My first exposure to Grayson Capps came via his limited acoustic release, Songbones. When writing about that album I described it as “simple – subtle – magical” and I think that’s still a perfect descriptor for this storyteller from New Orleans.

Live At The Paradiso was recorded in May 2008 during an solo acoustic show at The Paradiso in Amsterdamn. Grayson is obviously in his element as he plays for over 2 hours telling stories of his life and explaining the inspirations to some of the songs. As much as I like Grayson when he’s playing with his full-band I feel like you hear the songs the way they’re meant to be heard when it’s just Grayson and his guitar. Simple – Subtle – Magical.

Interestingly enough, the show was originally recorded via 5 high-def cameras but the master footage mysteriously vanished after the shoot. Then, a few months later a single DVD of the show turned up at the Hyena Records Amsterdam offices. That DVD has now been released along with a companion audio download of the show.

I found the video quality on the DVD to be a little grainy and lacking but the audio is spot on and will make you forget about a little grain in no time and the audio download makes this DVD/CD release well worth your hard earned dollars as well as my first Essential Listening member of 2010.

Grayson Capps – Ike
Grayson Capps – Love Song For Bobby Long
Grayson Capps – Give It To Me
Grayson Capps – Guitar

Grayson Capps Official Site, Grayson Capps on myspace, Buy Live At The Paradiso

The last time I was at The Ritz was for the fateful Corrosion of Conformity show where (4) people were stabbed with (1) ultimately dying. I’d heard a lot about the near million dollar renovation the venue had gone through prior to reopening a year (really? it’s been a whole year?) ago but I had not seen it yet. What better chance than for their one year anniversary free show featuring one of my favorite songwriters, Grayson Capps?

The venue itself is beautiful and the acoustics are dramatically improved. Granted, I am judging the latter on one show but Grayson and the Stumpknockers were loud and they sounded great and the reconfigured ball room is infinitely more conducive to live music than it used to be. While this isn’t supposed to be a review of the venue I wanted to mention it cause they did a fantastic job and I look forward to seeing more shows there.

Now, on to Grayson.

Grayson Capps and the Stumpknocker’s took the stage promptly at 8:00 to a sparce (and I am being generous) crowd but what the crowd lacked in numbers it made up for in enthusiasm. One particular concertgoer opted to take advantage of the short bar lines and vacant dance floor to practice his handstands. Grayson & Co. seemed unfazed by the amount of empty floor space between each patron and delivered a tight performance hitting on every song the crowd wanted to hear even going so far as to take requests during their second set. I was pleasantly surprised at how much more of rock band they became in the live environment.

Hopefully the lack of people will not leave a bad taste in the bands mouth and they’ll return some day in the future.

Grayson Capps – Going Back To The Country
Grayson Capps – Ike
Grayson Capps – Mermaid
Grayson Capps – Junior & The Old African Queen

WEDNESDAY 6/24 @ THE RITZ: GRAYSON CAPPS

I am so excited about this show. Honestly, I just assumed Grayson Capps would never come to Florida. BUT! Here he is and he’s bringing his full band, The Stumppknocker’s, with him.  If the sound of Southern soul mixed with back-country stomp with a little road-house blues sounds like something that might tickle your fancy, you need to get to The Ritz on Thurday night for this show.

When I last wrote about Grayson I said, “I find myself drawn to the drunks, whores and vagabonds that haunt Grayson’s songs. They’re like old friends you keep up with via letters in the mail, and with a new album comes new updates.” It’ll be nice to finally meet this motley crew of characters in person.

Grayson Capps – Going Back To The Country
Grayson Capps – Ike
Grayson Capps – Mermaid
Grayson Capps – Junior & The Old African Queen

THURSDAY 6/25 @ NEW WORLD BREWERY: CORY BRANAN, JOEY CAPE & JON SNODGRASS

The following night, Joey Cape (Ladwagon/Me First & The Gimmie Gimmies), Jon Snodgrass (Drag The River/Arm Chair Martian) and Cory Branan will be playing New World Brewery. All three of these guys have crossed paths and shared stages at various times in their careers, but this is the first time all three have played together. This tour was engineered by Jon (and booked by the fine folks at AES Presents) and, as I understand, it will mimic The Revival Tour where the artists will all share the stage. Should make for a fun show.

