Little Lies and Massive Dreams

My name is Bear. I play in a band called Talking About Commas and live and work in Providence, RI. I like music.
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Aug 4, 2008

Greg Brown : A Man and His Guitar


Greg Brown is one of those artists that not many people have heard of (at least among the people I’ve talked to), but those who have absolutely love him. I noticed this when I showed up to see him play a solo acoustic show at the Narrows Center for the Arts in Fall River, MA - a decent sized art space in an old mill building - to see the place was wall to wall packed. Luckily, I live in Rhode Island, a state where everybody knows somebody. Naturally, when I was just about to settle for standing room only in the back of the room, my friend showed up and had a table reserved for us in the front row – I felt like I was in Goodfellas as we made our way up to the stage.


Apparently Iowa had been flooding like crazy and Greg barely made it out of his town to catch the flight (this was a make up show, so he was not on tour). Clad in overalls, no shirt and a blazer – I believed him when he said he didn’t even get to pack. Mr. Brown started the night off with 2 “flood songs” before playing a set filled with highlights from his whole career. From the tale of playing dive bars (“Mose Allison Played Here”) to a stories of the workin man ("Down at the Mill") and perhaps the best song ever written from the perspective of a man reflecting upon his entire life (“Spring Wind”) – Greg showed that he can sing about anything. I wish however, his musical tastes were as broad as his topical ones. He rattled off so many simple blues songs that each song seemed to bleed into the next. He played mostly in the key of D (Greg likes to use drop-d tuning a lot) and doesn’t switch up time signatures or that much.


Greg's candor with the audience showed how comfortable he is in his own shoes. He can weave wonderful stories in with funny anecdotes that set up songs better than anyone I’ve seen. It was a great treat to see one of my favorite songwriters and one of our finest true folk heroes while he's still got it. I suggest you do the same.



Set List:
Flood Song?, Evangeline, Blues Go Walkin', Like a Dog, Mose Allison Played Here, Ever Sinced the World Ended*, Hey Baby Hey, If the Holy Spirit Moves Me**, Backslider, Oily Boys, Treat Eachother Right?, River Will Take You, Down at the Mill, Driftless, One Wrong Turn, Kern River***, Nothing in Rambling?, Fat Boy Blues

E:Who Woulda Thunk It, Spring Wind, Hobo's Lullaby****

? not sure of title. * Mose Allison cover. ** SOn House Cover. *** Merle Haggard cover. **** Woody Guthrie cover.