MANCHESTER, NH – Here’s the truth, a full disclosure
Poet and songwriter Todd Hearon is my friend, and he wrote a blurb for the back cover of a book of my short stories, “A Better Loser,” which will be published in October.
When I reached out to Todd this summer, asking — my writer friends know that this is also referred to as “begging”— him for a blurb, he generously agreed. In our email correspondence, Todd told me that his band was playing a show in September with Jon Nolan for the release of Nolan’s new album “Slow Cooker” at The Rex Theater in Manchester.
I told Todd that I would be interested in attending the show and, maybe, writing a piece about it.
Was this quid pro quo?
No. Not exactly.
You see, I’ve been a fan of Hearon’s music and his writing—I even wrote a profile about him— long before I asked him for a blurb or heard about the show at The Rex Theater.
This is also the truth: I wanted to see the show, regardless. But I won’t lie, the fact that I could potentially get paid to watch it certainly appealed to me.
Here is yet another truth.
Prior to attending Friday’s show, I had never heard of Jon Nolan. When I searched Nolan and his music, it was described to me as Americana. I then had to search for “Americana music,” or American roots music, which AI described as a loose genre that blends the American traditions of country, folk, blues and rock.
As it turns out, I knew—and very much liked—many of the artists who fall under that umbrella, such as John Prine, The Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan, Townes Van Zandt and The Band.
But I still wasn’t familiar with Nolan, so I took to Spotify and began listening to the new album “Slow Cooker” on the way to and from work for the past week, alternating days with Todd Hearon’s new album “Impossible Man.”
And the honest-to-God truth is that I loved both albums.
Nolan is a storyteller with an uncanny talent for capturing the voices and plights of everyday folks, and Hearon—as I already knew—brings a poet’s sensibilities to the song1 in a way that only a handful of the greats can pull off. Both albums are impeccably produced and intelligently arranged.
So I was truly amped—no pun intended—to attend Jon Nolan and Good Co’s album release for “Slow Cooker” with The Todd Hearon Band opening at The Rex Theater in Manchester on Friday night.
And what I saw, speaking truthfully, were performances that left me slack-jawed.
In the picturesque Rex Theater, which has astounding acoustics, two bands of prodigious musical talent took the stage for an audience of half-filled seats—and I truly pity any music lovers who may have been on the fence and chose to stay at home.
They missed a gem.
Photo Gallery/Dana Burton
The Todd Hearon Band opened with a peppy version of “Looking Glass” from the new album then worked seamlessly through a set that stretched out both Hearon’s lyrical acuity and the band’s seemingly metronomic tightness.
Standing out was singer Lindsay Garfield—who was giving off some Donna Jean Godchaux-vibes—and brought home the song “Too Deep To Feel the Bottom” from “Impossible Man.”
Andrew Blowen (keys), Ralph Sneeden (electric guitar), Dan Beller-McKenna (pedal steel) as well as Geoff Taylor (bass) and Rick Habib (drums), who also played with Good Co., completed a stellar line-up of musicians.
Here is another truth that I’m not exactly proud of.
Prior to the show, I tried to interview Jon Nolan backstage, believing I was still capable of making sense of my shorthand, which I haven’t used in more than a decade. I was wrong. Luckily for me, this didn’t matter: Nolan’s music spoke volumes for him.
Jon Nolan and Good Co., an electric four-piece, immediately took siege of the stage, blasting off with “Mad at Me” from the new album. Those folky, Americana vibes from the studio album were to be damned. These guys rocked—and they rocked hard.
Halfway through the set, Nolan assumed the role of raconteur, telling a story about a man he met when Nolan was younger, working at Marelli’s Fruit & Real Estate in Newmarket, N.H. It felt Springsteen-esque, and then the band launched into a soulful “Someone’s in the Driveway,” the lead track from “Slow Cooker” about a man dying of cancer.
Nolan and Good Co. then proceeded to shred through a series of tunes from the new album, as well as a few of Nolan’s older songs, as Nolan and guitarist Miles Ahlstrom traded licks.
While I didn’t go to the show expecting to see a clinic on playing the electric blues, that is exactly what I got, and I wasn’t disappointed.
At the end of the night, Nolan invited Hearon and his band back to the stage for an encore where they crushed a cover of The Rolling Stones’ “Dead Flowers” then concluded the evening with “Goodbye for Now” from “Slow Cooker.”
And here is the absolute truth: If you’re not paying attention to either of these bands right now, you should.
You can check out Todd Hearon’s new album “Impossible Man” on Spotify, or visit his website: www.toddhearon.com.
You can also stream Jon Nolan’s new album “Slow Cooker” on Spotify or visit his his website: jonnolan.net/
- For example, try this line from “Love Song #551 (The One and Oddly You)”: “Served up the mess of myself in a sonnet/And put your name on it so you can’t pawn it.” ↩︎