Last night I went to a great concert, Courtney Hartman & Taylor Ashton and Steph Jenkins. I’m uncertain how to say that; On the Facebook Event it was Courtney Hartman & Taylor Ashton // Steph Jenkins but on the Rockwood Page it was Stephanie. Let me check her brand-new EP, End to End. And the winner is … “Steph.” Good that’s what I’d call her without thinking.
Yesterday I wrote a serious piece on the importance of not judging people by their race, gender, sexual orientation, even if you are a member of the discriminated against group writing about the empowered. I believe in it strongly but that wasn’t what I wanted to write about. I forgot the topic I had planned. It was funny, at least to me. Funny wins. Now I have to put it off to another time. That’s funny as the topic is procrastination.
Now on to the show. It was late 9:00 and I still left too late to have dinner first. Good thing I made a peanut butter & roasted marshmallow sandwich earlier in the evening. I’m getting that look. I get that look a lot. It was good enough to make up for getting that look from people that don’t understand culinary greatness.
Here’s a shocker, I was the first one on the line to get in. The second person was Inez, a charming woman that knows Steph from her professional life. When Steph isn’t making music she’s making documentaries for public TV. The only person I knew who came after me but before doors closed was Sandy, Steph’s mom. I was wondering how well I’d know this crowd. I of course knew Mel the guy at the door. It makes me happy that I always get a personal interaction when I go to Rockwood.
When the doors opened I made a beeline for my seat. My Gentle Readers should know where that is; the Statler and Waldorf seats overlooking the stage. I was by myself, hardly heckled, and nobody head me. I couldn’t resist making at least one banjo joke. Steph plays banjo. Don’t hold that against her. That’s why I told you about public TV first. I want you to like her.
The EP was planned as a simple live recording of voice, banjo, and piano. A band attached itself to the project. The EP included fiddle, percussion, upright bass, and pedal steel. The fiddler was Steph’s brother Reid who also provided vocals.
That’s not exactly the band at the show, there was no percussion or pedal steel and Steph’s sister Cassie joined in on vocals. I just checked, Cassie uses Cassandra on her website so that’s what I’ll use for consistency.
Steph comes from the old-time world. And her music, shows that. She plays some trad tunes but most of the songs are originals that show trad influence, and one by that great trad artist, Randy Newman. The record and the show had it all, even timeliness. Four years ago Steph wrote a song about sexual assault called What He Said. Unfortunately it’s a song that could be ripped out of today’s headlines.
That might leave you with the wrong impression. The songs are not for the most part political and the are very much not downbeat. For the most part it’s music that makes you feel good made by great musicians. It’s my sweet spot.
I’ve seen Courtney & Taylor, but I’ve never seen them do a set of their own material. Many of you know Courtney from her band, Della Mae. I had high hopes for them. Those hopes were fulfilled. They are not a band I have an easy tag on. They just do what they do very well, that’s true of all aspects of the performance and songwriting. They came out as a duo but I saw there was a portable pump organ on stage; the kind that army chaplains would use in the field. There’s only one person I know who owns one, the ubiquitous Alec Spiegelman. Alec plays with everybody. He’s in high demand. It helps that he can play piano, organ, guitar, and various woodwinds including the bass clarinet. Talking to him after the show I discovered he’s not the only one with a portable pump organ in the area, he’s not even the only one on his block. But he’s ubiquitous so that was the way to bet, Bayesian probability. Too bad nobody was around to take that bet I would have won.
I feel bad, I have nothing brilliant to explain why Ashton are great. You don’t have to take my word for it; you can check their music out for yourself. I
After the show I went downstairs to say hi. I was disappointed as the only ones I knew there were Steph’s parents, and even there her father is a musician. These were musicians’ musician and it shows in who I found in the audience. Two people I figured out during the show were Hannah Read and Maeve Gilchrist. Courtney mentioned Scottish hecklers and I knew that’s who she must have meant. I didn’t see Maeve but had a nice talk with Hannah. Usually if I mention musicians that aren’t performing I just give their first names, I’m referencing them as friends. My point here is that this was a musical Who’s Who. Let’s see how many I can remember. This isn’t easy as I spoke to them after the show when we were milling about.
- Hannah Read
- Maeve Gilchrist
- Sam Reider
- Jean Rohe
- Rachael Price
- Libby Weitnaur.
It felt like more than six people. I didn’t even see Maeve and or my mean free path before bumping into someone I knew was tiny. Let’s say there were 12 and I’m just getting half of them. He wasn’t at the show but as I was leaving through the back exit I passed Tony Trishka walking into Rockwood 2 for the next act. If I wasn’t hungry and worrying about the late night train situation I would have stayed. I forgot his name but Steph said he’s a great mandolin player and it was his 30th birthday.
After the show I had dinner at Rosario’s, the official after Rockwood pizza of me. I know I often get $1 pizza elsewhere but $1 is a different food. Next time I need to take a photo of the unique Rosario’s round Sicilian slices.
Sorry I posted so late. You can read the story of why in Friday’s edition of Wise Madness I’m all about the teasers.
Wise Madness 