Archive for November 10th, 2008

November 10, 2008 – Romantica and Carrie Rodriguez

It’s been a good, rare run of music lately.  Tonight we saw Romantica for the first time – I wasn’t familiar at all with the band, but they were quite good – anytime you’ve got a lad from Belfast as a lead singer, a bass player in dreadlocks, and pedal steel guitar in a Western shirt, you’ve got yourself something you won’t hear on top 40 radio. It was a Monday night, so it was a thin crowd, so we were able to sit in the front row.

The band lives in St. Paul now and their latest album was listed in the top 60 albums of the year by Paste magazine.

Romantica – The National Side

Their latest video is just above.

The main act was Carrie Rodriguez, fiddle player extraordinaire, who played this gig with just an upright bass player and lead guitar.  Carrie mostly played fiddle, but here she’s got a 4-string tenor guitar.  She also played a 4 string electric guitar.  You just can’t move those fiddle players up to six strings. Carrie is one half of the duo of one of my “desert island” CDs Red Dog Tracks with Chip Taylor.

Here’s a clip from her recent appearance in Austin City Limits.  Turns out her stepfather was a former Iowa State student back in the day, so she was interested in poking around campus.  They played at the Maintenance Shop on campus, a great venue that has a history of booking great underground and up and coming artists.  It won the W.C. Handy award a few years ago as best Blues Venue in the US.  Since we moved from Ames, I don’t think we’ve been to a show there, but when I heard Carrie was playing, we were there!

one year ago…”You’re Invited to Watch a House Burn Down”.