LOCATION: Canal Street Tavern, Dayton, OH
LINEUP: Karin, Linford, Mickey Grimm, Jake Bradley
REVIEW BY:
My wife and I saw Karin, Linford, and the boys at the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago on November 24. We had front-row seats, just right of center. It was an outstanding show -- even my sife, who hasn't been a fan, enjoyed it a lot.
The opening act was Griffin House, who did a nice set. He had a friend playing piano and some guitar with him, but I didn't really catch his name. He's a little raw, but he has a good, accessible stage presence.
Karin and Linford and the guys came out wearing formal eveningwear, for reasons they never explained. (Although the guys were mostly wearing running shoes to go with their suits.) The Mickey Grimm was just a whole lot of fun, especially on the Spike Jones-type stuff like Don't Wait for Tom and Who'm I Kidding But Me. Karin and Linford were sterling, as always. As you may recall, I think Karin may be the best singer on the planet, and Linford is a truly great pianist. He's not that flashy, but what he does makes every song better. He's the same way when he plays guitar. I think he just has a gift for music, and he has a great instinct for what's needed. If he wasn't playing with the greatest singer on earth, he'd probably be a critically-acclaimed singer-songwriter like Bruce Cockburn or Richard Thompson. But he usually doesn't sing, and when he does it's usually only as one of two or three harmony parts to Karin's lead.
They did a few Christmas songs -- ones they wrote -- since this was the first show of their Christmas tour. Otherwise they did a mix of stuff from their recent albums. Nothing older than the Ohio album, as far as I can remember. Karin was pretty talkative, as was Linford, as he always is. They were very happy to be there -- Karin said the Old Town School is always a good place to play because the staff there are so professional and nice to them. Karin and Linford were both telling stories and jokes and tweaking the band members and crew and each other, and often setting up songs with goofy comments.
In all, as I say, it was a great show. I think OtR are the best band/group/combo/duo/whatever
working right now. Hard to believe I grew up in the county just west of
where they grew up!