You’ve probably heard a bunch of your friends complain about it. They tell you that every month, week, and even every day, you have started feeling the same. They’re getting by, sure. But, increasingly, they’re wondering if that’s really living at all, and what they should do about it.
If you are a good friend, you’ll nod politely and tell them that you understand. But have you asked them how often they plan for something unexpected to happen? Have you inquired just how often they expect a bit of magic to get sprinkled into their lives?
The Sven Curth (huge) Trio and the folks who came down to see the band on a warm August evening at the local bar weren’t just looking for blues covers and a couple of beers. In their own way, they went out there looking for a bit of magic that, often, happens when people manage the guts to get up on a stage and sing to people and the ability to get all instruments to be in tune.
Magic may always be part of the recipe, but this is, otherwise, an unassuming group of musicians who, with this record, just want to make you feel like you’re sitting by the bar, nodding your head to the music as you wait for the queue ease up.
Just listen to the opening number, where this rootsy soft-rock band, along with collaborator Chris Carballeira, delivers a philosophical reflection on the nature of fleeting pleasures and wasted time.
In fact, a good chunk of this very nicely recorded live album sounds like a profound dialogue that might occur once the college professor who’s ended up at the bar on Tuesday night offers to buy one more round. You’ll laugh, end up crying, and have to buy a drink yourself just get the Universe to even back up.
But, invisible player on the record, the X-factor is surely the audience. How many beer-loving casual listeners would react so openly to a track like “Jesus Loves Tractors,” a tongue-in-cheek number about the holy sights of The Bible Belt, or “My Baby Hates Me When She’s Drinking,” a cheerful holler of a song about co-dependence and abuse. Dean Ween, I’m sure, would’ve loved to have been at this gig.
On “Rain,” the band explores Allman Brothers Band-styled dark blues, complete with slinky guitar solos. And, on the reggae meets Grateful Dead-styled “Wonder What,” the band explores the possibility that karma is to blame for life’s misfortunes before retreating into the comforts of an elongated, 8-minute jam.
And where does it leave us? Drunk, cheerful and uninterested in whatever this mighty scary world might want to throw at us this time. Magic tends to infiltrate the world of people who go looking for it, and, in its own way, that’s just what The Sven Curth (huge) Trio did, in between drinks, on “live at your local Waterhole.”
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