. : : July 4th, 2012 : : .
I recorded Noel Johnson‘s mid-lineup set, book-ended by Colleen Brown and the Autumn Portrait, at the Cameron House backroom on a 4th of July evening back in 2012.
My memories of the night have faded with age, but I have lingering impressions of a solid night of music performed to a criminally almost-entirely empty room.
I also remember being impressed with the sound and wondering why I hadn’t been to the well-known Cameron House before. Well, I admittedly haven’t been since either, but listening back to the recording while doing this write-up provides a compelling reason why I should (y’know, once going to live concerts is a thing that people can do again)!
From what I can determine, this set was almost a full ten months before Noel’s sole solo offering, The Remedy, would be available for public consumption — and a couple of the selections performed during this set seem to have not made the final culling. Noel has since abandoned his singer-songwriter motif and is now fronting a roots band known as Johnson Crook. Fans of that band are likely to be fascinated to hear an early Noel Johnson performance.
Long-time visitors to this set might even remember Noel providing accompaniment to the final two songs of Colleen Brown’s set that evening (here!), and would similarly be interested to know that Colleen returned the favour with backing vox on Calculated Love.
The sound of the music in this recording is just short of immaculate but, almost exclusively between songs, music from the next room bleeds through. It’s not overpowering, but you won’t have to strain to hear it either.
I’m excited to bring you this excellent recording, with apologizes for the eight-year(!!) delay and a promise to have the Autumn Portrait’s headlining set up shortly! Please enjoy!
- [soundcheck / intro]
- Calculated Love*
- [banter]
- Smack Talk
- [banter]
- Hello Wonderful
- [banter]
- In This Moment
- [banter]
- Where Would I Go
- So I’ve Been Told
- [banter]
- Extraordinary
* Performed with Colleen Brown
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