CD Odyssey Disc 1641 Abbie Gardner and a concert review!

Welcome to a 2 in 1 review extravaganza! Usually before I go see a live show I break CD Odyssey rules to listen to the artist’s last album so I can review it and the concert concurrently. On Wednesday night I saw Bonnie Prince Billy live, but his last solo studio album dates back to 2019 (“I Made a Place”) and I already reviewed it at Disc 1404. That was September 2020 and it was hard to see anyone live back then given that whole pandemic thing that was all the rage then.

Anyway, instead of reviewing the closest thing I’ve got (his 2021 collaboration with Matt Sweeney (“Superwolves”), I’m just going to tag that onto this review.

So come for Abbie Gardner album and stay for Bonnie Prince Billy concert. Or do the opposite. Whatever works for you. If it is the latter, you’ll have to scroll down a bit.

Disc 1641 is…Wishes on a Neon Sign

Artist: Abbie Gardner

Year of Release: 2018

What’s up with the Cover?  Abbie Gardner out on the town! Interestingly, this is how I used to see neon before I got glasses.

How I Came To Know It: I discovered Abbie Gardner through her 2022 album, “Dobro Singer”. This was me digging backward in her catalogue to see if I liked her other stuff. Turns out, I do.

How It Stacks Up: I have two Abbie Gardner albums, and if you are following along carefully, you already know which two. “Wishes on a Neon Sign” comes in second.

Rating: 2 stars but almost 3

I just discovered Abbie Gardner, but it turns out she’s been around for a while. Originally in a folk trio in the mid-oughts called Red Molly (which I don’t know but will explore) she then went solo and released a host of independent albums. That said, you could be forgiven thinking “Wishes on a Neon Sign” was early in her career. The record has a youthful enthusiasm (good) but it also struggles to find a signature sound of its own (not so good).

Gardner is known as a talented dobro player, and that is on full display throughout. Many songs feature dobro solos, which are solid but maybe a bit too restrained, and I found myself wishing for Gardner to cut loose Molly Tuttle-style. This is a bit unfair, as Gardner makes a conscious choice to play solos that are simple but laden with emotion, choosing tone over complexity. It’s a decision that many a heavy metal soloist could learn from.

The album tries out a lot of styles, with songs that feature bluegrass, blues, jazz and traditional country. Gardner doesn’t so much as blend all these styles as dabble in them from song to song.

Country tune “Wallflower Days” reminded me favourably of Suzie Bogguss, and while I liked it Bogguss has the more powerful set of chops for these kind of bright, internal rhyme traipsers. However, it is one of the better tunes nonetheless, with Gardner pitching real emotion and joy into her vocals.

At other times, such as on “Afraid of Love” Gardner opts for an early Billie Holiday style. She hits all the notes (many of these being far from easy), but it sounds a bit too much like she’s trying on the style as a vocal challenge, rather than embodying it.

Gardner is best when she strips all the stylistic experimentation away and just lets her solid songwriting and earnest delivery carry the day. “Cold Black Water” is a simple character study with earnest metaphor and an easy narrative that is buoyed by one of her strongest vocal performances.

Equally good is “My Darkness” which is a “don’t despair” tune. Instead of telling us to lighten up, it is about confronting your darkness, understanding it and even befriending it to the point that it loses its power. This song gives Gardner a chance to belt a little as well and you get to hear the easy power in her voice which on her “Holliday-lite” tunes is buried in affectation.

Overall, I liked this record, but I didn’t feel the emotional connection that I was looking for throughout. There are standouts for sure, and enough of them that I have no regrets with my purchase, but it left me wanting just a little bit more.

Fun fact: The first time I ordered an Abbie Gardner album from Bandcamp, she sent me a message promising me a gift, but all the arrived was the CD. The second time I ordered one, she promised nothing, but sent a nifty sticker! That sticker now adorns my much-decorated lunchbox. Thanks, Abbie!

Best tracks: Starting from Scratch, Cold Black Water, My Darkness

Bonnie Prince Billy in Concert – May 10, 2023 at the Capital Ballrom, Victoria BC

OK, ready for a concert review? Here we go!

