On approaching The Garage, it was refreshing to see such a large queue waiting to gain entrance to see Ron Pope, not only that but also a younger crowd than one might expect. Here at #TEAMw21 we may have arrived a little late joining the Ron Pope express, but a career spanning, 4 shows in one single set, well and truly brought us aboard.
The evening would commence with a ( way too ) short, five song set from Emily Scott Robinson from North Carolina taking to the stage in a dress that would catch the light, reflecting especially well when the blue and white lights bathed the stage. With a big smile and black curly hair she would be a most engaging presence, and would lay down a marker for when she is scheduled to return next year with a brand new album.
She would open with "Appalachia" one of a batch of new songs that would pepper her brief appearance, it came with a vigorous right hand guitar motion and dealt with the place she grew up, in her home state. An almost folk like,higher pitched voice accompanied her playing to great effect. Her second song "Old Gods" from her "Sirens" album was announced as a love song for Macbeth, as every tragedy starts from love.. It would see Emily hit some high notes with the purest of vocals.
Things would move in a more country direction with"Cheap Seats" which was born from getting the cheapest seats for a John Prine / Bonnie Raitt show at the Ryman Auditorium only to find her view totally obscured by a pillar. Matching this experience with the life of an aspiring working musician, made for the most captivating song
"Oh, I've been right where you are
Putting miles on my car
Driving to some dead-end job each day
Smiling for my tips
Picking up those extra shifts
Waitressing all my best years away
Some nights I'll buy a ticket and sit alone
In the Mother Church up in the highest row"
With superior, believable lyrics, the two ideas melded together perfectly. Emily would break the fourth wall during the song to observe that the one time she has 3 photographers snapping her,that she was in her shortest dress!
Another teaser for the new album came in the shape of "Bless It All", which paid tribute to the small things in life. Once again the lyrics were beautifully observed. Emily's final song "Better With Time" was another song that displayed a penchant for capturing truly heartfelt feelings and memories into lyrics and placing them against a killer tune. As bubbly and funny on stage as she was charming off it - we eagerly await her return.
Ron Pope would take to the stage with his three piece band, Ollie Sears on drums and Zack Berkman on bass who would also double up on mandolin, with an immaculately dressed Kaitlyn Raitz on fiddle, while also doubling up on cello. They would also provide sweet backing vocals that would be a key part of the evening. Ron himself was a tall imposing figure, his face a mass of hair with a voice that could rock or deliver the most tender of deliveries, As we said earlier this was really 4 incarnations in one performance, and with Brother Osborne, across town, the opening one was of a Southern rock band and let #TEAMw21 tell you that Ron can rock with the best of them!.
The opening would see Ron pick out an electric guitar riff, before the rest of the band kicked in on "Nobody's Gonna Make It Out Alive" . Ron would seem to have to slightly stoop by an inch or so to reach the mic as he fired out the lyrics on this rootsy opener. A big drum intro would set the mood for "Let's Get Stoned", a tale of youthful misadventures, which included a Ron guitar solo and backing vocals to top things off. The powerful opening then saw Ron enter Rolling Stones riff territory with "Hell Or High Water" - the chorus would come with some lovely high pitched vocals and would see Ron leap away form the mic when he shouted "hey" into the microphone almost as if he was electrocuted! this was a powerful rock 'n' roll opening that was taking no prisoners.
Ron had a great rapport with the crowd, and would immediately engage them to provide harmonies on "One Grain Of Sand" dividing them into three sections, It all made for the most perfect of pop choruses, with a crowd joyfully happy to be in full voice. It all ended with big smiles all round.
There was a delightful cello intro which would go onto provide a a major riff on "Mama Drove A Mustang", It would see Ron don a harmonica with which he would solo later in the song and it came with a pure Americana chorus.
It was at this stage that Ollie on drums was revealed to be a temporary stand in for a flu ridden regular. Refreshingly, Ron was an artist with something to say, whether it be politics or for the next song, the opioid crisis with "I Gotta Change Or I'm Gonna Die" which is appears on Ron's forthcoming album which carried a message of hope for those affected.
The show then entered it's second stage as Ron moved to piano and laid the big ballad "In My Bones" on us, accompanied by the sound of the cello and a mass of the audience singing along. Gradually the band would all join in, giving a stirring anthemic nature to it. Pleased with the audience participation he dived straight into another old song "Fireflies" which proved to be even more of a communal singalong. At this stage the band would leave, taking us into another stage of the evening. Ron seemed truly humbled and touched that these songs were evoking such a strong response, The next song "Love Is A Thing You Do" was dedicated to his wife, present in the audience, and would reduce the previous rowdy crowd to a pin drop silence.
The band would rejoin Ron, not on stage, but in the middle of the audience, for an unplugged "I Pray I'll Be Seeing You", For a song about heading to Virginia, it had an almost Celtic feel to it and certainly displayed the harmonies of the band., with the cello and mandolin backing also stand out stars. It was back to the stage for a lovely Jackson Browne story before diving into a sublime cover of "These Days". It's not often that the you hear the phrase Bach 'n' Roll but a fantastic performance from Kaitlyn would give us a few minutes of Bach's Cello Suite Number 1 in G Major! before segueing into "Perfect For Me" which would come with one of the sweetest, most gentle audience singalongs #TEAMw21 has ever witnessed.
Ollie would bring the serenity to a close with a booming drum intro to "Can't Stay Here" and soon we were rocking once again, complete with a cello solo. Ron would once more move to the piano and welcome Emile Scott Robinson back to the stage for "I'm Not The Devil" with Ron leaving leaving an extended gap on the next line "No matter what you ------ think" which added drama. Emily would take the second verse on this most moving of songs. Coming to Ron's material late led to a strange sensation during "Drop In The Ocean" when #TEAMw21 seemed to be the only people who did not know the words as the roof at the Garage was well and truly lifted.
A final touch of class would see Ron close with his excellent current single "Life In Your Years" played on an acoustic guitar to a once again silent audience.
Photography - Colin Jones