I'm just sayin', is all...

I had a successful "reunion" concert with Scott Vernon on drums last night. He was sharp, as usual, and it was great to play together again after a few weeks apart. We played a mix of tunes from Evergreen, the impending Carpenter's Gothic, and the recently recorded Mighty Grace. A good time was had by all, I guess, et cetera.But what I'm really thinking about today is the Ben Harper and Jack Johnson concert I took in on Monday.

Notwithstanding the hour and twenty minutes it took to get into the Molson Ampitheatre, it really was a tremendous show. Carpentry, in fact- by which I mean, music made by building simple frames of words and melodies on top of a solid rythmic foundation, without unnecessary complexity but with real concern for the beauty of the space that is created by the song. As in a barn, or a church. Or a shed for that matter.

The thing that interests me about these two musicians -and about David Gray, too- is that while they get very little airplay, and while they're often considered "roots" musicians after a fashion, they pack stadiums. And their fans are 18-40 years old. The music is honest. There's no sell-out involved. And they rock.I'm just sayin', is all...