really rough mixes from the new live recording by skipheller
"Alan told us if we were in LA to see if Skip Heller was playing, but warned us it's not always easy to find when he is. He doesn't like to play anyplace that holds more than forty people, and his webpage doesn't usually have anything about his own music. He almost always writes about other people. But Alan told us to look on Facebook, and we found out he was playing at Rafa's Gallery and Lounge in the Echo Park district.
"We were loaded with a mix disc of Alan's favorite songs by Heller, and we were big fans by the time we found Rafa's, which was up a flight of steps under a bridge. The place was packed, and Rafa himself was selling food and beer our of the pantry. We got some hot dogs and fries and found a seat at the very edge of the bar. The opening act was Madame Somebody (Pamita - ed.). She played ukelele and sang thrities reefer songs. Actually, she was pretty damn good.
"She introduced Skip Heller as 'The man who is roots music in Los Angeles', and he came onstage to a big wave of applause. We felt the bar rattle, and the band started playing. It's just Skip on guitar and singing with a young kid playing stand-up bass and an older guy playing a snare drum with a pair of brushes. They were great. I didn't know Skip played lead, so it blew us away when he took these funky solos on acoustic. The bass player and drummer were great too. We were expecting this Bakersfield country like we'd heard on our mix, but he hardly played any of the songs we knew. He did maybe four in the whole set. It was mostly like country soul, but not like "Ode To Billy Joe". It was definitely more like Philly soul but it was definitely country. Most of the songs were either new, or songs he wrote for other people. He covered John Hartford, Jimmy Reed, and Waylon Jennings. When he talked between songs he was really funny. No star bullshit. He made you feel like the night was loose, but you could tell the band was really tight. You could see them concentrate. He'd glance at the bass player and smile, or he and the drummer would just nod to each other like they were playing on their porch.
"It was the best thing we saw the whole week in Cali."
