{"id":3181,"date":"2016-11-19T12:31:35","date_gmt":"2016-11-19T12:31:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/?p=3181"},"modified":"2016-11-19T12:35:38","modified_gmt":"2016-11-19T12:35:38","slug":"billy-bragg-joe-henry-at-nottingham-playhouse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/blog\/2016\/11\/billy-bragg-joe-henry-at-nottingham-playhouse\/","title":{"rendered":"Billy Bragg & Joe Henry at Nottingham Playhouse"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"51fkkfmxi6l-_ss500\"<\/em><\/p>\n

This is a slightly revised and extended version of my original review<\/a> in the Nottingham Post with setlist.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

Interesting to see this joint tour in the 700 seater Playhouse (where it sold out at lightning speed) rather than Billy Bragg\u2019s usual haunt, Rock City. It suggests that this is a sit-down show, suited to a contemplative audience.<\/p>\n

And so it proves. Bragg is accompanied by old friend Joe Henry. He\u2019s best known here as a producer (Aimee Mann, Allen Toussaint), but is primarily a prolific singer\/songwriter. The duo have made a concept album, Shine a Light, mostly recorded in railway stations. The pair fit well together. They\u2019d need to, in close proximity on those notoriously empty US trains. \u201865 hours, 3,000 miles.\u2019<\/p>\n

Two sets of railroad songs bookend solo slots from each performer. They\u2019re chosen, Joe Henry tells us, not for nostalgia, but because the songs still have something to say to us. The best is by Leadbelly, whose In The Pines (aka Where Did You Sleep Last Night) was famously covered by Nirvana. The least successful is Gordon Lightfoot\u2019s Early Morning Rain, which suits neither man\u2019s voice.<\/p>\n

The chat between the songs is as important as the songs themselves. It\u2019s the story of a journey more than a standard gig and the Playhouse is an ideal, intimate venue. I particularly liked the story of their recording a Jimmy Rodgers song in the room where Alan Lomax recorded the legendary Robert Johnson (Room 414 of the Gunter Hotel, San Antonio), then finding that Rodgers had lived in the hotel too.<\/p>\n

Good to hear Rock Island Line and Midnight Special done live. The railroad material was fun, but, for me, the highlights were a solo song by each man.<\/p>\n

Henry apologised for Trump. \u2018It is where we are. It isn\u2019t who we are.\u2019 His finest performance was Our Song, a story about America told with Randy Newman-like precision at the piano. He finished the first half with a tribute to Allen Toussaint, a lovely version of Freedom For The Stallion.<\/p>\n

Billy Bragg stopped Between The Wars early, breaking from the line \u2018sweet moderation\u2019 into Help Save the Youth of America. He made several cracks about \u2018the unintended consequences of Brexit\u2019 (Trump being the biggest). He was most on the money when he talked about how we deal with mass migration being the question that will decide what history makes of us. The song from him that struck the strongest chord was a cover of Anais Mitchell\u2019s Why We Build the Wall from the album, Hadestown<\/a>. The enemy, we’re told is poverty, and poverty is on the other side of the wall. This used to be a song from an opera about the devil, now it’s a description of the state of the U.S.A.<\/p>\n

The Post requested a setlist but didn’t use it, so see below. But before looking at that, listen to this version<\/a> of Why We Build The Wall (a minute in) The original<\/a> is also on YouTube.<\/p>\n

Setlist<\/p>\n

Billy Bragg & Joe Henry<\/p>\n

Railroad Bill<\/p>\n

The L&N Don’t Stop Here Anymore<\/p>\n

John Henry<\/p>\n

In the Pines<\/p>\n

Waitin’ for a Train<\/p>\n

Early Morning Rain<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Joe Henry<\/p>\n

Trampoline<\/p>\n

After The War<\/p>\n

God Only Knows<\/p>\n

Our Song<\/p>\n

Freedom for the Stallion<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Billy Bragg<\/p>\n

Between the Wars<\/p>\n

Help Save the Youth of America<\/p>\n

Accident Waiting to Happen<\/p>\n

Why We Build the Wall<\/p>\n

There Is Power in a Union<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Billy Bragg & Joe Henry<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Railroading on the Great Divide<\/p>\n

Lonesome Whistle<\/p>\n

Rock Island Line<\/p>\n

Hobo’s Lullaby<\/p>\n

Midnight Special<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Encore:<\/p>\n

Gentle on My Mind<\/p>\n

Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You<\/p>\n

Ramblin’ Round<\/p>\n

www.davidbelbin.com<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is a slightly revised and extended version of my original review in the Nottingham Post with setlist. Interesting to see this joint tour in the 700 seater Playhouse (where it sold out at lightning speed) rather than Billy Bragg\u2019s usual haunt, Rock City. It suggests that this is a sit-down show, suited to a contemplative audience. And so it proves. Bragg is accompanied by old friend Joe Henry. He\u2019s best known here as a producer (Aimee Mann, Allen Toussaint), but is primarily a prolific singer\/songwriter. The duo have made a concept album, Shine a Light, mostly recorded in railway stations. The pair fit well together. They\u2019d need to, in close proximity on those notoriously empty US trains. \u201865 hours, 3,000 miles.\u2019 Two sets of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-songs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3181"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3181\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3186,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3181\/revisions\/3186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}