Accompanying Dan Stuart on this trek of the UK is US singer-songwriter, Tom Heyman (formerly of Go To Blazes) who released `24th Street Blues` last October, a concept record, about the endangered culture and living ghosts of the Mission District in San Francisco. Tom has lived in a sprawling and dilapidated converted storefront on 24th Street, deep in the heart of San Francisco’s Mission District, since the turn of the millennium.
The set opens up with `Alright` and for the next forty five minutes this native New Yorker who has spent the last twenty five years in The City by the bay enthrals and amuses in equal measure, with songs and stories as he said that are “partly true but mostly fiction”
Songs like the title track of his latest release `24th Street Blues` and `The Mission Is On Fire` are delightfully picturesque but also heartbreaking. `Desperate` and `Hidden History` have an almost autobiographic slant while you root for `Barbara Jean` who tries to excel in life from humble beginnings and `Sonny Jim` a likeable rogue, who finds himself down on his luck. We also enjoy a cover of Walter Becker`s `Junkie Girl` a song I must admit I’d never heard although familiar with his material from his work with Steely Dan. Tom`s observations of San Francisco while jarring at times where swathed in the love his has for his adopted city and those who inhabit it.
If I could ever afford to return there I’d ask Tom to show me the real San Francisco, where his heart is obviously left.
Dan Stuart is a founding member of Green on Red, a band associated with both LA’s Paisley Underground of the 1980’s and the beginning of the so-called Americana movement. In the late eighties and early nineties, I saw Green on Red at The Irish Centre, Breedon bar and Goldwyn’s in Birmingham and all those venues are long gone. It was an exhilarating time for country rock / Americana bands with The Long Ryders, The Rockingbirds, Jayhawks, Lone Justice and The Cowboy Junkies all touring my home town.
These days Dan is more associated as a writer so this soiree to the UK was a not to be missed.
Dan prefers to play a number then dissect it`s meaning or birth afterwards. He opens with a cover of Steve Fobert`s `It isn’t gonna be that way` before a version of the Australian bush ballad `Waltzing Matilda`. Dan`s father was Australian and died on 6th April, Waltzing Matilda day. Dan asks Tom to join him and the two flesh out the remainder of this entertaining and amusing set.
For me it was the tracks from The `Marlowe Billings` albums that hit home. `The Day William Holden Died` recalls the actor`s sad demise while `Last Century Blues` is a kind of Forrest Gump like tale. The introspective `Why I Ever Married You` and `Gringo Go Home` about being an outsider in a hostile environment.
Dan did share a few numbers from his time with Green on Red with `No Free Lunch`, `Time Ain’t Nothing`, `Jimmy Boy`, `Hair Of the Dog`, `Rock & Roll Disease`, `Gravity Talks`, and `That’s what dreams` and we got to realise the legacy of this band who meant so much to myself and a fair few others.
Tonight had everything with these gifted singer-songwriter musicians and this ninety minutes passed in the blink of an eye.
I headed home with so many thoughts and songs going through my head and today will be spent once again in their company but via the internet and sadly not live. There`s only a few selected dates left on this tour so I’d encourage you to attend if you can. An emotionally rewarding night awaits you.
