Swamptooth Live Again

Swamptooth, Live, Again
Old Torrance Coffee & Tea
Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Songs performed:

1. It Hurts Me Too
2. Big Tin Truck
3. The Dark End of the Street
4. Billy (with Mike Munoz on lead acoustic and backing vocal, and Eddie G on percussion)
5. Sand and Foam
6. The Ballad of Geraldine

 Details:

I launched straight into "It Hurts Me Too" with no introduction.  I explained it as an Elmore James song.  Did it in C, with a G harmonica, played cross-harp.  I was very happy with this one, having learned it a few days earlier and practiced quite a bit.  I did the whole show "unplugged," that is with only a single microphone for amplification.  I had a bad experience with my guitar plugged in the previous time, and didn't want to risk it.

"Big Tin Truck" was my own song, but played like the Black and Blue High Desert Mystery arrangement.  Well, without the band.  What I mean is that I sang the Munson words in the bridge.  I dedicated this song to Wayne Davis, the resident truck driver and country singer, but he wasn't there to hear it.  He had the flu or something.

"The Dark End of the Street" I introduced as a Motown song turned country, which I had just learned this week.  However I was called out on it, because it was in actuality a stealth Gram Parsons cover, a fact I readily confirmed.  For some reason, my voice is well suited to this one.  I took another turn on my G harmonica, for the third song in a row. 

Mike M. and Eddie G, backing band for "Billy."

"Billy" was the most fun.  They asked me to do another song, and I said OK, I had one, an "old west number" but it really needed percussion.  A guy called Eddie G was summoned to the stage.  While he tracked down his box (actually a flamenco percussion instrument called a cajon), I started the long instrumental lead in to the song.  Eddie was like, "is this it?" thinking I might just be warming up, but I just nodded and he started playing.  The percussion really added a lot, and we nestled right into a groove that could have just gone on and on.  Things were cool until I started to sing the first verse "There's guns across the river aimin atcha," and then the crowd really came alive as they recognized the song, much to my surprise, cheering, and Mike Munoz (the "house" musician) grabbed his guitar and joined us to do the acoustic lead.  The song lasted at least five or six minutes, probably longer, as I stretched to remember all the different verses from three different recordings on the Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid soundtrack.  But rather than get stale, "Billy" continued to steadily build in excitement right up to the end.  It wasn't perfect, as I dropped the beat once, and also stepped on Mike's guitar solo by breaking in to early for the "Guitars will play your grand finale" verse, but these faults were hardly noticeable.  (I realized afterward I had the words wrong, it is supposed to be "gypsy queens," not "guitars.")  We got such a response that I knew I had to leave the stage, 'cause I couldn't follow it.

The owner of the place sent me out a coffee, high praise indeed for this venue. I overheard him say, "I know what soundtrack I am going to listen to tonight!"  Cool, I must have struck a nerve with that one.

Later on, a guy named Richard closed his set with Donovan's "Catch the Wind."  Galvanized, I went on for a second time and did "Sand and Foam," which I pulled off very convincingly, but with less response than I would have hoped for.  Then somebody asked if I knew a song called "Geraldine."  This was a request that I never thought I'd get, and I didn't waste it.  I had to fish for my capo, but then I launched straight into it.  It must have seemed like I knew every obscure folk song from the sixties.  However, my version of "The Ballad of Geraldine" was not totally pure, veering slightly into "Boots of Spanish Leather" as my fingers took on a will of their own.  Not bad though. Afterwards I talked to the guy who requested it; his name turned out to be Neil; he is a young blues harmonica player.  He had never been able to find anyone who could play that song until then.

This was a really fun show, and I was very glad I did it, especially because I almost flaked at several points leading up to it.  Matt took me to task afterward for not inviting him, but in reality, I wasn't sure I would actually play, even while I was sitting there five minutes beforehand.  I made sure to invite Matt to the next one.