Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Chris Thile and Michael Daves Rock the Rockwood, Again


Chris Thile and Michael Daves tore it up at the Rockwood once again. This time, the presence of a professional video camera and Phish bassist Mike Gordon (his gray-haired mop in the foreground) standing amongst the over-capacity crowd at this cozy club in Manhattan's Lower East Side seems to have spurred the duo to new heights. Or perhaps it was the result of continued collaboration and a growing symbiosis between the two shred-meisters, carrying on the tradition of the close-harmony brother acts of yore, as they honor and redefine classic bluegrass, honky tonk, and fiddle tunes such as: "Blue Night," "Rabbit in a Log," "The First One to Love You, "Loneliness and Desperation," "Little Girl in Tennessee," "Darlin' Corey," "Sweet Little Miss Blue Eyes," "Cold Rain and Snow," "Molly and Tenbrooks," and fiddle tunes like "Fisher's Hornpipe," "June Apple," "Arkansas Traveler," Uvpick's Waltz, Billy in the Lowground, and Back Up and Push. For more photos check em here. Chris and Michael's unannounced gigs around Manhattan may take a break while Chris goes on tour with his new bluegrass supergroup, The Punch Brothers, but you can always catch Michael every Tuesday night at the Rockwood. I've seen him play numerous times now, in addition to taking lessons from him every other week, and his music never gets old, even though it's plumbed from the depths of a country music landscape long gone.