Posted by John Fisher on March 11, 2009
Cayamo. Funny name, amazing experience. February 26th through March 6th, I took a cruise through the Caribbean with more than 30 different musicians including Indigo Girls, John Hiatt, Lyle Lovett, Shawn Colvin, Patty Griffin, and the Northwest’s own Brandi Carlile, but more on her in a moment.
Here are some highlights:
Lyle Lovett has an amazing dry humor that was instantly endearing. His band (all male) all
wear coats and ties with cowboy boots. Very classy.
The Greencards are the most fun band I have ever come across. A guitar, a fiddle, a bass guitar and a mandolin played brilliantly by two Aussies, one Brit and a dude from Atlanta. I watched them jam with seemingly countless other musicians, taking tremendous joy in their collaboration. Watch this band closely and cancel plans if they ever come to the Northwest. I certainly will.
Patty Griffin is seemingly every musician’s hero and of her three shows, one was astounding. The other two were just fair. She still has my complete attention though, and her most recent record is one of my all time favorites.
Indigo Girls did that thing that they do, which is to have other performers on stage with them. (On one occasion, Mindy Smith performed during their set while they took a break.) Singing “Closer To Fine” to close their third show, they had Brandi Carlile & The Twins, Vienna Teng & Alex Wong, Mindy Smith, and Tift Merritt all on stage singing with them, and it’s likely I’ve forgotten someone.
Girlyman had the most incredibly three-part harmony I’ve ever heard. Their first set was on the pool deck and it was too windy to appreciate their harmony and songwriting. Thankfully they moved inside for their next set and thankfully I got to see it.
Emerson Hart has a wicked and often inappropriate sense of humor. This is perhaps why his sets were late at night. His music seems lock-step aligned with who he is as a person; I walked away a fan.
Shawn Mullins, after hitting it big with “Lullaby”, has apparently continued plying his craft. His sets were energetic and his songwriting is wonderfully soulful. As it did on “Lullaby”, his deep gravelly voice will make your bones vibrate a little (in that good way).
And Shawn Colvin, and John Hiatt, and Tift Merritt, and Kathleen Edwards and on and on and on.
Oh, and Brandi Carlile. Oh my gracious, Brandi Carlile. Brandi’s local (from Ravensdale, WA) and I’ve heard the folks on The Mountain talk about her, but hadn’t heard her music before this cruise. Shame on me for that. Brandi has an awe inspiring vocal range and folks, that girl tears the stage UP! She was the belle of the ball, appearing on stage with nearly every band that would let her and from what it looked like they ALL let her. She was a constant presence on the ship along with The Twins and Josh the Barefoot Cellist (not sure what that’s about, but he made beautiful music). Usually she was running to a microphone somewhere, and wherever she went she brought the house down. In a last-day tribute to Buddy Miller (who couldn’t make the cruise because of an illness) she got a spontaneous standing ovation for her performance of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah”. Her performance of that song brought tears to my eyes each of the three times I saw her do it.
OK, enough gushing. I’ve alluded to it, but perhaps the most amazing part of this experience was the respect these musicians have for each other and the spontaneous collaboration that resulted from that mutual respect. On pool decks, in the corners of bars, and in the open atrium in the middle of the ship, they sat around and played music with each other. My nighttime activity was to roam the ship until the wee hours seeking out these jam sessions and I wasn’t ever disappointed.
