My Wednesday night in Charlottesville was a busy one.  I had already planned on making it a late night, what with Keith Morris & The Crooked Numbers and special guest Panter Burn performing at The Box (which started at 10pm on a school night), but what I hadn’t planned on was a last minute opportunity that arose to go see B.B. King at the Pavilion.  It was a full night indeed and one jam packed with great music.  That’s not to say that I didn’t pay for it on Thursday, but sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do.

I had never seen B.B. King perform before so I have to admit that this was really a great last minute addition to my night.  As a music fan you always hope to get a chance to see one of the legends perform live and there is no denying that B.B. King is a legend.  Sure he’s getting up there in age (he’s 82 years old) and there’s no denying that Lucille (his trusty guitar) sits in King’s lap silent more than she gets played, but know this:  B.B. King is still an incredible performer and both vocally and musically he can still dig down deep and belt out the blues.

[B.B. King photo by L.Ann]

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The show began with B.B.’s touring band taking the stage and warming the crowd up with a couple of high energy instrumentals (with a full horn section) before the King himself walked on stage and took his seat front and center.  The show’s set list included the expected favorites including “When Love Comes to Town”, “Why I Sing the Blues”, “Rock Me Baby” and of course “The Thrill is Gone”, but musically I thought King’s rendition of “Blues Man” was the evening’s highlight.

Throughout the show the crowd rose to their feet to show their appreciation for the blues great and when B.B. and his band launched into “You Are My Sunshine” and the show closing “When the Saints Go Marching In”, the audeince sang along as many danced in the aisles.  What made the show even more enjoyable were all the stories that King told throughout the evening, in particular the running theme on the differences between women and men that was interwoven throughout the last half of the evening’s concert. 

B.B.’s advice fellas is to keep the vodka close by, because it could come in handy when you’re with that special someone.  My advice is that if you haven’t seen B.B. King live you need to do so.  They don’t call him the King of the Blues for nothing.

I should add that the real magic of B.B. King is that he still loves to perform.  For a man who recorded his first record in 1949 and continues to hit the road to peform over 200 shows a year some sixty years later, B.B. King shows no signs of calling it quits anytime soon.  As a matter of fact be looking for a brand new album later this month, as B.B. teams up with producer T-Bone Burnett for record entitled One Kind Favor. 

The album will feature a collection of cover songs from the early artists that influenced King’s music, including cuts that were originally recorded by Lemon Jefferson, Big Bill Broonzy, and T-Bone Walker.  From what I’ve read the studio conditions where the album was recorded were reproduced to give the album the sound and feel of the blues albums recorded in the early 1950’s.  It should be a good one!  One Kind Favor hits stores on August 26th.

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So that was Part 1 of the evening.  As it would turn out, the B.B. King show let out just in time for hevenerlee and I to walk up the Downtown Mall and not miss a minute of Panther Burn and Keith Morris and the Crooked Numbers at The Box.  In many ways this show was the highlight of the evening as not only did we run into some really good friends but we were also introduced to the music of Panther Burn and got a chance to see some of our favorite Candyapolis songs performed live for the first time by Keith Morris and his merry band of music makers.

This was also the first time I’d been to The Box to see live music, although I had seen a couple shows there when the place was home to Atomic Burrito.  And just on the off chance you’ve never been there, they don’t call it The Box for nothing.  If you’re not a fan of being in close proximity to your fellow man, then this may not be the place for you.  Otherwise, just dive in, slither through the crowd, and if the opportunity arises, crawl your way into a seat at the bar and have a great time.

Panther Burn took the stage somewhere around 11pm and if memory serves they were a five piece with a female fiddle/accordion player, a drummer who was almost sitting outside in a back corner door, Paul Curreri sitting in on guitar, Aaron Farrington on bass, and Phil St. Ours on guitar and vocals.  Take notice of the big black cat folks, because Panther Burn is damn good.  Phil’s vocals were delivered as an almost rough sounding yell (which I dig) and while I couldn’t make out most of the lyrics because of all the sound bouncing off the walls, the songs themselves were fantastic. 

I couldn’t put my finger on it then and still can’t quite do it now either, but these guys reminded me of some music artist I can’t recall so I’ll say this:  Imagine the Talking Heads as a garage band and you’re getting close to Panther Burn.  Go see ‘em!  Seriously.  Go.

But for me, the highlight of highlights was what followed, as we move from the garage band to the garage man.  I say garage man because Keith Morris was sporting a stylin’ mechanic’s work shirt (where can I get one of those?) as he and his band the Crooked Numbers closed out the night.

The front window wall of The Box was packed tight with musicians as Keith brought a full ensemble including keyboards, drums, and bass in addition to Mr. Curreri once again on guitar, Wes Swing on fiddle, Jeff Romano on harmonica, and Jennifer Morris on vocals.  If Lyle Lovett didn’t already have firsts on the title, you could almost call it Keith Morris and his Large Band.

Even if I hadn’t been able to make out the lyrics to these songs (which I could) I still would have sang along to almost every word.  Of course it helps that I’ve heard most of the tunes from the evening’s set list close to the thirty times thanks to repeated listening’s of Keith’s debut album Songs from Candyapolis.  I heard all my favorites including “Candy Apples”, “Billie Weir’s Dress”, “Baby Saves World”, and the Daniel Johnston cover “Casper the Friendly Ghost”.  But I’m gonna have to say that hearing Jennifer Morris sing the yet to be released “Waltzing With Me” was the highlight of the night.  That gal sure can sing!

It was a real treat to finally see these songs performed live and I don’t think there wasn’t one moment when I didn’t have a smile on my face throughout the show (except when the bartender made a foolhearty attempt to take away my half-full beer.  To be honest he was only giving me a hard time but I kept my eye on that guy…he’s crafty).  Keith Morris is one of my favorite local singer/songwriters around town and you’d be doing yourself a favor by checking out his live show.  And if you get a chance tell him you heard it here.

That’s my evening in a rather large nutshell.  I closed down the Pavilion, I closed down The Box, and I still had time left in the evening to head over to C&O to grab a last call shot of Patron.  Curses upon you agave and your intoxicating spirits.  Needless to say I slept like a baby but awoke feeling like a bar of soap after a hard day’s washing (that’s my way of saying I felt a little rough around the edges).  Curses indeed but it was well worth it.

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