Photos by Thoma Roberson Parker/Artnmotion
TAXI, TAXI ! 3rd & Lindsley please, and STEP ON IT! I didn’t want to miss a note on this one, ’cause I had an advance copy of Step On It. On a rainy night in Nashville, seven veteran players who call themselves Big Shoes were performing their entire record and they had invited some of their friends to help them celebrate. When you carry the resumés these Shoes do (Bonnie Raitt, Levon Helm, Bobby Blue Bland, Van Morrison, etc.), you know what kind of friends they have.
They did not disappoint. Superbly playing the CD’s 11 very strong original songs before an enthusiastic crowd, they took five before returning to the stage to shine more light on their individual members. Newest Shoe, Bryan Brock, (Leonard Cohen, Dr Dre, Frankie Valli) stopped the show with a conga solo that left the audience wondering how his hands were still attached. Keyman Mark T. Jordan and guitarist Will McFarlane teamed up to do Mark’s tune “Two Lives,” one they both played more than once during their days with Bonnie Raitt. Then it was time to bring out their friends: Jeff Dayton (Glen Campbell), Nashville session and backup singer Vicki Carrico, (Brenda Lee, Dottie West), Jack Pearson,(Allman Brothers, Vince Gill, Delbert McClinton and dozens more), wildman Webb Wilder, who did his “Human Cannonball,” blues shouter and tunesmith Kenneth Wright, Nashville legend Danny “Tulsa Time” Flowers, John Prestia (Lucinda Williams, Tim McGraw), Kevin McKendree(Lee Roy Parnell, Brian Setzer, John Oates, more), and—no stranger to Elmore readers—blues veteran Shaun Murphy (Eric Clapton, Bob Seeger, Little Feat, etc.). Just when you thought it couldn’t get anymore intense, Shaun gave the weather report by singing “Feels Like Rain,” which blew the roof off the joint. Jack Pearson came out and traded guitar licks with McFarlane that raised the heat enough to keep the roof suspended like a beautiful hot air balloon.
Big Shoes started five years ago, as a tribute band to Little Feat. They closed with their Feat Shure Medley that had every one playing and everything shaking. In the middle of “Tripe Face Boogie” it all came to an instant stop as Mr. Jordan calmly played a mini impromptu piano recital that allowed you to catch a breath before—without missing a beat—the entire band came in and resumed, to boogie on.
—Ken Spooner
Be the first to comment!