I’ve always taken pains to make these podcast introductions factual and impersonal, but I’m not doing that for this one. That’s because I finally got to see Joe Henry live last night. I’m pleased to say that a long, long wait to see one of my favorite artists paid dividends.
I found out about Joe Henry relatively late in his career — I fell in love with his 1999 record, Fuse, which was already his seventh, and have delighted in the three he’s made since, including his new one, Civilians. Though it seems like I missed out on a lot of years with Joe, I’m amazed to discover how many Triple A programmers in 2007 still don’t know much about this brilliant artist.
Even if you don’t know Joe’s cinematic, meticulously-written music, chances are that you love a record he’s produced, or one of the luminaries who line up to play on his records. He’s worked with Elvis Costello & Allen Toussaint, Solomon Burke, Bettye LaVette, the Jayhawks, Jim White, Kristin Hersh, Aimee Mann, Meshell Ndegeocello, Loudon Wainwright III, Don Byron, Bill Frisell, Jakob Dylan, Ani DiFranco, Victoria Williams, Mary Gauthier, T-Bone Burnett, Chris Whitley, Daniel Lanois, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Van Dyke Parks, Jay Bellerose, Jim Keltner, Ron Miles, Brad Mehldau, Marc Ribot, Ornette Coleman… the list goes on.
Joe doesn’t play many live shows, which is why it took me such a long time to see him. This tour stops in New York, Boston, and LA. That’s it. Last night’s show at the Gramercy Theatre in New York featured most of the great tracks from Civilians, rendered live with a vibrancy that I didn’t necessarily expect. I thought I might find more noir, less joy, but it was a loose, rousing set — due in no small part to the elegance and virtuosity of the stage’s two supporting guitarists, Bill Frisell and Greg Leisz.
Enough of my yapping. Let’s let Julia Clarke tell you more about the new record.
Here’s something like a live mashup: it’s Billy Bragg and Joe Henry from SXSW 2006 doing a few campfire favorites together.
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