Tuesday Night with Two Cow Garage

Sometimes i get lucky.
Lately it seems everything has been going my way. Tuesday night was no exception.

About 2 weeks ago I pulled up the website for Poe's Pub, a cool little bar about an hour from my house. They have some tremendous talent come through their doors, and I try to never miss a show there that I should check out.
I hadn't seen in a show on their list that i wanted to see for a while, and had really missed the place. When I pulled up their calendar of events, I saw a band named "Two Cow Garage". That's not a very common name, and although I had never heard of them, it rang a bell. I had just traded some live shows with one of my regular traders and wondered if I had seen the name on his list, so I went back and looked, and sure enough, he had a show of theirs. I asked him if he knew about them. He said that he didn't personally know them, but heard that they rocked pretty hard, and that they played a cover of Billy Joe Shaver's "Georgia on a Fast Train" on the show he had. His last statement was that if they were playing at one of his favorite bars, he would surely go.

That was good enough in my book, especially since Poe's is in fact one of my favorite bars, and since the show was only $3. What are the chances of just seeing a band name on someone's trade list, and then seeing the band's name on a venue website, and actually remembering it? For me, pretty good I guess--the mind is a terrible thing to waste. I figured it was a sign that I had to go. I immediately started making travel arrangements (meaning, finding someone to go with me). I rounded up 1/2 of the Bills, Bill T., aka The Space Cowboy, (not Bill the Deadhead). He's almost always up for a fun show, especially if it's at Poes. He's been to 2 of the other 3 shows I've seen at Poe's, and likes the place as much as I do. Now we just needed the show to be good.

We headed out around 7, and got to the venue at about 8. We really had no idea what to expect, but were thirsty for some beers, and hungry for some rock. The last time we were at Poe's we saw a great band out of California called "I See Hawks in LA". There were only 12 people in attendance that night, but the Hawks played like they were performing for a full house. We could only hope that the performance this night would be as good (and that, for the band's sake, there would be more fans).

When we got there the place was empty, just like last time. We grabbed a table down in front, and drank a couple beers. After a little while we struck up a conversation with the only other fans that were there; Cool guys--- big music fans---they'd driven over an our to see the show too. They bought a shot of Jager for everyone in there and the band. (Thanks guys!) Then the band came over and started talking to us. Really nice guys. Before I even heard them play a note, I knew I was going to enjoy it. I was talking to the guy next to me about Bare Jr, and two of the guys from Two Cow started talking about how much they like Bare Jr. It's rare that I meet anyone that's even heard of Bare Jr, let alone actually like him, but the two guys from Two Cow talked a good deal about him and his CDs. I knew the show was going to be good.

10 to 15 more people came in before the show started, including my cousin who I had invited out, and when the band came on stage, there were a decent amount of people in the audience. Not as many as the band deserved to have there to witness what was about to take place, but more than a few.

Two Cow Garage started playing and wasted no time getting down to the ROCK. Loud, very loud. I could hardly hear the vocals on the first two songs. But I loved it. High energy, fast, fun songs. Dirty rock and roll, with some country overtones and a bit of punk thrown in as well. Or was it country punk, played with a rock and roll attitude? I don't know. All i know is it was loud. And it rocked. Fun stuff.

The band tore through the first set at a blistering pace. Rockin' out the whole time. At the break, I talked to the band a little more. We discussed our favorite songwriters, and I mentioned Billy Joe Shaver. I had totally forgotten that they did a version of "Georgia on a fast train" until he told me that they had actually recorded a version of it, and that they were fans of Billy Joe. They also were fans of Townes van Zandt and Steve Earle, so they got some more cool points.

The second set was a little looser and i loved every minute of it. They asked for requests, so I asked for "GA".
They said they hadn't played it in a while, but they'd give it a try. Holy Crap. They played the most rockin version of that song I've ever heard. Loud, fast, tremendous. I was blown away. Eddy Shaver (the original guitarist for the song, RIP) would have been proud. The singer forgot the second verse and asked the crowd if anyone knew the next words. Luckily I had been paying attention, so I yelled out the words to him, and he took it from there, finishing it off. Classic.

They also played a smoldering version of Steve Earle's "Here i Am", and Neil Young's "Why do i keep fuckin up". I think there might have been one more Neil song played also, but my memory is a tad fuzzy. I think the rest of their songs were all originals, and all quite solid. (I was so impressed that i purchased both of their CDs afterwards).

The show was great. They are definitely a must-see live band. Check out their website (www.twocowgarage.com) and try to go see them live. They play with a ton of intensity and energy and just flat out rock. I had heard comparisons to the Drive by Truckers and Slobberbone, and they definitely have a little bit of the rock attitude that those 2 bands have. As I sat watching them, i was most reminded of Bare Jr though--- and how rockin those shows are.

Bare Jr is probably the vibe i felt most, maybe because we had talked about it before the show and it was simply on my brain, but maybe because they just love to play. One difference from Bare Jr though is that Bare Jr is kind of a revolving door of characters---- Bobby Bare Jr + whoever else is in the band at the moment. These guys are a band. And they've got it down. They are tight, and they rock.

