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Tramps, New York, Nov. 20, 1998
When Junior Brown loped on stage in his familiar white cowboy hat and brown suit, 'Big Red' was waiting for him. |His celebrated cherry guit-steel -- half guitar, half lap steel -- stood on a pole adjusted just for his height, a promise in itself of the thrills in store for the mixed bag of enthusiastic Yanks and Southern transplants. "Listen to that crowd!" the guitarist said as he looked around, and he was right -- they were loving him before he'd even played his first note.
Having taken stock of his surroundings, Brown and his tight three-piece backing band -- wife Tanya Rae on rhythm guitar, Steve Layne on stand-up bass, and Buddy Miles seated at a single snare drum -- warmed up the crowd with the winding rhythms of "Long Walk Back to San Antone" from his latest album, Long Walk Back. His voice was warm as he crooned deeply, and his familiar mug maintained a country gentleman's dignity. Having strolled across Texas, he boogied over to Hawaii with the delightfully frantic "Rock-a-Hula Baby," a campy slice of clam-baked rockabilly closer in feeling to Frankie and Annette than to Elvis.
As a stylist, Brown has several personalities -- one for bluesy honky-tonk, one for straight-up country, one for slow weepers, and one to cover his surf jones, and he colors them all with manic glee. It's hard to sit still or to find fault with his standout honkabilly fare -- especially "My Wife Thinks Your Dead" and "Venom Wearin' Denim." During the latter, he picked and grinned his way back and forth from guitar to steel and back again with rapid-fire intensity.
"Read 'Em and Weep," a familiar country woe-is-I ditty, didn't come off as well. It's a perfect song for sitting at home with the blues, but in a packed club where jaded New Yorkers have turned into two-steppin' wannabes, it was a bit of a party crasher. Perhaps noticing that the crowd was backing off, Brown launched into the livelier "Highway Patrol" before anyone could reach the bar.
Brown kept the energy flowing by stepping back to allow drummer Buddy Miles a turn in the spotlight. But Miles nearly stole the show. With his lonesome snare and brushes, Buddy called out, "Are you ready for the blues?" "Sassified" and purring like a big ol' tomcat, Miles grabbed the audience by the cajones and nearly topped Luther Vandross in the sex-appeal category. "Does this song make you feel alright?" he asked at the end. By coppin' a feel, by God it did.
It was a hell of an act to follow, but Brown still had his "Surf Medley" up his sleeve. A stunning showcase that answers the question, "What if Hendrix fronted the Ventures?", the number found Brown nailing harmonics even when it seemed that he didn't know where he wanted to go. Only once did a pedal get away from him, but with his big, goofy smile and a surprised "whoops!", the slip-up only added to the fun of the moment. Hot chops don't amount to much in a live setting without a genuine flair for pure entertainment to back them up, and much like his guit-steel, Junior Brown the performer is a double-threat.
Given that the crowd was primed for a Junior-style rave-up, ethereal opener Allison Moorer might have been a lamb thrown amongst lions, or, in the words of the fragile Willie Nelson classic she covered, an "Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground." But even while seeming a little out of place, Moorer positively glowed on stage, and the crowd was remarkably attentive as her strong voice cut through the room with "Long Black Train" and "Alabama Song." And with "A Soft Place to Fall," her gorgeous song of infidelity from The Horse Whisperer soundtrack, she more than proved her right to Junior's kudos as "aserious piece of business."
MARIAN MONTGOMERY(November 25, 1998)