Audio-Visuals

STEVE EARLE LIVE FROM AUSTIN, TX
THE FLATLANDERS LIVE FROM AUSTIN, TX
ROBERT EARL KEEN LIVE FROM AUSTIN, TX
SUSAN TEDESCHI LIVE FROM AUSTIN, TX
Directed by Gary Menotti
(New West)
Though the titles don't indicate it, these DVDs all come from the archives of the great public television concert show Austin City Limits. Music geeks the world over have been waiting for the locks on those vaults to be picked. New West had the finesse, and lo and behold, the first four in what is intended to be a long series of DVD releases of past shows have appeared. Mind you, these aren't simply the half-hour or hour of music that was originally broadcast—these document the entire performance from which the episode was edited down. (Barring any technical problems, of course.) That alone makes these disks the proverbial manna from heaven for ACL fans everywhere.

Steve Earle's show dates from 1986, coinciding with the release and subsequent popularity of his debut album Guitar Town. Recent converts will probably be shocked by this skinny, relatively smooth-voiced baritone whose songs sound like Bruce Springsteen knockoffs in country clothing. Earle exploited his white trash/working class roots better than anybody back in those days; tunes like "Good Old Boy (Gettin' Tough)" and "Nowhere Road" feel more lived in and real than any stories the Boss or John Mellencamp tell. Of course, Earle was still young enough then to care about cars and girls too, so "San Antonio Girl," "Sweet Little '66" and "I Love You Too Much" hit just as hard as his social commentary. He attacks the tunes with the enthusiasm of someone finally getting to show his stuff after too long in the shadows, and his band the Dukes seems to be having a good ol' time helping him out. (Except for lead guitarist Mike McAdam, who is simply way too reserved for Earle's on-the-edge music.) While I would argue that his best work lay ahead of him, Earle still exploded out the gate with a strong album, and ACL captured his coming out party in fine style. This performance holds up extremely well; Earle's combination of Townes Van Zandt-style poetry and amphetaminized country rock is as potent now as it was then. [buy it]

The Flatlanders' recording comes from 2002; this one has particular resonance for me, as I attended this taping. (No, there's no shot of me in the audience.) I've got mixed feelings for this Austin supergroup in general—every time they put out a record I think about how much I'd've rather had a new Joe Ely or Jimmie Dale Gilmore album—but I had a lot of fun at this show. The affection Ely, Gilmore and Hancock have for each other is obvious, and the enthusiasm with which these three old friends play together is palpable. The trio's easy chemistry makes up for tepid tunes like "Going Away," "Julia" and "You Make It Look Easy," and when they dig into a truly strong song like "My Wildest Dreams Grow Wilder Every Day" or a rip-roaring cover of Terry Allen's "Gimme a Ride to Heaven," the performance just soars. The Flatlanders know how to work an Austin crowd, too, as its takes on "Dallas" (written by Gilmore but long associated with Ely) and local hero Townes Van Zandt's "White Freightliner Blues" hit every pleasure button in the audience. It's funny, though, how some flaws I didn't notice in performance come out on tape, like the fact that the bass is nowhere to be found in the mix and Ely's voice easily overpowers those of Hancock and Gilmore in the harmonies. Lead guitarist Rob Gjersoe also cuts through everything, even when he's just doing fills, but since he's a typical River City picker—i.e.brilliant but barely known outside the city limits—I'm perfectly happy to listen to him blaze. But those are all minor quibbles; any Flatlanders fan will be ecstatic to have this. [buy it]

