Will Taylor & Strings Attached with James McMurtry

St. James Episcopal Church, Jan. 14

If there are any pitfalls to the concept of Austin's Strings Attached, it's that Will Taylor's group can at times overwhelm the artists they work with. A match with A-town's feral songsmith James McMurtry, then, posed an interesting question. Would he bland out or would they turn it up and meet him in the middle? A spin of McMurtry's magnificent new album, Childish Things (Compadre), offered an easy answer. On it he's branched out a bit from the guitar, bass, and drums he uses live to include fiddle, organ, and horns, each an important part of Strings Attached. In front of a nearly full church, Taylor's quintet opened the performance with a couple of jazzy originals that flaunted the act's impressive ability to work as an ensemble. McMurtry was then introduced and immediately put any fears to rest by pronouncing half seriously, "Remember, if it's too loud, you're too old." Ringing with tunes from Childish Things and with Strings Attached augmented by Ronnie Johnson, McMurtry's bass player, the altar at St. David's rocked like it seldom, if ever, has before. One thing Taylor's group is best at is bringing out undiscovered nuances from the songs of others, and the String-benders' magic was in full bloom, especially on the two-stepping "Memorial Day" and a jam that approached liftoff in the middle of "Choctaw Bingo." With the church's refined acoustic setting, McMurtry's lyrical genius – his ability to grasp distinct moments of time – was explicit on acoustic versions of the lonesome "Lights of Cheyenne" and fervent "Holiday." The encore, electric protest "We Can't Make It Here," a roaring fiddle fueled freakout, served as the perfect nightcap for a hallowed helping of art and grit.

I found the Strings Attached's performance to be one of the best Austin music experiences I've ever had; talented artists, uniquely arranged songs, in a venue that allows you to focus on the music—not the distractions typical in the club scene. Will has Extra talent all over the stage.. upcoming super soulful Nakia, multi talented John Pointer, and the beautiful Natile Zoe are all singing back up and lead at special moments. World class drums and percussion from Pat Mastelotto and Jason Mckenzie. Shawn Sanders on cello with Steve Zirkle on trumpet and Glen Roach on Bass round out Will's highly ambitious quartet and these guys pack a huge punch so wear proper head gear! Overall the collage mixed with live cameras light show and the church itself mixed in with the performance to give me a feeling I remembered having in the late sixties when the underground all age psychedelic dungeons of Houston Texas forever shaped my mind. And when Phil and the crew did their encore..ARE YOU EXPERIENCED...it was truly one of the best things I have heard in this century. One of the most amazing things happening in this was John pointers unbelievably cool microphone hip hop mouth orchestration..he was doing backwards drums and vocals that sounded like five thousand dollars worth of rack mount gear...keep it up John!!! So do yourself a favor and visit myspace.com/stringsattached or philbrownguitar.com and maybe you can obtain the live recording from this performance...or anything else you can get your hands on!

- Fred Mitchim

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