Scott Miller

November 3, 2017
Jammin Java
Vienna, VA
USA

Lostbrook 2.0 Volume 216

Source: Church Audio CAFS>SPSB-12>Sony M10(24/48)
Location: 15' from stage-right stack

Transfer: Sony M10>Micro SDHC>PC>>Sound Forge 10>WAV 16/44.1>Trader's Little Helper>FLAC(level 8)

Taper/Transfer: Lostbrook
Covers/Review: ethiessen1

Disc 1:

01 Intro (0:19)
02 Sin In Indiana (2:51)
03 Jacki With An Eye (4:38)
04 Epic Love (6:12)
05 Mother-In-Law (3:07)
06 This River's Yours/This Valley's Mine (4:21)
07 8 Miles A Gallon (4:34)
08 It'll Never Be That River Again* (4:13)
09 How Am I Ever Gonna Be Me?* (5:56)
10 Mary* (3:39)
11 Ciderville Saturday Night (5:21)
12 Ten Miles Down The Nine Mile Road (5:24)

Disc 2:

13 For Jack Tymon (3:50)
14 Across The Line (5:01)
15 Freedom's A Stranger (5:31)
16 I Made A Mess Of This Town (5:12)
17 Someday/Sometime (5:21)
18 Get Along, Everybody (5:23)

Encore:

19 Amtrak Crescent (6:17)
20 May The Lord Watch For Thee* (3:17)

*Scott Miller solo

Scott Miller - vocals, acoustic guitar, harmonica
Anne McCue - electric guitar, lap steel guitar, mandolin, banjo, backing vocals
Seth Hopper - fiddle, backing vocals
Vince Ilagan - upright bass, backing vocals

Eric's Review:

Imagine A Prairie Home Companion episode where Garrison Keillor
wrote the entire show as songs instead of dialogue. Scott Miller's
Ladies Auxiliary cd release show at Jammin Java in Vienna, VA Friday
night was just about that good.

The songs went from the tongue in cheek comedy of �Mother in Law,�
a country rocker by Knoxville's The Swamis that describes a woman
with foul smelling feet who steals restaurant sugar packets and how
"it's hard to eat your dinner when she's moaning about her colon,"
to the seriously tragic Someday/Sometime that describes a father
pondering how to go on after his wife's suicide ("Somedays you wish
that they would end, somedays you want to live again"), with varying
shades of profane and profound in between.

Although the album's theme is the dichotomy between laughter and
sadness, that was too serious for Miller's management. �I originally
wanted to call this record �Thalia and Melpomene� after the Greek
muses for comedy and tragedy, but my manager said if I called the
record that, she would quit,� he said in an American Songwriter
interview.

While the album ended up being called Ladies Auxiliary since all the
players except Miller were women, only Australian producer/guitarist
Anne McCue was onstage this evening, as the other musicians were
unavailable. Nonetheless, along with McCue, Seth Hopper on fiddle and
Vince Ilagan on upright bass added color and depth to the music that
wasn't present when we saw Miller open as a solo performer for Rodney
Crowell earlier this year (even though his material is strong enough
to stand on its own).

The evening is perhaps best described by comparing the semi-political
satire of Get Along, Everybody with the closing quasi-hymn May The Lord
Watch For Thee, performed solo by Miller. Both offer a clever vision of
human behavior, on one hand light-hearted, on the other poignant, that,
like the best literature, can be interpreted as deeply or as superficially
as you wish. One could simply enjoy the melodies or one could also delve
into the lyrics with equal pleasure.

The former begins "I'm proud to be a gay shiite moslem Nazi steelworker
Jew for Jesus...with a bumper sticker 6 foot long..." and loosely pokes fun
at politically correct extremists of all types, ending with a plea for everyone
to "Get along, everybody, get along" to the tune of the traditional country
ballad Get Along, Little Dogies.

The latter, from his Are You With Me? album, is more direct. It opens with
Beethoven's Ode To Joy melody then describing "God only knows I am trying
to turn this path I'm on into gold..." and that "He forgives me each time I fail
him, forsaking him for cigarettes and greed," throughout life until "the ringing
of the bell that calls us home," and offering the hope "May the Lord watch for
Thee as he watches for me," ending with an appropriate Amen.

Given the quality of the new album, combined with the excellence of the night's
performance, it wouldn't be a stretch to foresee that the poet laureate of Swoope,
VA will soon be more than Americana music's well kept secret.

Images for all shows as well as full size images for this show.

Images for this show:

ScottMiller2017-11-03JamminJavaViennaVA (1).jpg
ScottMiller2017-11-03JamminJavaViennaVA (2).jpg
ScottMiller2017-11-03JamminJavaViennaVA (3).jpg