Days of Yorn

Salt Lake City Upcoming Concerts: Pete Yorn, Gomez, Autumn Defense

By Brian Staker, 2-22-07

	Staker Pick o' the Week: John Stirratt and Autumn Defense

Pete Yorn

This New Jerseyite doesn’t have much in common with the working-man, Springsteenian ethic most musicians from the most ironically-nicknamed Garden State are known for, having an ‘in’ with a relative who worked A&R for Columbia to get a major label audition in Los Angeles around the turn of the millennium for this former drummer. But we wouldn’t be talking about Pete Yorn’s fourth studio album, Nightcrawler (2006) let alone the soundtrack to the Jim Carrey film Me, Myself and Irene or songs appearing on TV show Dawson’s Creek if he didn’t have some pretty astounding songwriter smarts.

On his newest release, Yorn enlists aid in the form of Dave Grohl wielding drumsticks and some harmonies from the Dixie Chicks’ Martie Maguire and Natalie Maines. But what is remarkable is the maturing of someone whose voice was already sounding self-assured and polished on his debut. The British pop influence yields to a bit more soulful, contemplative journey of a song like “Maybe I’m Right.” And the Warren Zevon cover “Splendid Isolation,” from the tribute album to the departed rock icon Enjoy Every Sandwich, indicates his real roots not in English music but the pop/rock of 70’s L.A.

February 22, Suede

Also appearing:
February 23, Denver CO (Ogden Theatre)

Drag the River

Drag the River is one of the latest in a long line of punkers, from John Doe and Exene Cervenka of X, to the Mekons’ Jon Langford to depart from punk rock to dabble in country, drawn to its guilelessness and simple expressions of heartfelt emotion and storytelling. Not to mention the prominent role of alcohol in the proceedings. Chad Price from All, along with Armchair Martian’s Jon Snodgrass and Paul Rucker and the Nobodys’ namesake J.J. Nobody combined forces in 1996, and since then have eked out a handful of releases virtually interchangeable but all loads of fun. In a different but similar vein to the Supersuckers, weird and wonderful things happen when punk rockers get hold of a pedal steel and try to make it squeeze out sparks. From Fort Collins, they add flair to the musical roster of the Rocky Mountain region.

February 22, Kilby Court
February 23, Burt’s Tiki Lounge

Also appearing:
March 11, Denver CO (Marquis Theater)

Gomez

In the great lineage of rock bands from the former British Empire, the vast majority have followed the genetic pathway of Pink Floyd rather than the Who or earlier, John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers. But Gomez, one yet again in the almost alarming series of bands with inception a decade ago, was one of the few bands of Brit rockers in the 90’s to include living, breathing blues as an integral element of their sonic palette. Their latest, How We Operate (ATO), is a solid, relatively quiet yet self-assured set seemingly destined to get lost in a pop music world full of overblown egos and electronically embellished mediocrity. Oh well, the ‘critical raves’ may actually given good ear by indie audiences, college students and anyone looking for something more intelligent than the current ‘Idols’ packaged to pretend they have anything besides aural effluence emerging from their museless mouths.

February 23, Suede

Also appearing:
Aspen, CO (Belly Up)

Autumn Defense **Staker’s Pick of the Week!**

It was right on the cusp of the new millennium. I had made the pilgrimage to SXSW for the first time, and one of the most happening spots in town, Yard Dog, had BBQ in the back as well as live music. John Stirratt of Autumn Defense strapped on the guitar and I thought, wait a minute, isn’t he in Wilco? Hot damn! How many times can ‘alt’ country music be rewritten and reformulated?

The answer, seemingly, is innumerable, in the hands of someone like Stirratt, but like Wilco and Uncle Tupelo before, in whom Stirratt also held tenure, this music is so much more. This is the country music of early 70’s SoCal, when groups like the Byrds and Flying Burrito Brothers ruled, before the Eagles turned everything to polished Hollywood pap. You can hear the Beach Boys as well. It’s as though Stirratt, like Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, uses genres like a painter utilizes paint, dipping into melodies and harmonies at will to create masterfully expressive works. Only to me, Wilco has gotten glib as they later turned more poppy, while the Autumn Defense (a wonderful name for a pensive ensemble) has remained more honest, even Autumnal. Their latest, self-titled release (Broadmoor) speaks for itself, and says volumes.

February 23, Velour

Also appearing:
February 24, Denver CO (Soiled Dove Underground)

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