Concert Reviews
Here is just a sampling of the many reviews in each issue of Dirty Linen.
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Bill Miller Trio
Lake of the Torches Resort & Casino,
Lac du Flambeau, WI
May 5, 2000
Mohican Northstar Casino, Bowler, WI
May 6, 2000

Bill Miller recently returned to the place where his music began with a series of tour stops in his native northern Wisconsin. Miller, playing acoustic guitar, flutes, and harmonica, was accompanied on stage by Hans Mayer (electric bass, flute, percussion) and Joshua Yudkin (keyboards). Both are longtime musical compatriots, having appeared on several of Miller's albums. Miller often performs solo and the presence of the other two musicians on stage allowed him room to improvise as they skillfully filled the space around his notes.
At Lac du Flambeau, Miller set a peaceful tone for the evening by playing first one, then two flutes simultaneously while Mayer joined with his own flute. The trio then launched into a passionate version of Miller's trademark song, "Reservation Road."
Miller reflected on his career in music, which began in Wisconsin 25 years ago, and on his recent win at the Native American Music Awards, where his self-released album Ghostdance garnered five trophies. The album's title track was a hard-driving highlight of the show. Reaching deep into his catalog of songs, Miller also performed several old favorites, including "Trail of Freedom" and "Tumbleweed."
Miller's widely varied musical influences were represented in the covers he chose to play. Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower" proved a natural segue from his own traditional song "Praises," the Rolling Stones' "Wild Horses," and a blistering version of Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues," which closed the show.
The following evening's performance at the Mohican Northstar Casino had an entirely different atmosphere. The casino, which is operated by the Mohican Nation, is situated just off the Stockbridge-Munsee Indian Reservation, where Miller grew up. Driving toward the casino on County Highway A, the road cuts through the lower portion of the reservation. Passing small, neatly-kept homes, family farms, and endless miles of pine, the realization dawns that this two-lane blacktop is the "Reservation Road." Miller was coming home.
Miller's set was made brief by the fact that he was opening a sold-out show for country legend Willie Nelson. He made the most of his time allotment, however, and rose to the challenge presented by a roomful of someone else's fans. While Miller's set list remained largely unchanged from the previous night, he delivered perhaps his most powerful message between songs, rejecting politically correct labels and encouraging his audience to recognize their "interdependence" on one another.
Although impatient for the main act to begin, Nelson's faithful were attentive and afforded Miller their respect. By the time he was through, what seemed an odd combination at the outset of the evening made perfect sense to many of Nelson's fans.
— Annette C. Eshleman (Lancaster, PA)

Maire Ni Chathasaigh and Chris Newman
North Carolina Museum of History,
Raleigh, NC
March 18, 2000

Several years ago now, Maire Ni Chathasaigh breathed new life into the Irish harp, taking the dance tunes usually heard on fiddle, flute, and pipes and translating them deftly onto the wire-strung Irish harp. Her musical partnership with guitarist Chris Newman has produced lots of excellent music. On a Sunday afternoon in March, they played at the auditorium of the Raleigh Museum of History, a delightful space large enough to accommodate a couple hundred people and yet intimate enough not to overwhelm a duo onstage. The acoustics and sound engineering were excellent throughout. For two plucked, stringed instruments, a harp and a guitar, it is surprising how much musical variety can come.
The first set, for example started with "The Gander in the Pratie Hole" with Ni Chathasaigh playing lead, adding ornaments, and laying down a bass line, with Newman playing chord backup. It switched to "Donnybrook Boy," with Newman picking lead and Ni Chathasaigh playing arpeggios for backup. Then the lead switched back to Ni Chathasaigh as they moved into "Queen of the Rushes," and the set closed with both playing lead. Although most of the music was Irish, they followed the first set with a very bluesy rendition of "Old Joe Clark" and later a bluegrassy "June Apple."
Naturally, with a harp there have to be some O'Carolan tunes, and indeed there were: "Eleanor Plunkett" and "George Brabazon." These, and other slow pieces, were a remarkable blending of the tonalities of the two instruments. "Roisin Dubh" as a harp solo demonstrates that there really is no instrument with the resonance and sheer musical power of a harp. Emphasizing Ni Chathasaigh's agility on the strings and the tuning levers, the duo launched into "The Eclipse," a fiendishly chromatic tune by J. Scott Skinner. Ni Chathasaigh is a fine singer, as well, with a grand voice and a more trained style than one usually hears in folk music. Her versions of "The Verdant Braes of Skreen" and Eddie Butcher's "Don't Come Again" were delightful, sung against dense tapestries of sound provided by the multitude of strings. Newman is a hilarious cut-up on stage, full of self-deprecating wit and stories, but it is his stunning skill with a pick that is most amazing. Most of his work was in standard or drop-D tuning, and he is a great flatpicker and an imaginative accompanist.
To close, they chose another set of Scottish tunes, including the death-defying Skinner tune, "The Acrobat." Ni Chathasaigh and Newman are brilliant musicians and excellent performers, and with the sonorous tones of the harp, especially, a team that should be enjoyed live, if at all possible.
— Bruce E. Baker (Chapel Hill, NC)

Remembering Woody:
A Texas Tribute to Woody Guthrie
The Paramount Theater, Austin, TX
April 6, 2000
You might not at first associate Woody Guthrie with Texas. He did spend part of his teenage years and early 20s in the panhandle town of Pampa, and as his son Arlo revealed at this concert, the family was originally from the Lone Star State. It was Guthrie's creative legacy as much as his geographical one that officials with Texas Folklife Resources and the Texas branch of NARAS had in mind when they planned this celebration, though. Eight Texas singers and songwriters were invited to perform some of their favorite Guthrie tunes. Jimmy LaFave led off the evening with a soulful bluesy version of "Oklahoma Hills," and country singer Darden Smith hit both the dark and lighter sides of Guthrie's vision with "Vigilante Man" and "Ship in the Sky." Jimmie Dale Gilmore, remarking that "this guy has had more influence on me than anyone else in music," played Guthrie's working poor ballad "Do-Re Mi," while his son Colin took a lighter and lesser known story of childhood, "Yonder in a Minor Key." Joe Ely, Monte Warden, and Sara Hickman added individual interpretations of their favorites, but it was Mary Cutrufello who brought the audience to its feet for a standing ovation with her heartfelt blues interpretations of "Got No Home in This World" and "Slipknot." Several brief films about Woody's life followed, and then Arlo and his son Abe took the stage. Arlo proved to be as funny and irreverent a raconteur as his dad was, and offered several Texas related songs, backed by Abe on keyboards and his own guitar. Then all the artists joined together for heartfelt singing of "This land is Your Land," trading lead and harmony and showing their own styles while creating a vivid ensemble version of the song.
— Kerry Dexter (Tallahassee, FL)