I realized as I read over this blog that I hadn't seen a real rock show since my TX trip. I like singer/songwriter shows. I can't get enough of them. But sometimes I just need a good old fashioned rock and roll show. With Cracker on Sunday, and then Two Cow tonight, i got a healthy dose of it. And it was good.

Wednesday I hurt. And I hurt bad. To quote Bocephus "The hangovers hurt more than they used to". Mercy. I probably could have done without that Jager shot, or that last pitcher, or those couple of PBRs. It was all part of the rock and roll spirit of the thing though I guess. Thank goodness Bill was driving.

If you're not afraid of the loud, rock and roll country music hybrid, go see these guys. It's an awesome, high energy show.
If your ears are sensitive you might want to bring some earplugs when you see them though.

I couldn't believe how much i enjoyed the show since i didn't know their music and had just heard their name several days before. Sometimes i get lucky.

Blame Cracker

The first time I saw Cracker, I was a freshman in college, and had never been to a club concert in my life. I had seen a handful of concerts (Dylan, Tom Petty, Lynyrd Skynyrd, HORDE tour), but they had all been arena/stadium shows. It was 1994, and I had just discovered them. At this point in time most of my musical tastes were pretty mainstream. Classic Rock, and a little bit of country, the Jayhawks and Steve Earle, and a couple alternative bands. Something about Cracker really connected with me. I really liked the strange, dry sense of humor that the band seemed to have, but the songs weren't jokes---they were good. My friend had just purchased "Kerosene Hat" and we listened to it a ton. They were to play at Trax, my hometown rock and roll club, with an up and coming band called the Counting Crows listed as the opener. We went. And it was great. I loved it. It was unlike anything i had ever experienced. Packed into a club, it was sweaty and dirty, and the music was loud, and everyone there was totally into it. And just like that, I was hooked. Hooked on Cracker. Hooked on concerts. Some folks think i've gone insane with my obsession with music. Perhaps it's true. Blame Cracker. I've seen probably 200 shows since then, and over the years I saw too many shows at Trax to even count. I almost cried when they tore it down-- bastards. I've seen Cracker 10 times, and always have fun at their shows. It'd been about 2 years though since i'd seen them though.

Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven were both playing a relief concert on Sunday outside in Richmond. I had been looking forward to it for weeks for several reasons. 1. Because i hadn't seen a show in weeks. 2. A Sunday afternoon concert sounded fun. 3. There was a rumor of a bar nearby that had $3 PBR pitchers, and since the show was early, we would have time to go there afterwards, and 4. Cracker is one of my favorite bands.

CVB was playing an instore at Plan 9 before the show. I figured that'd be fun to catch, as we'd be closer to the stage probably. We got there a couple minutes late, but the band hadn't started playing yet. While browsing for CDs, I looked over, and there right next to me was Johnny Hickman, from Cracker. Very cool. I talked with him for little. And then CVB came out and sounded great. They played about 30 minutes.

We drank a little bourbon and ate a quick lunch and headed down to Shockoe Bottom after that for the actual show. We showed up just in time for CVB to take the stage. It was a little cold outside, but not bad. The concert layout was not the best. Since it was a benefit show, they had roped off the area in front of the stage, and had rows of seats for people who chipped in an extra $15. Not too many people chipped in the extra, so most of the fans were back behind all the rows. CVB was fun though. I always love hearing the CVB version of "Pictures of Matchstick Men" (featuring violin), after hearing Cracker play it for years. I also got to hear "take the skinheads bowling" twice that day, which was awesome. CVB played a number of songs off of their album, and I really liked them. I think i'll have to get that.

After the Cracker set, we went and drank a little more bourbon with my friend Jen who had come to rock out as well. The bourbon warmed us up. We got back to the stage just as Cracker were setting up. We were looking for a good spot to stand when David Lowery got onto the microphone and said he wanted the VIP area to be opened up, and for all the fans to come on in. He thanked the people that chipped in extra $, and told them that they would get free CDs and posters and stuff after the show, but that Cracker wanted to put on a rock show, so they wanted their to be a rock crowd right in front. That was awesome. Coolest moment of the day. Everyone was all excited, and all the fans moved up front and got ready.

Holy Crap. They rocked hard. Very hard. I loved it. The last couple times i've seen Cracker they played their country stuff, and some other stuff. I like that stuff too, but sometimes I'm just in the mood for rock. And lots of it. Sunday was almost all rock. It was awesome. The highlight for me was "Another song about the rain", which I don't think i've ever seen them play live. They played for about an hour, and seemed to be having a great time on stage. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Cheers to David Lowery for letting all the fans come up in the roped off area. That made a big difference.

It was a fun day of music. Afterwards we found the supposed bar with the cheap PBR. The price had gone up: it was now $4 for a pitcher. That was still a good deal, so we got a couple and then headed home.

The end.