Wednesday, February 17, 2010

RANDY WEEKS and NOELLE HAMPTON at Jovita's 2-11-10

We found out about this show over the weekend and thought it sounded like a fine double bill. Not to mention, Tony Gilkyson would be sitting in with Randy! It had been a couple of years since I'd seen the two of them together. Tony is one heckuva guitarist.
Randy opened with a one hour set. He had a full band, Tony, Will Sexton on bass, Rick Richards on drums (Ray Wylie Hubbard), the usual stellar lineup you get with everybody in Austin! Also, Mark Hallman played accordion. He is a producer here in town who, back in the 70's, played with Carole King and Dan Fogelberg, to name a few. When I learn stuff like that it blows my mind. And here in Austin, that kind of thing is the norm.
Randy, besides being a great writer, really puts on a fun show. Plays a lot of up tempo songs, I would say. He had people dancing throughout his set. He's a really good guitar player so watching him and Tony together was quite the treat.
Also, doing some harmonizing were members of Sonehoney and Noelle. Unfortunately, you couldn't hear them because of a speaker or something that wasn't working. All I can say is, if you're a live music venue and you're going to have people like this in to play, you should have your act together better. That was frustrating. End of sermon.
Noelle, I'd only seen once before and it was very brief. She sounded good that night so we were looking forward to hearing her again. She's my latest new discovery that #1 I'm embarrassed to think it took me this long to find and #2 glad I finally found! Love, love, love her sound. She has a beautiful voice, rockin' songs, the whole 9 yards. Her husband Andre is her lead guitarist. They are awfully good. You should check her out, the real deal. She has a record called "Thin Line" the above mentioned Mark Hallman produced.
A final treat. Rosie Flores was in the house and Noelle had her up to play "Country Boy!" She tore the place up. It was awesome!
No cover charge, tips only. Insane, I know.
This town is nuts with talent.

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