Jimmy LaFave
Jimmy LaFave
Strange Brew
Austin, Texas
Audience members were quietly sipping their beers, or quickly devouring their Strange Brew victuals with nary a word in between. Most attendees simply stared ahead with solemnity as they watched musician Jimmy LaFave and his band prepare their equipment with quiet devotion to the lighted stage; indeed, LaFave’s own dress, a blacked out shirt, pants, boots and backwards beret combo, seemed to add to the severity of the scene. However, with nothing more than his casual and easygoing demeanor, LaFave all but dispelled this solemnity immediately with the onset of his show; amiably conversing with members of the front row, or even commenting on the grim aspects of the darkening Strange Brew venue.
It was LaFave’s friendliness and laidback demeanor that seemed to capture the essence of LaFave’s two biggest influences, Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan. If early folk music was built on the intimacy and grassroots relationships that sprung from such a closeness between musician and fan, LaFave certainly seemed to adhere to that relationship with gentle passion. From speaking with members of the crowd on a first name basis, to playing a request for a couple who was celebrating their anniversary that night, to gently teasing his keyboardist Bryan Peterson for leaving his group to head to Europe for the summer, or to anecdotally yet affectionately commenting on his appreciation for his drummer Bobby Kallus’ restored good health and return to performing, LaFave’s passion and appreciation for such a relationship seemed to be almost palpable for all those who could see.
On stage, LaFave seemed to run through the gamut of his musical influences; while playing songs old and new, such as the hit “Only One Angel” to new cuts from his forthcoming album The Night Tribe. LaFave also played a variety of covers, ranging from a country-rock rendition of Jackson Brown’s “These Days,” to a pitch-perfect cover of Dylan’s “Queen Jane Approximately,” one of those aforementioned cuts from his new album, to his rousing and spirited closing cover of Creedence Clearwater Revivals’s “Have You Ever Seen the Rain,” his self-described “sing-along song,” which encapsulated LaFave’s folk pathos when he enthusiastically called out to both sexes of the crowd to sing out the chorus separately. Truly, the sincerity of LaFave’s performance and the genuineness that exuded from his persona on stage was hard to resist; according to Mary Jane Fross, who, with her husband Chuck, had travelled all the way from San Francisco to celebrate their 40th anniversary with this show, stated that it was “his sincerity, and the articulateness of his lyrics” that endeared LaFave so much to her and her husband, and she added, “was hard to find in musicians today.” It would seem from the smiles in the crowd, they too agreed.
by Andrew Chauvin
Strange Brew
Austin, Texas
It was LaFave’s friendliness and laidback demeanor that seemed to capture the essence of LaFave’s two biggest influences, Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan. If early folk music was built on the intimacy and grassroots relationships that sprung from such a closeness between musician and fan, LaFave certainly seemed to adhere to that relationship with gentle passion. From speaking with members of the crowd on a first name basis, to playing a request for a couple who was celebrating their anniversary that night, to gently teasing his keyboardist Bryan Peterson for leaving his group to head to Europe for the summer, or to anecdotally yet affectionately commenting on his appreciation for his drummer Bobby Kallus’ restored good health and return to performing, LaFave’s passion and appreciation for such a relationship seemed to be almost palpable for all those who could see.
On stage, LaFave seemed to run through the gamut of his musical influences; while playing songs old and new, such as the hit “Only One Angel” to new cuts from his forthcoming album The Night Tribe. LaFave also played a variety of covers, ranging from a country-rock rendition of Jackson Brown’s “These Days,” to a pitch-perfect cover of Dylan’s “Queen Jane Approximately,” one of those aforementioned cuts from his new album, to his rousing and spirited closing cover of Creedence Clearwater Revivals’s “Have You Ever Seen the Rain,” his self-described “sing-along song,” which encapsulated LaFave’s folk pathos when he enthusiastically called out to both sexes of the crowd to sing out the chorus separately. Truly, the sincerity of LaFave’s performance and the genuineness that exuded from his persona on stage was hard to resist; according to Mary Jane Fross, who, with her husband Chuck, had travelled all the way from San Francisco to celebrate their 40th anniversary with this show, stated that it was “his sincerity, and the articulateness of his lyrics” that endeared LaFave so much to her and her husband, and she added, “was hard to find in musicians today.” It would seem from the smiles in the crowd, they too agreed.
by Andrew Chauvin
