“Jeans Tucked in Boots Night” Gruene Hall - January 18, 2003 ~ Tracy What a weekend! Gregg came in from Dallas, Randy came in from Houston – suddenly Team Desolation had a quorum present. We needed to have a meeting anyway, a business meeting about some exciting RK things we are working on. You’ll hear more about that down the road – but if it were me, I’d make sure I was on the DA email list (see above). I’m just sayin’ -- I can't give y'all any more of an obvious hint than that. Friday night, we met Randy and Brian and Matt and Sarah and Brandi after the Steve Earle show. I had been negligently overserved, which I proved at the Red Eyed Fly by playing KISS on the jukebox and scraping my knee after a faux stage dive. Only a Big Bopper from Hut’s could cure my Irish flu on Saturday, so we all reconvened for lunch and to talk a little bidness. A disco nap was required before heading to Gruene Hall for the Reckless Kelly show, and I had no interest What. So. Ever. in any adult beverage tonight.

And now I’ve reached the point of the story: you notice – and remember – so much more when all the faculties are 100% sharpened. I saw all sorts of interesting little details at tonight’s show. Jon Dee Graham was opening. He is a talented musician – I used to see him at the Saxon with the Resentments (Jon Dee, Stephen Bruton, Hal Ketchum, a kind of all-star combo) – but had never seen him by himself. Unfortunately, we missed the first half of his set because we were sitting in the car listening to the radio.

(We’d heard through the grapevine that RK would be on-air at 9:00 pm over at KNBT, the Americana radio station right up the road in New Braunfels. They did a new one called “Everybody Looks Like You” as well as “Walton Love,” and the station played a previously-recorded acoustic track of “Prairie Blues.” We were hoping that Randy’s friend Rolf would be able to tape the broadcast for us so we could bootleg it, but no such luck. They talked about recording in Nashville, and the DJ asked about the themes of the new album. The replies were, “Oh, you know. Being on the road. Chicks. Guns and drugs. The usual.”) Anyway, if you like Tom Waits, you’d love Jon Dee Graham, and you should check him out (though he probably gets tired to catatonia of that comparison).

After not-a-terribly-long wait, Our Boys came out. No Sopranos walk-on, which in retrospect seemed fitting. The show had an overall more-country-than-rock feel. It wasn’t the set list so much as the boys’ sartorial choices and that there were lots of dancers at the Hall. Willy had on a Western shirt which looked like it was really warm (I can spot a synthetic at 100 paces, friends – but at least it never wrinkled), but the piece de resistance was the red boots with black inlay. I think Willy felt really sassy in his outfit; he was doing a lot more footwork, almost dancing around the stage. (By the way, if you haven’t seen Willy in a while, he’s sporting a 60’s sort of bowl cut thing. Y’all can pretend to not care about that stuff, but let’s face it: half of you are chicks, and Inquiring Minds Want to Know.)

It was supposed to be a “Jeans Tucked in Boots” theme all around, Willy said – but only Jimmy followed through. Wusses. Jay had on the Stevie Ray hat, and a Hickory Street Bar & Grill t-shirt of which I tried to snap a good pic (I thought the restaurant might get a kick out of seeing him going to town on the drums, advertising Hickory Street in front of a packed house). Sadly he was too far back, and I’m still working out all the features on my new camera. The set began with one of the new songs “Let’s Just Fall.” Then, yay! As I’d hoped, Jon Dee Graham came back out and sang “Laredo” (which he wrote) with RK backing him. It was spectacular.

“Tommy and Marla” won again (it’s like that song is Willy’s lyrical nemesis or something); “My Baby Worships Me” totally wailed. Maybe the guys were channeling Steve Earle from the night prior? “Baby’s Gone” was especially good too - I remembered right away why it was always such a good closer (‘round about ’98, 99, it was always the last song of the set). Lots of new stuff in the set, as you can probably noticed above. It was my first time to hear “Everybody Looks Like You” live, and I especially liked it, as well as “Williamina” – any time David gets out the lap steel, I’m a goner. If “Williamina” and “Everybody Looks Like You” are indicators, the new album is going to be a nice balance of sweet and wail.

Tonight was also my first night to hear the new arrangement of “Desolation Angels.” I don’t know how I feel about it yet… I mean, it’s good, don’t get me wrong. I knew they’d have to come up with a shorter version (the original wasn’t radio-friendly at all – I think it was 8 minutes long), but I wasn’t looking forward to it. That song is near and dear to me: it was the inspiration for this website. You never want somebody jacking with your muse, you know? But that’s the business, and I understand. Nobody ever wants to be told “The A&R man said ‘I don’t hear a single.’” Still, I’m glad we have a recording of the old version. Oops, did I say that out loud?

Another highlight of the show was “So Lonely”; it was extra-tight and there was this one sort of transcendental moment during the bridge… all five guys were spread across the stage with their eyes closed … and you knew in that one second why this band is so good, why we will move heaven and earth to go see them. They weren’t looking at each other or interacting directly, just in their own zones doing their own thing…. totally connected, and yet these completely separate entities all at the same time, wrapped up in doing their job, playing for us. The set list made me think it would be an all-Dylan encore, but they actually deviated and did a Tom T. Hall song called "Dance With You" and a Gram Parsons tune called “My Uncle” -- which sharp ears will remember they played at the Halloween gig.

We saw all the usual suspects… Team Zack, Gil & Jackie and Laurie, the lovely Kathleen. Noticeably missing was Anne (who’s vacationing) and Jules – who couldn’t get in! Because, guess who sold out Gruene Hall? That’d be Reckless Kelly, friends. Get ‘em now while you can – before you can’t.

p.s. I had to take this picture (below) after the show as we were all milling about – see the girl in the suede jacket? Jazz had just finished AUTOGRAPHING HER BOOB. Swear to God. I saw the whole thing. (I mean, the whole process. Not the nip or anything.) Being a rock star really doesn’t suck, y’all.

Share your thoughts. I can handle the truth.
xoxo, T.

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