Rodney Crowell at Freight & Salvage Coffeehouse, April 12, 2022

Freight & Salvage Coffeehouse presents An Evening with Rodney Crowell; Lisa Morales opens Littlefield Room, Freight & Salvage Coffeehouse 2020 Addison Street, Berkeley, CA 94704-1104 USA 7:00 PM, Tuesday, April 12, 2022

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[7:03 PM] {lights down; house announcements; performers out; greetings from LM}

1. [7:06 PM] Veinte Minutos
   [7:10 PM] {banter from LM about her new EP; PR swap to acoustic guitar}
2. [7:11 PM] Suelta Mi
   [7:16 PM] {PR swap to acoustic guitar}
3. [7:16 PM] Sirena
   [7:20 PM] {LM story about Rodney Crowell; LM swap guitars; PR back to guitar}
4. [7:22 PM] Desperately
5. [7:25 PM] I Want the Roses
   [7:29 PM] {LM story #2 about RC; drop PR; add RC}
6. [7:30 PM] Flyin' and Cryin'
   [7:33 PM] {drop RC; add PR: guitar; LM social media yack}
7. [7:34 PM] Freedom
   [7:38 PM] {PR swap back to acoustic guitar (with mid-song return to electric in next)}
8. [7:39 PM] While My Guitar Gently Weeps
   [7:45 PM] {final applause and bows; set ends; break!}

• Lisa Morales: acoustic guitars, vox;
• Paul Ramirez: guitar, acoustic guitar, harmony vox.

[8:01 PM] {lights down}
[8:02 PM] {band out; no introduction}

1. [8:03 PM] Jewel of the South
   [8:08 PM] {EM swap from violin to mandolin}
2. [8:09 PM] Earthbound
   [8:12 PM] {EM swap back to violin}
3. [8:13 PM] Stuff That Works
   [8:17 PM] {applause}
4. [8:18 PM] Still Learning How to Fly
   [8:22 PM] {RC yacks awhile; introduces the next tune as a protest song he wrote with Emmylou}
5. [8:24 PM] The Weight of the World
   [8:30 PM] {EM swap to bouzouki}
6. [8:31 PM] Ashes by Now
   [8:34 PM] {EM swap back to violin}
7. [8:35 PM] Frankie Please
   [8:39 PM] {applause}
8. [8:40 PM] Open Season on My Heart
   [8:43 PM] {RC: long story about being able to laugh at himself now}
9. [8:48 PM] I Don't Care Anymore
   [8:52 PM] {applause}
10. [8:52 PM] Reckless
    [8:55 PM] {applause}
11. [8:56 PM] East Houston Blues
    [8:59 PM] {RC story about hanging out with Guy Clark}
12. [9:01 PM] It Ain't Over Yet (RC/CM/EM)
    [9:06 PM] {RC introduces CM & EM}
13. [9:10 PM] Evangelina (RC/EM)
    [9:14 PM] {applause}
14. [9:15 PM] Dancin' Circles Round the Sun (Epictetus Speaks)
    [9:19 PM] {RC apologies for rescheduling this show from December}
15. [9:21 PM] Something Has to Change
    [9:25 PM] {EM swap to bouzouki}
16. [9:26 PM] Triage
    [9:29 PM] {EM swap back to violin}
17. [9:29 PM] Leaving Louisiana in the Broad Daylight
    [9:33 PM] {applause}
18. [9:33 PM] I Ain't Living Long Like This
    [9:38 PM] {RC: “Who says a folk trio can't rock out?”}
19. [9:39 PM] Till I Gain Control Again
    
    Finale
    [9:44 PM] {RC says that's it for tonight's show, pauses to bask in the applause, then asks for audience requests}
20. [9:47 PM] Many a Long & Lonesome Highway
    [9:52 PM] {applause}
21. [9:53 PM] Glasgow Girl
    [9:57 PM] {RC story about visiting Yeat's grave in Sligo}
22. [9:59 PM] Pancho & Lefty
    [10:03 PM] {show ends; all off after a minute or two; lights up!}

• Rodney Crowell: guitar, acoustic guitar, vox;
• Catherine Marx: keyboards, harmony vox;
• Eamonn McLoughlin: violin, mandolin, bouzouki, lead & harmony vox.

Disaster narrowly averted today when I pulled my tickets out and saw that tonight's concert started at 7 PM instead of 8 as expected. Happily, Ting was already getting herself together, so with some extra hustle we were able to zoom down into Berkeley, park close by the venue, and join the looooong line about eight minutes before the appointed 6 PM door call. In actuality, the house didn't open until nearly quarter past, but the main thing is that we were in the first 100-odd people, so once we passed vax and ticket check a few prime seats remained in the front center section. Whew! Happy happy happy!

The house filled up relatively quickly, and surprisingly, we recognized only a few other patrons. Maybe the majority of ticket buyers were hard core fans of Rodney? Certainly the folks waiting before us were yacking it up about their past experiences seeing him and their hopes to hear this or that favorite song in tonight's show.

It turns out that the show started early was because Rodney brought along an opening act, Lisa Morales, but he didn't want to slide his time slot later into the night. An interesting choice. I guess you're allowed to do that when you get to call the shots! Anyways, I really enjoyed Lisa's set, which began with a few brand tunes in Spanish, then continued with several recent songs in English before concluding with a stone classic, rearranged with a bit of Spanish flavor. Excellent! Tonight she was accompanied on most of the tunes with the blazing guitar work of Paul Ramirez, who did a great job filling in the space around Lisa's self-accompaniment. I bet she'd be even more fun backed by a full band!

After a short break, the house lights dimmed and Rodney took the stage with part of his backing band without any introduction. As he explained later in the show, rescheduling the gig from December came with all sorts of new problems, chief among them being that his regular drummer was out on tour with another band, and in the meantime, his bass player came down with COVID-19. So with only keyboard and violin/mandolin accompaniment, tonight was going to be more of a folk-flavored show than the usual rocking affair. What can you do, the show must go on, right? Vive la difference!

Happily, Rodney was in a pretty good mood and we were treated to a healthy show just over two hours long. I was slightly bummed that we didn't get Stars on the Water (“can't do it without the band” was his excuse), but that was more than offset by the variety of other selections. And they managed to rock out pretty well when that was what the time called for. All in all, another double plus good night at the Freight!

Thanks to the folks contributing to setlist.fm!

Big thanks to Ting for the photo gallery!

Whoa! This section is incomplete for now, sorry!

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2022 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2022 event list! ☸ On to the next event!