“Fiddle” and “deadly” don’t usually appear in the same sentence together — unless you’re talking about Carrie Rodriguez. Photos and text by Jason Claypool.
From Belfast, by way of Minneapolis? From Austin, by way of New York City? The mix of influences was simply stunning at Thursday’s show at the .
Ben Kyle brought songs about the Old Country and the sea, balanced with stories of his family finding their way in the New — stories in a bit of a Minnesota accent, but punctuated with a permanent Irish brogue (They don’t miss the cold of Minnesota, what with the “spittle freezin’ ‘fore it hits the groined.” Heck, who would?).
Headliner , Austin-born and bred and ready to take on America, has lately been based out of New York and is ready to take on the world. She closed out the night with some attitude on stage. Simply deadly on the fiddle, she brought the not-even-close-to-capacity crowd to their knees with her songs of love and regret, and a bit of vengeance.
Personal favorites “Absence” and “’50s French Movie” drew strong applause from the crowd with their themes of a woman confronting her heartache and those who have taken advantage of her. But possibly the strongest moment in the show came when she related the story of “Seven Angels on a Bicycle,” and the crowd collectively realized that it isn’t just a quirky-yet-dark pop rock song, but a tribute to a friend who died in a tragic accident.
Over the course of her set, I realized that with each song, Carrie Rodriguez is deadly not just for her fiddle skills, but for her ability to wrap heartache in a bit of pop alt-country, or to drive home the sharp end of vengeance in the blur of that fiddle that you would have been lucky to hear at a barn-raising years ago.
Jason Claypool is a digital photographer from Lakewood. He specializes in concert, music and event photography. His work is available as large-format prints. His complete profile, with contact information, is , and his collections are Track his show calendar on .
MORE PHOTOS: Romantica
Carrie Rodriguez
