Last Train Home again

We had us a musical weekend (yeah, I know that's not written correctly, but it's what I want to say), two nights of Last Train Home. Friday night they came to town to a new restaurant/bar which at this time is more of a bar and the place to be seen, judging by the crowd at the bar that night that shouted louder and louder as the music played and more people yelled. At each other, that is, not the band. We could barely hear the music and we were sitting near the front. My ears hurt from all that screaming, and it was frustrating that we couldn't hear the music well.

The food was great, though, and the prices aren't bad.

We spent the night with my sister who lives in town, which saved us a 45-minute ride home in the middle of the night. Zippy was there and wouldn't sleep with us; he preferred the freedom of the entire house and visiting with Kipper. It was nice to visit a little when I got up the next afternoon; then we drove to Mom and Dad's house for a drop-in and sandwiches before we went to the Saturday night show at Ashland Coffee and Tea; this is a surprisingly unpretentious little place with a full coffee and tea menu plus some food and a wonderful "music listening room" where only whispers are allowed during the show. It holds 150 people with no "standing room only" crowds allowed, the acoustics are decent, and there isn't a bad seat in the house. Too bad it's about 3 hours from home; that's the only real drawback to it, although we spent the night with Mom and Dad and had a nice time visiting the next day.


That show was so much better. There were maybe 100 people there, and there are chairs and tables that you may not move, so it doesn't get crowded.


We got there early enough to be the first people in (not that I was worried about that, not old Obsessive-Compulsive Me), so I chose what I considered to be the best table there. Right up front, next to the tiny stage. Tom went back out to the car and slept for a while, and I sat in there and knit(ted?). I dropped a stitch somewhere on the sole of the sock and didn't see it for a while, and when I did, I couldn't see well enough to pick it up correctly, so there's an odd-looking spot, but it kept the stitch from running and I'm the one who'll be wearing it, so big deal. I used to be enough OCD that I had to fix everything perfectly, but I've kind of gotten over that, if I'm the one it's for.


So anyway, the show was wonderful. There are usually the core group of four, and others mix and match as their schedules allow. In larger venues, there are as many as 11 in the group; most times we've seen them, there have been five or six (you can check their website if you want to see who's who; I'm too lazy, once again, to list them. But they're all damn good. Except I'm just not crazy about having having the trombone in the mix; it just doesn't fit their music that well. Loved the accordian this show.). There were five on Friday night, six Saturday night. People fly in and out all the time, it seems. Steve Wedemeyer used his Blackberry or whatever the hell those things are onstage to check in for his flight home to Houston the next night.

Some of them live in East Nashville (as distinguished from Nashville, which Eric Brace, lead singer, emphasises); one in Houston (or was it Austin? You know me and geography.), one in PA, some in DC. It seems pretty incredible to me that they manage to stay together as a band, what with members living all over the place and flying/driving in to meet the others. They started out in DC and most moved to East Nashville a couple of years ago.

Okay, I'm rambling. It was a good show, a good night. These guys are so good together. It's not a serious show; they joke around, but they don't mess around with their music. That's serious stuff. Go to their website (in case you haven't seen it before or don't know where to find it or something) and listen to the songs they've got there for your listening pleasure. They're not country, although they play a lot of country songs. They're not rock, although their music contains a lot of rock. They're not bluegrass, although, you know. (But three of the members formed the group The Starlighters, which is a bluegrass band.) They're just good.

Take my word for it. Buy their albums. You won't be sorry.