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Setlist
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The band Plains rolled into First Ave on the backend of their maiden tour and was greeted by a warm and receptive crowd where nary a cowboy hat could be found. Instead, winter coats and ski caps were the apparel as an unusual winter season settled in early.
MJ Lenderman and his band opened the evening sounding at times like younger relatives to Son Volt, but a little grungier and even more laid back. He started off with a slow dirge of a song that kept building in “No Mercy” and then moved onto the upbeat, almost danceable “TV Dinners” about a man at home all by himself on a Friday night definitely not dancing while heating up his pre-made meal.
Based in Ashville, NC and playing guitar for the band Wednesday, he is in town for the first time with his sophomore album Boat Songs.
His website has him in a cooler surrounded by cases of domestic beer. And although his songs mainly focus on sports, drinking and the pursuit of happiness, there is a tinge of soberness lurking with songs that are brief and observational and seem to get to the point with a few well-placed words.
It's plain to me to see
You have bought yourself a boat
Since the last time you and me spoke
Your laundry looks so clean
Soft threads hanging and relaxing in the wind
You'll feel so much better when you wear these clothes again
Plains is more of a duo and they are comprised of Katie Crutchfield who plays under the name Waxahatchee and Jess Williams. Both are established singers with indie labels that decided why not get together and play a bunch of country songs. If you listen to their debut album I Walked With You a Ways you would think they have been singing together since birth like musical twins, so similar but different enough to make their harmonization not too homogenous and prepackaged.
A full crowd gathered to watch this duo/country experiment and were rewarded “… with voices twining in distinctive harmonies – waltzy and twangy, earthy and diaphanous.” As described by Sarah Edwards of Indy Week.
Both Crutchfield (Birmingham, AL) and Williams (Dallas, TX) grew up with country music and they fully adopted the genre not only in sound but in apparel: Crutchfield wore black leather chaps along with a faded jean jacket (outlaw) and Williams had sparkly tassels attached and swaying from her black jeans and printed roses on her jacket with thorns lurking (Dolly Parton with a bite).
With only one album under their rhinestone belts Plains played their whole album with highlights like “Problem with It” and “Abilene”. In country the story is king or in this instance queen. There is directness in the lyrics not encumbered by orchestral swells or discordant chords, but a steady beat to keep the words coming. When you hear a good country song like “Abilene” you remember it long after it is heard.
An hour into the set Crutchfield told the crowd that they were going to play a country song, which produced a collective “Huh?” And then they launched into Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson’s “Mama Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys”, a song that Crutchfield and Williams would have listened to over and over when growing up where all seeds are planted.
MJ Lenderman |
MJ Lenderman |
MJ Lenderman |
MJ Lenderman |
MJ Lenderman |
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Plains at First Avenue, Minneapolis (18 Nov 2022) |
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BONUS: Photos of Plains at Knuckleheads, Kansas City (11/19/2022), courtesy of Kimberly Carlson
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| dave ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com |
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