This summer I’ll be seeing some of my favorite performers in concert, John Prine, Richard Thompson, Lyle Lovett, and Steve Earle, all within 3 weeks. This is songwriter overload. If John Hiatt was included I’d be in songwriter nirvana. I can’t count how many times I’ve seen John Prine and Richard Thompson. I’ve seen Lyle Lovett once and I never seen Steve Earle perform before. Steve Earle has quickly become one of my favorites. I like songwriters that make a statement, not just “my baby left me” but something meaningful. His song “This City” totally captures what New Orleans (one of my favorite cities) has gone through the last few years. He has a great role in the HBO series “Treme” as the king (my opinion) of the street musicians. America has some of the best songwriters in the world, they write from experience and they write about real life. Steve Earle, John Prine, and John Hiatt exhibit the best of what American songwriting has to offer. These guys are up there with Woody Guthrie in writing about the American existence. None of them would make it American Idol and that’s just sad. Shallow and formulaic is what counts there, not music that makes you think and feel.
Richard Thompson is simply one of the most brilliant guitarist/songwriters out there. He’s a Brit so he doesn’t get mentioned with the Americans but a genius none the less. He’s been writing and performing brilliant music for over 40 years with Fairport Convention, with Linda Thompson, and solo. You really owe it to yourself to see him in concert.
The only thing that would improve this line up is seeing The Band (I saw The Band after Robbie Robertson left but before Richard Manuel and Rick Danko died), early Dylan, early Springsteen (I did see Springsteen during the Born In The USA tour), and Creedence. I’ve seen The Dead and Los Lobos many times so don’t go there. I saw Little Feat in ’78 at the Warner Theatre in DC, unbelievable. A year later Lowell George was dead and that magic would never happen again. These shows are moments to be treasured, they may never happen again.
