Last night certainly was interesting. I made my way over to West Little Rock and arrived at Studio Joe in front of The Sports Authority complex. I’d never been there before and after a slight mishap with a locked front door, I made my back towards the rear of the building to find an unlocked door. Not really knowing what to expect of the place, I walked in and was greeted by a very warm atmosphere. As I made my way to a very warn, but super comfortable looking leather chair, I took in my surroundings while several friendly faces said, “Hello” to me. As I looked around, the place is a cozy, little coffee shop. There was art scattered around on the walls, several well-worn leather chairs, and a handful of more formal tables. Directly at the back of the venue is a small stage, but it did not seem all that small in my mind once the evening’s entertainment took it by storm.
I was at Studio Joe to hear Kat Hood and Chuck Gilbert. I had on good authority from one of my friends that Hood was a show I should not miss. I’m particularly glad I went and as I waited for about twenty minutes for the show to start, several other people showed up bringing the grand total of the audience to a whopping thirteen including the bartender. That was great though, because sometimes one just needs a quiet, intimate show, and I was thrilled that the night turned out to be that way. Hood & Gilbert kicked off their performance at 7:45 and launched right in to things with a rousing cover of Eric Clapton’s song “Piece of My Heart.” I must say right here, that I spent a bit of time actually taking notes about the show, so there may be a few more specific details this time around than before, but I think that’s a good thing for once.
After the Clapton song, Hood & Gilbert gave a rousing hello to all of their friends. I was the only one in the crowd that they did not know, but they took the time to ask me if I’d ever been to the venue, what my name was, and to introduce themselves. I thought that was a really cool gesture especially in the close-knit group of friends. Even though everyone knew each other, I felt readily accepted and was amazed at the kindness directed towards me. Yes I digress, but I’ll get back to the show now.
Next up, the duo played an original called “Euphazean.” I had no idea how to spell that during the show, but due to the generosity of Hood, I was given a copy of her CD and it thankfully had that song on there. This was easily one of my favorite songs of the night because I loved the fact that this girl was the daughter of one of Hood’s patients. Even though Hood doesn’t know Euphazean, she wrote this really amusing song about her. I find that kind of imagination in songwriting to be one of my favorite aspects of the art. I think my other favorite original from the night, played directly after the aforementioned, was “Why The Hell Not?” This is in reference to Kinky Friedman. If you don’t know who he is, shame on you. Go look him up, now! I unfortunately missed his last Little Rock show. Anyways, it was a rather quirky song, for an equally quirky man. Basically what I’m trying to say is that it’s a great song and most entertaining.
Next came a couple Gillian Welch covers. I loved hearing the difference between Hood & Gilbert’s versions compared to Welch’s originals. It was also interesting to hear that the Good Time Ramblers derived their name from Welch’s song “Wayside.” I only bring in GTR because Hood is the mom of their lead singer, John. Basically, she got in to a small argument over what the correct lyrics were, and well let’s just say Kat won that one. I was thoroughly amused by her infusion of personal life and joking around during the whole set. I love when artists do that, and I wish more did.
Next came a couple more original songs, then a cover of ‘Tell Me Why” by The Beatles. About this time, I was realizing that the sound in this humble, little place was really good. I wasn’t expecting it to be the best in the world, but it was good for the size of the place. After my musings, came a few more original songs, and my absolute favorite quote of the night by both musicians, “She taught me John Prine, and I taught her Steely Dan.” With that quote came a few Prine & Steely Dan covers that were excellent. My favorite cover of the night, which coincidentally I heard later at White Water Tavern from the Sarah Hughes Trio, was “In Spite of Ourselves.” I had never heard the song before, so while Kat & Chuck were singing it, I was cracking up. Prine is definitely someone I will check out in the future.
Kat & Chuck had a couple of their buddies come up and sing a few songs while they took a fifteen-minute break. Conrad & Sarah Shoemaker, pardon me for not checking on the actual spelling of their last name, came up and sang some folksy songs. They did a cover of Josh Ritter’s song “Lawrence, Kansas,” which was really good. They also sang “Cats in Space” which had me laughing a lot. They were a nice interlude to the scheduled performers and I’d love to hear more of them in the future.
