It may just be my rebellious nature or it may have been seeing AIV post about the Fox Hunt EP and to be honest I don’t even know if our gracious host is gonna let this one slip through since by his own admission we don’t usually post about EPs and this most definitely a post about one of those. (That may be the longest sentence I wrote all week long) So instead of saying this is a post about the Cory Branan/Jon Snodgrass split E/P on Suburban Home I am going to pretend this a very belated review of the Joey Cape/Jon Snodgrass/Cory Branan/Chad Rex show I attended three months ago.

It was a hot July night in Texas at a venue that is not know for having the best A/C when I caught up with Cory Branan and Jon Snodgrass. I had planned to do an interview with Cory that night but my new recording software had a “feature” of which I was unaware and I ended up with less than two minutes of the interview actually recorded. Cory was kind enough to introduce me to Jon after a bit, he wasn’t rude he just assumed we knew each other already, and we hung out for a while before the show. Looking back I can see why Cory thought Jon and I had met since we fell into conversation easily. We talked about DTR and life for a bit before the show and Jon promised to re-learn Br00tal and play it during his and Cory’s set.

Aside from interviewing Cory this was the first show I had planned to shoot. So while Cory and Jon warmed up I did as well, ending up with some great candid shots of both Cory and Jon. Cory and Jon played what Jon refers to as “buddy rock” and the their set was absolutely amazing. Having seen Cory countless times and not ever having seen Jon I didn’t know what to expect. What the crowd got was an amazing set with Cory playing some of the crowd favorites and some newer material and Jon belting out his songs with fervor. He kept his promise and let fly with Br00tal while I was trying to get the barkeep’s attention for more whiskey. I think his acoustic version is now my favorite version of the song. With Cory and Jon punctuating each others’ songs and the banter between the two and the crowd this was quickly becoming one of the best shows I had seen all year. After their set we popped outside for nicotine and cooler air and I got to meet Chad Rex and talk with him a bit.

I hate to admit I missed most Joey Cape’s set and didn’t get a chance to meet him as I got caught up hanging out and talking with folks. But I did get to see him, Chad, and Jon knock out a few songs, enough to make me regret hanging outside as long as I had. Multiple trips to the merch table scored me some posters, t-shirts, and the Cory/Jon split EP. It was an amazing evening and on top of all the music I found out that I don’t suck at shooting shows.

(You can see the whole gallery here.) and meeting Chad Rex and Jon Snodgrass was an experience that I won’t soon forget.

As we pulled away from the venue I unwrapped the cassette I had acquired, taking care not to lose the digital download code, and popped into the deck of my old Ford F-150. Jon opens the tape with Alone and Distanced and it’s as good as ever. As an aside there is something about listening to a tape in a world where we are used to being able to switch to the next track with a simple push of a button that’s a bit refreshing. Being forced, in a way, to listen to the tracks in the order the artists intended is a different experience that I think we have lost some of in the age of digital music. Being as that we didn’t go that far to grab grub my listening experience was punctuated by the best late-night post-show food I know: the Sausage Scrambler at House of Pies here in Houston. As I pulled into the parking lot Wild One was wrapping up.

. We spent just a little too long at our table as is our custom after a show and then I finally got back out the truck, cranked her and was greeted with a studio version of Cory’s Walk Around. Now while I think Cory is better live than studio this version is as good as any of the live recordings floating around and might even be better. The backing vocals do just a little something that makes it amazing. Born Apart had my foot a little too far down on the accelerator and, the tape being an EP, I wanted more after Yeah, So What was over. So what’s a boy to do? Well you let the tape reverse and listen to it again.

Now there’s lots of cool album art out there these days but the album art for this tape is worth owning. It’s totally cheesy and looks like something I might have picked up in the bargain bin at Sound Warehouse in 1989 with a blue sticker with red bubble letters announcing “VALUE PRICE”. It’s also available as vinyl from Suburban Home/Vinyl Collective and I plan to order that version on payday. But they really need to make a poster out of the album cover, a big huge poster, maybe one of those heavy metal/Pink Floyd style cloth wall hangings.

This is an amazing EP from start to finish and it has a couple of songs you won’t get to hear before Cory’s new album comes out unless you make it out to see him live. But don’t take my word for it check out the stream from Suburban Home…

And so there you have it. My review of an EP masquerading as a review of a show. Now go buy the thing from Suburban Home…