Craigslist came through for me today and I had two nice seats to see Emmylou Harris and the Red Dirt Boys at the recently renovated Paul Masson Mountain Winery. As it turned out, the show was less than half-full, which I found to be quite a surprise, but the new venue is quite a bit larger.
Opening for her was Jimmy Gaudreau and Moondie Klein, who performed a fun 45 minute set with standards from Jimmy Rodgers and others as well as tunes from their new release. Emmylou came out to back them on High Sierra.
After the intermission, Emmylou gave us a very typical blend of old and new, with plenty of sad songs from Jesse Winchester (Songbird), Gillian Welch (Orphan Girl), Townes Van Zandt (Pancho and Lefty), in addition to Blue Kentucky Girl, Red Dirt Girl and more lively stuff from the Louvin Brothers (If I could Only Win Your Love), Buck Owens, Bill Monroe. Shawn Colvin came out for a surprise duet, and Klein/Gaudreau joined her on a Gospel number. There were plenty of my favorites and a touching performance of a song about her father, but she didn’t perform Wheels tonight. She ended her encore with Two More Bottles of Wine.
The sound was very clean and balanced, and the right volume, though there clearly were a few early glitches for the musicians. The new venue is still under construction, but it is comfortable with great sight lines. The only negative was the lighting, which appeared to be done by an uncoordinated junior high student, who wasn’t competent enough to make the AV squad.