Linda McRae Band - The Sportsmen's Tavern

      Linda McRae returned to Buffalo for a June 15 show at the Sportsmen's Tavern, performing for the first time in a while in Buffalo with a band, and delivered an excellent rootsy show.

     The former Spirit of the West bassist/vocalist has taken an even more traditional turn since going solo, performing in small-group and solo settings and taking up not just acoustic guitar, but banjo, and McRae has become quite an accomplished player. She has frequently played with multi-instrumentalist Jim Whitford in Buffalo and elsewhere in New York and Ontario; I must say we are lucky that she stays at Whitford's house when visiting WNY with her husband and true partner, James Whitmire, because we get to not only visit with her but hear some fine rehearsals.

     The show opened with "Doin' Life Without Parole," a song of love and commitment from McRae's new "Rough Edges and Ragged Hearts" CD, highlighted by a cool Doug Yeomans guitar solo and some accordion from Mark Panfil. The next tune was also off the new (really good) CD, "Hope It Lasts Through Supper," a Whitmire poem put to music on whether or not a romance has a chance to last at all; McRae's banjo and Whitford's bass were particularly good on this simple twanger. "Deck of '52," a McRae/Whitmire co-write, was a sparse, stately, beautifully sad song particularly colored by accordion and guitar; McRae followed this with a really nice cover of Townes Van Zandt's classic "Pancho and Lefty."

     After this came another achingly lovely new song, "Higher Ground," in which a homeless vet seeks a little spiritual rest or redemption as alcohol begins to take him on his final fatal journey; Panfil's accordion was McRae's only accompaniment for half the song before the band joined in. Whitford stepped to the forefront for a moment to sing his own song, "Crash All Night," and smiled over Panfil's harmonica before joking, "I didn't know it was such a country song." McRae ended her first set with two songs from her older CDs, "Hoot and Holler," with solos by Yeoman's (guitar) and Panfil (Dobro) actually outdone by some dreamy vocals from McRae, and a cover of "The L&N Don't Stop Here Any More," detailing the death of a former train stop town.

     The second set started with "Carve It to the Heart," the title song from her 2008 CD which blends blues, country and folk; McRae's banjo stood out well. "Three Midnights," a song of addiction, loneliness and recovery, featured some fine guitar from Yeomans and the line "darker than three midnights in a jar," which my wife Val Dunne correctly points out as a gem. "Rough Edges and Ragged Hearts" notes that we don't have to be perfect to be right for our lovers/spouses. McRae has become a rather good interpreter of Hank Williams Sr. songs, and at this show nailed "Long Gone Lonesome Blues," assisted by Panfil's accordion. The band tossed in another cover, a fun run through of the Rolling Stones "Far Away Eyes," then added a couple more McRae originals, including "Flying Jenny," and ending with the gospel flavored "Be Your Own Light."