the two spent either just standing on stage, not participating, or watching closely for chord changes and clumsily strumming, trying to keep up and generally failing to do so.
Of course, when it was each of their turns to take lead, they performed remarkably well, but the inconsistency between leads was something unexpected based on exceptional performances at previous showcases where the entire band seemed cohesive and well-rehearsed.
Luckily, Daniel Romano’s band was more than able to pick up the slack, with Aaron Goldstein (you may remember him from Kathleen Edwards’ Dakota Tavern session from a few years back, archived on this very blog) on pedal steel guitar always on the cusp out outright stealing the show. Listening to only the audio, you’re unlikely to even notice the absence of a couple of extra lightly strummed acoustic guitars, so fans of these musicians will likely still find much to enjoy in this set.
01. Big Q *
02. [banter]
03. Lucky Ones #
04. Country Born and Raised %
05. No More Blues *
06. [banter]
07. By Rope #
08. [banter]
09. The Al-Anon Prayer %
10. Chicken Bill *
11. The Back Porch Thing #
12. [banter]
13. Pistol %
* Daniel Romano
# Oh Susanna
% Kayla Howran
[ info.txt // flac fingerprint ]
[ Request FLAC or MP3 Download ]
- Daniel Romano Music.com
- Oh Susanna.com
- Kayla Howran.com
- The Horseshoe Tavern
