Chip Taylor & Carrie Rodriguez at Gruene Hall
Earlier this week I heard a song on KNBT that I really liked, but I never heard the DJ say the name or artist. It had something to do with an “Okie from Muskogee.”
This evening I was riding in my trucking listening to KNBT again and they had guests in the studio performing live on the radio. I really liked what I was hearing, and eventually they said the guests were Chip Taylor & Carrie Rodriguez. The DJ asked them to play one more, and requested “Angel of the Morning.” I know this song from The Pretenders and I really like it, so I was excited to hear these two perform it. Well, before he began playing Chip told the story of how he wrote “Angel of the Morning” around the same time in the 1960′s that he wrote “Wild Thing.” Huh? The person who is singing these soft folk songs is the same person who wrote “Wild Thing?” Anyway, they started playing “Angel of the Morning” and I was amazed. I had long since arrived at my apartment, but I was still sitting in my truck to hear the remainder of the song. After it was over the DJ announced that Chip and Carrie were about to head over to Gruene Hall for their performance. It took less than a second for me to decide that I would be driving to Gruene this afternoon.
I arrived up there around 7:30 or so, grabbed a Lone Star and found a spot to stand and watch the show. There were not that many people there, but a decent Sunday evening sized crowd, which is the way I prefer it. Along with Chip and Carrie were John Platania with his strat and another guy playing an electric bass. As it turns out, the guy playing bass had never heard any of the songs he was playing, Chip met him that afternoon, and he did a very good job, it was quite impressive. John is an amazing lead guitarist and kept a metal slide on his pinky finger the whole show, he played some beautiful riffs.
The crowd was really into the show and very enthusiastic, but things got even better when the band starting playing “Wild Thing.” As they starting playing this song I had no idea which direction it would go. Would they turn rock-and-roll? Would they play a calm and quiet version of it? No, it was like something I had never seen. The song lasted probably 8 or 9 minutes with Chip slowing it down to talk to the audience and then turning it back up to get everyone to sing along. At one point Carrie lit into her fiddle and played about 25 second lead. I immediately got cold chills, it was probably the most awesome 25 seconds of live music I have ever seen: a hot fiddle leading a folksy-bluesy version of “Wild Thing.” I would love to find out that someone was recording that.
Anyway, they played a few more songs and then Chip says that the next song is a good way to end the set. As soon as they started playing I recognized the song, it was the one I had heard on KNBT earlier in the week! It’s named “I Wasn’t Born in Tennessee.”
I came home and ordered 3 of Chip and Carrie’s CD’s from Amazon.com.
Chip, Carrie and John all have interesting histories. Chip has been a songwriter, a professional golfer, and a professional gamber (so successful that he was not allowed in any Atlantic City casinos). Check out each of their profiles:
If they are in your area I would definitely recommend seeing them.