Went to one of the best concerts I've ever seen on Sunday night at the Tin Angel. Adrienne Young Performed with Little Sadie (or at least part of them). It was one of those rare "authentic experience" concerts, minus the performer arrogance.
The Tin Angel is a great venue. I'd estimate there were only about 25 or 30 people in the audience, and it was full, so it put you in a very intimate space with the performer. The staff weren't super friendly. However, that may have been because I snuck in a giant cup of soup and proceeded to slurp it and crunch on my saltines with relish, despite the fact that there was a restaurant downstairs. They book a lot of great artists, though, and the musical experience is so personal that I wouldn't care if the staff members spat in my general direction - I'd still go.
I discovered Adrienne Young at the Bethlehem Music Fest this summer with my Dad, while waiting for the Moody Blues to go on. Adrienne totally trumped the Moody Blues, and that's saying a lot, because they put on a good show. She's a folk/country/singer-songwriter, but don't let that turn you off. She's the real deal. Adrienne takes the American folk music tradition to a new level.
Sunday night she was in great form. Adrienne is naturally very relaxed and good-natured, but I was amazed that she maintained her composure under the circumstances. All of the members of her band, Little Sadie, had food poisoning, and only one of them - Oliver the fiddler - was able to perform. Despite his ailment, Oliver came through, and the two of them put on a fanatastic show.
They opened with Adrienne's cover of "Free Man in Paris" and maintained a genuinely witty banter between all of the following songs. "Natural Bridge" (which some of you may recognize from XPN) and "Art of Virtue" were particularly on, but nothing was off. Oliver even played some of his own originals. His rough, natural voice, complimented Adrienne's melodic lilt well. And let me tell you, these guys can play. I could barely sit still during Oliver's fiddle solos, and Adrienne's fingers positively flew on the banjo.
After playing about half of their set, in a surprise move, Adrienne invited Oliver's parents onstage. He's from Lancaster, so half of the audience was made up of his rowdy relatives. Oliver grew up in a family where everyone is musical, so his parents hopped onstage without reservation to fill in for the missing band members. The freshness and energy of their sound may have been due in part to the fact that the four of them had never played as a group before. It was, as Adrienne said, "off the cuff." One person would call out the name of a folk song and, if the others knew it, they would play it. Amazing to be able to play that well together on the spot.
I hardly wanted the show to end, but it was almost worth it when afterwards I was able to meet Adrienne. She complimented my outfit (which, consequently, I will probably never take off), and I told her that her sound reminded me of the Scottish folk scene. She recommended a Scottish book series to me and gave me a big hug. Her down-to-earth stage persona is clearly not an act, because she wasn't intimidating in the least.
To check out Adrienne's music, go to her website - http://www.adrienneyoung.com/. She'll be playing in State College at the Sustainable Agriculture Conference on February 2nd (because she has an equally impressive conscious to go with her voice). Also, I may just be roadtripping it down to West Virginia on January 26th to see her play at the Purple Fiddle, where I hear that the fiddlers have to work extra hard to keep up with the dancers. Sounds like my kind of place.
