Thursday, February 19, 2009

I Missed Them, And So Did You, It Seems


Allan and I had plans to go see Dailey & Vincent at Joe's Pub on Tuesday night. Although I've seen them play with Doyle Lawson and Ricky Skaggs respectively on numerous occasions, I have not seen them since they became a duo, although (as I described here) I really, really like their first CD -- a new one called Brothers by Different Mothers is on the way. But after spending all day at an academic conference without eating, I had a headache, and Allan thought that the show was on a different evening. So we ended up not going.

And according to Jon Caramanica's review in the New York Times, apparently not that many other people went either:

Dailey & Vincent, the most celebrated new bluegrass act of the last few years, could be playing any number of towns where they, or their genre, have a significant following. But instead there they were at Joe’s Pub, flat-footed and sober, singing to a crowd of a few dozen, a not-even-half-full room. The lesson: You might not always be in the place where you’re most needed.

That's sad to hear, although, to be fair, it was a 10:00 p.m. show on a schoolnight -- something that doesn't happen in a lot of places outside of New York -- and I also think that it was only recently announced. (Certainly I know that on the Moonshine Show, I had only recently announced it.)

Caramanica says that nonetheless it was a "sharp performance ... with dignity and, ultimately, joy," featuring "nimble, complex arrangements." And I am definitely sad to have missed a show where a band "spent about a third of their set paying tribute to the Statler Brothers."

So I hope that Jamie Dailey and Darrin Vincent will come back to New York soon nonetheless, as I still really would like to see them. (Really.)

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