Cory Branan – The Prettiest Waitress in Memphis
Joey Cape – Errands
Jon Snodgrass – Brave With Strangers
Cory Branan & Jon Snodgrass – Wild One (Thin Lizzy Cover)

SATURDAY 6/27 @ NEW WORLD BREWEY: THE CITRUS CIRCUIT TOUR with LAURIS VIDAL, TRUCKSTOP COFFEE, HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL & THE TAKERS

After giving the liver a brief break on Friday, the musical week plans to knock us out with a right hook powered by another all-Florida band lineup brought to us by thxmgmt. This is the second all-Florida band mini-tour thxmgmt has done this month. Like the last, the idea is to get a collection of Florida bands together who can pull within their own markets and put them all on the road together with the “home band” headlining their respective market. This time we’re getting Tampa’s own Have Gun Will Travel, Lauris Vidal (Daytona Beach), Truckstop Coffee (Lake Worth) and the latest Suburban Home Records signee, Gainesville’s own The Takers.

To say this is a must-see show is a complete understatement. Everyone in the Bay Area should know how good HGWT is at this point (and if you don’t then shame on you), and the amount of love ninebullets has shown Truckstop Coffee over the years is still pitifully inadequate. In addition, I’ll finally get to see the *much hyped* honky-tonk outfit The Takers.

This will be one of the best nights of music of the year and it’s all homegrown. In addition, it’s a Saturday night so there’s no reason not to go.

Lauris Vidal – Good Years, Dark Clouds
Truckstop Coffee -Way Down South
Have Gun Will Travel -Blessing And A Curse
The Takers – Taker Easy

THIS IS MY LAST POST FOR THE WEEK. I AM HEADED UP TO BOSTON FOR WORK. I COULDN’T THINK OF A BETTER ALBUM TO END THE WEEK WITH. SEE Y’ALL MONDAY.

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A year ago I did not even know who Grayson Capps was. His 2007 effort, Songbones, was my introduction to his music and since that day in October I would venture a guess that there isn’t another artist I’ve listened to more. Hell, it’s probably a 2 to 1 ratio at best. I find myself drawn to the drunks, whores and vagabonds that haunt Grayson’s songs. They’re like old friends you keep up with via letters in the mail, and with a new album comes new updates.

Rott ‘n Roll features Grayson and his full band, The Stumpknockers, and Grayson’s part drunkard-part poet songwriting. One of my favorite tracks on the album, “Ike”, tells the tale of a particular five dollar whore looking for a little bit of love for the night. There are some front-porch singalongs such as “Gran Maw Maw” and “Big Ol’ Woman”, which include what is professed to be choruses performed by a group of drunk rednecks who happened to show up at the studio. That little yarn sounds a little bit like the bass that gets bigger and bigger with each telling of the catch.

In the end, Rott ‘n Roll is another excessively strong offering to what is already a magnificent discography. If you are not already familiar with Grayson, then I gotta say not only is this album Essesntial Listening, so are the 3 that preceded it.

Grayson Capps – Ike
Grayson Capps – Back To The Country

Grayson Capps – Mermaid (hands down, my favorite Grayson Capps’ song)

Grayson Capps Official Site, Grayson Capps on myspace, Buy Rott ‘N Roll

I could quite possibly be the last person in the whole Americana circle to have heard of Grayson Capps. It’s funny, too, because some of the blogs I read on a daily basis have done pieces on him in the past, but for whatever reason I just didn’t listen to the songs. It took a little nudge by one of the fellas at Grayson’s record label to get me to cue up a little bit of his music. The rest, as they say, is history. So while I may be late to the bandwagon, I need someone to scoot over so I can hop on.

Songbones was released back in October on Hyena Records. It is, by all accounts, Grayson’s third release, but it was recorded prior to either of his previous efforts. It was recorded over the course of 5 hours in the ol’ 9th Ward Picking Parlor down in New Orleans. It features Grayson, an acoustic guitar, and his voice performing front porch, acoustic-blues music that drips with Southern soul. It reminds me of being a kid and sitting on my Great-Grandfather’s front porch during family functions and listening to the old men tell stories of varying truths. Subtle – Simple – Magical.

If these songs appeal to you and you wanna squeeze on the wagon with me, then you’d better jump. The album is being offered in a limited edition run of only 5000 copies, so snap it up while you can.

Grayson Capps – Mermaid
Grayson Capps – Junior & The Old African Queen
Grayson Capps – Psychic Channel Blues

Grayson Capps Official Site, Grayson Capps on myspace, Buy Songbones