Tonight's Setlist: 6/21/16, Leechburg Firemen's Carnival, Leechburg, Pa.

'This nine-pound hammer, it killed John Henry,

but it won't kill me, no it won't kill me...'

We were joined tonight by my sister for a handful of songs at the beginning of the second set, and it was pretty awesome. She's a classically-trained opera singer, so we had to countrify her up a little to get the proper twaang for singing bluegrass, but we got there.

Click here to download/stream the show courtesy of Archive.org!

Early set:
New Mexican Shuffle
Nine Pound Hammer (M. Travis)
Let Me Love You One More Time (Stanley Bros.)
In the Pines (Leadbelly)
John Hardy (Trad.)
Mystery Train (J. Parker)
Blackberry Blossom (A. Smith)
Pig in a Pen (Trad.)
Eat My Dust (D. Grisman)
It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry (Dylan)
Glendale Train (J. Dawson) >
I Know You Rider (Trad.) >
Whiskey Before Breakfast

Late set:
Roving Gambler* (Stanley Bros.)
A Lonesome Night* (Stanley Bros.)
Leaning on the Everlasting Arm* (Stanley Bros.)
Friend of the Devil* (Dead)
Where We'll Never Grow Old* (Stanley Bros.)
Dark as a Dungeon* (M. Travis)
I Am Weary, Let Me Rest* (Cox Family)
You Better Get Right (Stanley Bros.) >
Mighty High (J. Ligon)
Honey Babe (E. Bishop) >
Gravel Road (M. Slim)
Peggy-O (Trad., Dead arr.)
Salt Creek (Trad.)
Deep Elem Blues (Trad.)
Fox on the Run (T. Hazzard)
How Mountain Girls Can Love (Stanley Bros.)

*with Rachel Grumet

Tonight's (Solo) Setlist: 9/20/13 Twisted Thistle, Leechburg, Pa.

Tonight's set had a bit of a Southern gothic feel to it...

Lots of voodoo, alligator swamps and strange moons...

After nearly a year of pretty much just playing full-band gigs with Charlie Hustle & the Grifters, it was fun and maybe just a little nerve-wracking to jump back in the solo seat for a night at the Twisted Thistle. It's always a blast to dig back into the songbook, but I also end up picking stuff I haven't practiced for months.

On top of that, my regular acoustic guitar is in the shop — apparently it needs a replacement jack that can only be procured from a rare metal found in the center of the earth, or some other ridiculous sh*t that's causing a simple one-day repair to enter its third week. So I borrowed a beautiful old Gibson from one of my fellow Hustlers. Rarely-practiced tunes. Unfamiliar guitar. All things considered, it was a pretty good night.

Click here to download/stream the set courtesy of Archive.org:

Early set:

Lou-Easy-Ann (J.J. Cale)

Mother's Meth Head Blues*

Garbage Man (M. McKinley)

Dauphine* >

Whiskey River (W. Nelson)

Midnight Special (Leadbelly)

Dark as a Dungeon (M. Travis)

New Mexican Shuffle*

Rain Song No. 3*

Lodi (CCR)

Mystery Train (J. Parker) >

Statesboro Blues v1 > Mystery Train

Late set:

Me and My Uncle (Dead) >

Gris Gris Gumbo Ya Ya (M. Rebennack)

She Wore a Wreath of Roses (T. Bayly)

Third Street Woman (J. Willie Reynolds)

Strange Moon*

It Hurts Me Too (E. James)

I Like It*

Factory*

Magnolia (J.J. Cale) >

Alligator (Dead) > Jam >

Berta Berta (Trad.) >

Slow Train (T. Bruno) > Jam >

Dark Star (Dead) >

Slow Train >

Junco Partner (H. Byrd, var.) >

Deep Elem Blues (Trad.)

*Original

Last Night's Setlist: 9/20/12, Coco Coffeehouse, Leechburg, Pa.

I took the calculated risk of going into last night's gig without any prepared setlist, which is a first for me. Even when I was going to open stages back in the early 2000s, I had a clear idea of what I wanted to play, mostly because of my preference for stringing together suites of songs.

But I wanted to try just flipping through the songbook and sort of following the vibe of the evening. At times, it made for a bit less cohesion, and there was the occasional flub, since as per usual, I was playing songs either for the first time at a gig or the first time in a long time at a gig.

Click here to download/stream the set, courtesy of Archive.org.

Early set:

Anna Begins (Counting Crows)

Big Railroad Blues (Dead)

Drag the Lake, Charlie (Drive-By Truckers)

Lookin' Out My Back Door (CCR)

New Minglewood Blues (Dead)

The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down (L. Helm/R. Robertson)

Dauphine*

Sugar Mountain (N. Young)

I Like It*

It Hurts Me Too (E. James)

Me and My Uncle (Dead)

Late set:

Don't Look No Further (B.B. King)

On a Foggy Night (T. Waits)

Man Smart, Woman Smarter (N. Span)

It Makes No Difference (R. Danko)

Strange Moon*

Little Wing (J. Hendrix)

Third Street Woman (J. Willie Reynolds)

Have Someone Play Dixie For Me (Dry Branch Fire Squad)

In Color (J. Johnson)

Highway 29 (Springsteen)

Rosie (Trad., Varine arr.)

In the Pines (Leadbelly)

New Mexican Shuffle*

Will Ye Go Lassie Go? (Clancy Bros.)

You Can Keep It*

Slow Train (T. Bruno) >

Dark Star (Dead) >

Jam > Dark Star >

Slow Train

*Original

Tonight's Setlist: Books & Beans, Leechburg, Pa., 4/28/11

What's happening in this picture? Well, chances are good

that I'm throwing something at Bob and Joe that we

didn't do in rehearsal. I did that a lot.

For the first time, I was able to get a recent performance recorded. It's an audience recording with a Sony handheld recorder, but it turned out better than I was expecting. Check it out and download it for free at Archive.org.

Set I (Joe on percussion):

Hearts & Bones (P.Simon)

Crazy Fingers (Dead)

You Can Keep It*

Althea (Dead)

Fast Train (S. Burke) >

Breadbox (N. Buffalo) >

Fast Train

New Speedway Boogie (Dead) >

The Other One (Dead) >

Smokestack Lightning (H. Wolf) >

New Speedway Boogie

Eyes of the World# (Dead) >

Trio Drum Jam#

Set II (Joe on keys):

New Mexican Shuffle*

I'll Take a Melody (A. Toussaint)

Scarlet Begonias (Dead)

Big RxR Blues (N. Lewis)

All Along the Watchtower (Dylan)

Quite a Night (in Spain)*

Rain Song No. 3*

Row Jimmy (Dead)

Throwing Stones (Dead)

Feelin' Alright (S. Winwood)

*Original

#Features a random conversation from a couple people who wandered too close to the handheld

The set features Joe Sheehan on percussion (Set I) and keys (Set II) and Bob DiCola on percussion. This was the first time we've played together, outside of a few hours of rehearsal two weeks ago.