Robert Earl Keen, a god in Texas but a cult figure everywhere else, has graced the stage in Studio 6A several times; the DVD contains his fifth and latest performance. I've always had mixed feelings for Keen. (Sensing a theme here?) While here in Austin he's graced with the same reverence as legendary Texan songwriters like Guy Clark and Townes Van Zandt, I've felt that for every great song he comes up with he writes at least two toss-offs. It's always seemed to me that fans of that peculiar strain of "Texas music" (Keen, Van Zandt, Joe Ely, the Flatlanders, et al) are pretty easy to please, and Keen knows exactly which muscle to massage. That's even more evident in live performance, when a tune like "The Road Goes On Forever," the charms of which I've yet to perceive in a decade of listening to it, goes over like "Free Bird" at a Skynrd concert. Yet its reception pails here to those given "Merry Christmas From the Family," with which even Keen seems bored, and the deplorable "That Buckin' Song," which gets the biggest cheers of the night despite not even being on the same basic level as Chuck Berry's similar "My Ding-a-Ling." And tunes like "Wild Wind" and "Down That Dusty Trail" seem paint-by-numbers to me, not that it matters to his loyal audience. Even he seems to know that; his smug grin and lazy singing indicate that he's putting only enough effort into this performance to get by. What makes all this a shame is that he's capable of some fine creations. The crime story of "Shades of Gray" rackets up the tension convincingly and "Blow You Away" still carries the appropriate aura of gloom, even when sung as offhandedly as it is here. "Feelin' Good Again" nicely shoos away any lingering black clouds; his eye for detail really shines on this tune. And while I've never thought he was good at covers (the closing "Travelin' Light" being a good example—don't ever sing Peter Case songs again, Mr. Keen. Ever. I mean it.), his version of Van Zandt's beautiful "Snowin' on Raton" is wonderfully affecting. Fortunately, as half-assed as Keen's performance is, his terrific band often makes up for it, especially steel guitarist Marty Muse, one of Austin's unsung treasures, and guitarist Rich Brotheron, another Central Texas genius who could mop the floor with most Berklee School of Music grads. (Though he's mixed so low here you'd wouldn't know it—a highly unusual gaffe for a show whose audio is usually beyond pristine.) Still, Keen is the star, and he's just not putting any real effort into his performance here. Not that it will matter a damn to his cult, of course. [buy it]

I have to admit up front that I'm not much of a Susan Tedeschi fan. I attended her first ACL taping a few years ago and the combination of a Janis Joplin-esque voice and Jimmie Vaughan-style minimalist blues guitar that cracked so many folks' whips did nada for me. The show on this DVD is from a few years later, and what a difference time and seasoning make. Gone are the attempts at being a blues mama (well, the overwrought blues ballad "It Hurt So Bad" is still here), replaced by soul/funk/R&B vibes, adventurous song selection and the kind of confidence that comes from being a strong leader to a great band. And a great band it is, too—a versatile, swinging rhythm section and instrumental heavyweights pianist/violinist Jason Crosby and Hammond tickler William Green (the most animated B-3 player I think I've ever seen) mean Tedeschi doesn't have to bear the weight of the music by herself. Wisely ceding most of the solo space to the tasteful Crosby and the flashy Green, Tedeschi concentrates on singing and presenting the songs; even when she takes a lead break, she keeps it short and simple, never getting in the way of the tune. Speaking of tunes, she's lined up a bunch of good ones here, confidently sliding from rootsy white soul (Bob Dylan's "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" and John Prine's "Angel From Montgomery") to chooglin' rock & roll ("I Fell in Love"), from stripped-down balladry ("Wrapped in the Arms of Another," "In the Garden," given a refreshing upgrade from its original version on the Double Trouble album) to, most satisfyingly, funk soul struts ("Alone," "Gonna Move," Koko Taylor's "Voodoo Woman," Sly & the Family Stone's "You Can Make It If You Try"). The feel Tedeschi and her band have for slinky R&B is sure and true; I hope she continues to exploit that side of her musical personality. I wasn't expecting much from this disk based on past experience; to say I was pleasantly surprised at just how good Susan Tedeschi has become is an understatement. [buy it]

There are CD soundtracks for the Earle, Keen and Tedeschi DVDs for those who want a more portable version of the shows, minus the stage patter. I guess in the case of the Flatlanders New West didn't want to compete with itself, since the company released an early-70s vintage Flatlanders live disk already this year. Michael Toland