After they finished up, Hood & Gilbert took the stage again and did a few more covers with their friend Paul Colebert, pardon me again for not getting the last name in this case. The one thing that tickled me about their second set was that they kept playing sing-a-long songs. I loved that they were comfortable enough to do that, and they were a hit with the audience. They are really humble folks, and I’m glad I had the pleasure of seeing them. The show started at 7:45 and lasted until 10:15ish. I was a little surprised because I had previously heard that the shows ended on an early note at Studio Joe, but it was a joy that the evening went on later than I thought. Kat has a great voice, that’s kind of earthy, but also commanding, and Gilbert sure knows how to pluck a guitar. They compliment each other so very well, and I look forward to seeing them again soon.
--L
Well we at LittleRockLiveMusic.net got split up Friday Night. I knew Big Smith was in town but I decided to keep things local, and in the family, with Kat Hood and The Good Time Ramblers. Read about G's night out on the opposite side of town with Big Smith in his blog above.
My night started with Kat Hood and Chuck Gilbert, putting on an awesome show at Studio Joe's at 7pm. The place was packed and definitely filled out well over the venue's 65 person capacity. That morning, Kat played "Back Home Again" on Good Morning Arkansas. That song along with "Fences" and "Back When" are my three personal favorites she both wrote and recorded with Chuck Gilbert and Eric Nolen as the Kat Hood Trio. "Back Home Again" has been featured on a promotional spot on AETN and also helped earn the band top honors at 2002's Arkansas Acoustic Festival. Never a bad thing, Kat and Chuck played many John Prine songs scattered throughout the show. Her and Chuck did an especially great job covering Prine's "Killing The Blues" recently made popular by Alison Krauss and Robert Plant. I would highly recommend downloading the free music available on her web site and buying her cd. Her and Chuck have decided to branch off as a duo and continue to make new music together. She is an incredibly gifted songwriter and vocalist. Her and Chuck are both incredibly nice people and are going to try and schedule a concert somewhere in town each month. We will keep you posted with when and where. I was bummed that I had to leave at the start of their second set but The Good Time Ramblers were about to take the stage at Grumpy's at 9pm.
Grumpy's was absolutely packed and GTR rocked three sets for almost four hours. The band played through all the songs off their current cd and many more off their new one due out in the Fall. From the sampling of new songs I have heard at the band's last two shows, "Bigelow Strange" is going to be every bit as incredible as "Sinners Welcome". Gillian Welch, Springsteen, Skynyrd, The Band, Haggard and Willie Nelson were all covered expertly throughout the band's performance and kept people shouting out the familiar lyrics and the waitresses and bartender's very busy.
After completely amping up the hardly dispersed group of loyal fans, still singing and tapping their feet to "Maggie's Farm" at 1:30 am, Jeff Coleman came up to do his instantly classic song, "All The Whisky In Texas". It was encouraging to see the Mother of lead singer John Lefler, and for my second time of the night, Kat Hood show up with her family and make it out to support her son and his band. She came up earlier in the night to do a few songs and sang John Prine's "Angel From Montgomery" with her son and his band. The band added a great new song to their incredibly long list of live music, "Seminole Wind". I just started listening to Donna the Buffalo over the past few months and the song was instantly recognizable from their album "Rockin' In The Weary Land". I really can't emphasize enough how good these guys are live. They have been playing all over town for the past three years and have recently gained some new found momentum. Everytime I see them they are more and more solid. No matter the venue, they always draw a huge crowd and never fail to impress. If you have not seen them live, or bought their cd, you are truly missing out on one of Little Rock's great local acts.
For me, even more than the music, I could not be more impressed by the sincerity and humbleness of both Kat Hood and Chuck Gilbert, the members of GTR, and their incredibly large group of friends, family and fans. They are truly some of the nicest people I have met since moving out here two years ago and Little Rock could not be more lucky to have them.
http://www.myspace.com/goodtimeramblers
http://www.kathood.com
-T
RSS Feed