you couldnt have asked for a better lineup last night at the earl and in the end it was one of the best shows i have ever been witness to. opener and fellow atlantian, ben trickey’s 45 minute set was stunning in its simplicity. just a man, a guitar and a handful of lovely songs. sadly, ben was only special to the atlanta show, but i definitely cant recommend him enough. justin earle was a huge surprise. not that i expected him to suck, cause i have listened to yuma and its quite good, but i was surprised how engaging he was/is. of course the strength of his set was his songs, which take on new life in a live setting. if yuma was filled with the same life as his live set it would be a totally different recording. the there was the star of the evening, jason isbell backed by his band the 400 unit. not surprisingly he was awesome. my only disappointment was that he failed to play a couple of songs i was really wanting to hear, “decoration day” and “shotgun wedding” to be exact. oh well, other than those two missteps the night was close to perfect. he did bless the crowd with version’s of thin lizzy’s “jailbreak” and the talking heads “psycho killer” which were very cool. he played for just over 2 hours but ended very abruptly with a sonic youth inspired type of guitar feedback freakout. he is touring through the end of august, but only for the next 10 days or so with justin earle but he hooks up with the men of centro-matic in mid august. check his site for upcoming tourdates – the next date is tomorrow in raleigh @ hideaway bbq.

jason isbell site / myspace

dress blues

justin earle myspace

the ghost of virginia

ben trickey site / myspace

explode again

absence

“in a razor town” my favorite track off sirens of the ditch

i have yet to listen to ann arborite, chris bathgate’s debut a cork tale wake but these two tracks are freakin great. very reminiscent of the more haunting richard buckner stuff that can be found on his classic the hill. fans of buckner, okkervil river, and maybe even beruit should take notice for sure.

every wall you own

a flash of light followed by

you can stream the entire record here

chris bathgate site / myspace / quite scientific – label

here is a wonderful live recording of television in portland sometime in 78. the version of marquee moon is absolutely blistering.

1. the dream’s dream

2. elevation

3. glory

4. foxhole

5. little johnny jewel

6. aint that nothing

7. friction

8. marquee moon

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