Sheila and I arrived early at the Capital Ballroom which is critical if you want one of the coveted upstairs seats with a good view of the stage. Often those seats are a mixed blessing, as you spend half the night swatting people obstructing your view away from the railing who swarm in like wasps to a steak at a late summer barbecue.

None of that this time – just a couple of nice young women who found a spot beside us on the rail and never did the aggressive lean-in once.

So ensconced, we settled in for the show, ready to nurse our one order of overpriced drinks until the lights came on.

Patricia Wolf

The opening act was Patricia Wolf, although it took a while to figure that out. She came up on stage unannounced, said nothing and proceeded to futz with a couple of synthesizer/sound board things.

It was so directionless and ambient that I assumed she was a roadie getting something ready for later. With dawning horror we began to realize that this was the opening act, and the droning noise-scapes she was cranking out was her setlist!

This led me to my next mistake – which was assuming the headliner had no formal opener, and the club owner was just letting their sister or buddy or something have thirty minutes on the stage before a captive audience. But no, having later looked up who it was on the stage, and located her Bandcamp page, where it turns out Wolf has seven albums. I checked out the first one hoping that maybe she just was having a Bob Dylan moment and experimenting on the audience, but no such luck. The album sounded exactly the same. Joke's on me I guess, since she's obviously making a career of it.

I did something at that Wednesday show that I’m not proud of. Something that I never do. I talked to my friends (albeit quietly) through Wolf’s setlist. Incredibly rude of me, but for what its worth I was not alone. Apart from a smattering of claps from some seven or eight devotees in the front row, the whole room was doing the same.

Bonnie Prince Billy

As bad as that was, Bonnie Prince Billy (real name Will Oldham) more than made up for it. This was one of the best concerts I’ve seen in years.

Like Wolf, Oldham came up on the stage in an unassuming way. There was a single folding wooden chair and a mic, and he sat down, pulled his guitar out of his case, counted frets on where to put his capo just like us amateurs do and then launched into song.

Oldham is not a hit machine. His most famous song is “I See A Darkness” and that only because Johnny Cash covered it. Rather than saving it for the end of show it was the first thing he played, with a new arrangement that refreshed it in a way that was just as good as his original or Cash’ cover. It also quieted the crowd for the almost religious experience of what was to come next.

Oldham’s vocals are a high quaver, full of truth and raw emotion. At various times he would go into a semi-yodel, or a whistle, but only rarely. For the most part he holds your attention with that signature vocal, and compelling poetic lyrics. His style is more like Gordon Lightfoot, but his ability to turn a phrase is up there with Cohen and Dylan.

The Bonnie Prince had the crowd eating out of his hand early, with sing-a-longs that he would teach us on the fly and that the audience would joyfully sing out with little urging. One of the songs involved shooting folks in various body parts, which was both fun to sing and also conflicting and troubling, as a commentary on gun violence in America. It was just as Oldham intended us to feel, I am certain.

Some of his songs were so new they were not on any album, and a couple felt like he was still workshopping them, having to refer to his lyrics sheet from time to time. At an open mic night that sort of thing is enraging. Oldham somehow made it sublime.

Oldham has around twenty albums, and I only have my six favourites, so there were times when I recognized a song and times when it was completely new to me. His delivery draws you in so completely, both experiences were equally wonderful.

Among the songs I didn’t recognize, was one about his mom that brought tears to my eyes, and another comparing types of people to types of trees (willow, fir and oak, as it happens). I sat quietly under the spell of it all, along with the rest of the audience.

Notwithstanding their understandable reaction to the drone-opener, the audience was one of the better behaved ones I’ve been part of. Ever seen clips of sixties concerts where hippies sit in awe and listen to some dude in bright red suit sing folk tunes, with rapture on their faces? It was just like that, except the singer wore a trucker hat. Later he did glam it up a bit, smearing silver glitter under his eyes and remarking, “time for a costume change”). I don’t know why he did this, but I did like it.

This was a great show and I would happily see Bonnie Prince Billy live in concert again.