Derek Webb and Sandra McCracken were in town last night. (alternate site for Derek) I had been telling people that theirs would be the first "concert" concert I had ever attended. I've been to symphonies, operas, wind bands, and Celtic/folk shows, and I expected this to be a big CCM concert. Well, it was remarkably like a folk show, seeing that that's how Derek tours. What's the difference between this show and other folk music concerts I've been to? This one was indoors (good thing, since it rained), and there were no chairs (good thing since the room was sold out without them).
Late Tuesday, a trio of girls from Bellingham, opened the show. When singing together, those ladies have beautiful, beautiful voices. Unfortunately, their section of the show didn't seem to have much flow or shape. Beautiful mellow song followed beautiful mellow song. It would have been nice to hear a change in direction or tone rather than only change of musical mode. One or two pieces with a little musical aggression or agitation would have highlighted their other songs nicely.
Sandra took the stage after Late Tuesday and opened her segment with a couple of rollicking country-influenced songs. The girl can sing and play the guitar! To me, it was an interesting contrast of semiprofessional and professional. Late Tuesday has a few albums to their name--possibly more than Sandra. But Sandra has a sense of presence and immediacy that makes for great performance.
After her first two songs, she called out her band. "Sweetie, are you in the building?" Derek (her husband) came running in. Apparently she had decided to skip a song for the sake of time, so he hadn't realized he was on. He picked up a twelve string guitar and was, very much, her band for the next few songs.
There was a brief pause between Sandra's set and Derek's solo set, which went the rest of the evening. Derek is an impressive, impressive guitarist who can blur the lines between strumming and picking and apparently blend the two in a single motion. A lot was going on under those hands.
And a lot has been going on in that head. He titled his most recent album I See Things Upside Down, and compared to the vocal end of evangelical Christianity, he does indeed. Based upon the songs he chose for the evening, I would say he sees much more clearly. He opened with a new song, one line of which particularly stands out:
"Jesus is not a white, middle-class Republican."
Never one to shy away from what the Church needs to hear, that song set much of the tone for the evening. Apparently he's been working through some of the same problems I've been starting on, but he gets to solve them through songs.
Overall, his show was far more thought-provoking than merely enjoyable, which, judging from my meager DVD collection, is the typical version of a night out for me. He played a variety of songs from his previous albums, along with a few from Caedmon's Call (his former band) and other singers like Bob Dylan and Woodie Guthrie.
Performance-wise, Derek has a rather odd style. I had heard talk of his famous white t-shirt, which he wore again last night, sometimes covered with a suit jacket. He's also added glasses similar to mine since the photos in his last album. His eyes were closed much of the evening, but his body, particularly his head, was really into what he was saying. The way he played the microphone almost seemed spastic at times, with quick jerks of the head to flash the sound in and out. His playing was, as I mentioned before, amazing.
Sandra came back out to help him close the evening around 11:00pm with a performance of "Lover," a song from his first album:
Like a man comes to an altar
I came into this town
With the world upon my shoulders
and promises passed down
I went into the water
My father, he was pleased
I built it and I’ll tear it down
So you will be set free
But I found thieves and salesmen
Living in my father's house
I know how they got in here
and I know how to get them out
I’m turning this place over
From floor to balcony
and then just like these doves and sheep
Oh, you will be set free
I’ve always been a lover
From before I drew a breath
Some things I loved easy
and some I loved to death
Because love's no politician
It listens carefully
Of those who come, I can't lose one
So you will be set free
But go on and take my picture
Go on and make me up
I’ll still be your defender
You’ll be my missing son
I’ll send out an army
Just to bring you back to me
Because regardless of your brother's lies
Oh, you will be set free
I am my beloved’s
and my beloved’s mine
So you bring all your history
I’ll bring the bread and wine
and we'll have us a party
Where all drinks are on me
Because as surely as the rising sun
Oh, you will be set free
***************
Derek's next album, Mockingbird, comes out on December 26. Sandra will also have a new album of old hymns with new tunes available in December.