Steve Goodman
Live at the Earl of Old Town

(Red Pajamas)

The Music Box's #6 concert recording of 2006

First Appeared in The Music Box, September 2006, Volume 13, #9

Written by John Metzger

Considering the conviction with which Steve Goodman delivers the observational humor of Men Who Love Women Who Love Men, the sardonic Lincoln Park Pirates (his ode to the notorious towing company that terrorized Chicagoans during the late ’70s), and Shel Silverstein’s comical Three Legged Man, it’s hard to consider them to be novelty songs. Then again, neither is Goodman’s adaptation of When the Saints Go Marching In, which, being an unapologetic fan of the Chicago Cubs, he dutifully revamps into a battle cry for the perennially disappointing North Side baseball club. After all, performing before a hometown crowd does have its privileges. Nevertheless, it’s when he is joined by harmonica player Corky Siegel and mandolinist Jethro Burns that Live at the Earl of Old Town hits its stride. Both he and Siegel demonstrate their instrumental prowess as they alternately find redemption and beauty within the impassioned gospel-blues of I’ll Fly Away and Grand Canyon. Likewise, with Burns at his side, he unleashes a positively buoyant rendition of Family Tree. Elsewhere, he dabbles in Django Reinhardt-inspired swing on a spirited cover of Red Red Robin, and he respectably tackles a few of his favorite country songs, such as Terry Fell’s Truck Drivin’ Man and Leon Payne’s Lost Highway. Taken from a series of recently discovered tapes that originally were recorded in August 1978, six years before he succumbed to leukemia, Live at the Earl of Old Town offers a playful, relaxed, and wonderfully intimate glimpse at Goodman in his prime. ½

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Ratings

1 Star: Pitiful
2 Stars: Listenable
3 Stars: Respectable
4 Stars: Excellent
5 Stars: Can't Live Without It!!

Copyright © 2006 The Music Box