The Whitest Thing You Could Possibly Do on Cinco de Mayo
On Saturday, May 5, I did the whitest thing you could possibly do on Cinco de Mayo: went to a live NPR broadcast at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, TN. At least, that's how the comic guest for the evening, Neal Brennan, described the evening, and I tend to agree. The show was "Live From Here,"the revamped version of the formerly-beloved, now-disgraced-because-men-ruin-everything-good "Prairie Home Companion," with host Chris Thile. Now Thile and I go waaaaay back-- he has been my newgrass teen-idol/heart throb since I was a 15 year old little country girl, desperately following after his trio Nickel Creek and searching for affirmation that playing the mandolin was cool (maybe? possibly? no?). My dad even drove me all the way up into yankee territory (aka Roanoke, VA) to participate in a mandolin workshop where Thile taught a master class, played MY mandolin, gave me a hug, and at which I died a thousand happy deaths. That being said, the opportunity to see and hear my mando virtuoso boyfriend redeem my dear, old-timey radio show was nothing less than a dream come true, let alone to do it all on the beautiful and hallowed grounds of the Ryman.
Hearing, seeing, and feeling-- experiencing, I should probably say-- Chris Thile play the mandolin is a revelation each and every time. It's so incredibly rare these days to get your eyes and ears on pure virtuosic talent, the kind that seems so strictly historical, reserved for painters of the High Renaissance and Baroque composers. His art and artistry pours over listeners, and spirits seem to lift and join together on some higher plane. It's transcendence in the truest sense. Whether he's warming up his Music City crowd with an impromptu version of the Tennessee Waltz, playing a Star Wars tribute in belated honor of May the Fourth, or backing up another artist on stage, the way that Thile disappears into the music is captivating and contagious. The house band for the night was impeccable, with the soaring voice and guitar chops of Madison Cunningham as a real stand out of the night for me, in addition to Chris Eldridge, who is FIRE and seems to live together with Thile on whatever alternate musical planet those two inhabit. It was also such fun seeing members of David Rawlings' band sit in with the house band for the evening and watching the joy that collaboration was bringing to the musicians on stage.
Speaking of David Rawlings, he is incredible, his band is incredible, the movement and momentum they bring with their music is electrifying. They make old-time music so effing cool that I can't stand it. And now a question for anyone patient and generous enough to read my musical musings here-- is Gillian Welch taking over for Voldemort as SHE-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named??? I know she's not a force of evil, but of good, but lady came out with her long-time partner Rawlings, stood front and center, played and sang up a storm, and simply went unacknowledged. I was baffled. Somebody in the know please 'splain me this.
Serving as a counterpoint to Rawlings' deep-rooted acoustic set was Courtney Barnett, whom I am not cool enough to have heard much of prior to the show, but who was a stand out in a show full of stand outs. She's a makeup-less, braless wonder and I want to be her. She sings in a way that isn't monotone, but has something of that deadpan quality of a Mitch Hedberg. Her witty yet utterly mundane lyrics, combined with her innovative rhyme schemes and the fact that she deftly finger strums an electric guitar, make her fascinating and left me scouring the internet for more. (I think this NPR Tiny Desk Concert is an excellent introduction to her work.)
My evening at the Ryman was one for the books, and I might actually dare to contradict Brennan in his declaration of the event as the whitest thing you could do on Cinco de Mayo, since he did not seem to taken into consideration our pre-show Chili's skillet queso and Margarita Madness...