We only own about a dozen songs from Rodney Crowell’s long career, but when we saw he was coming to Eugene, we immediately bought tickets to his concert.
It’s been a trend for us lately, deciding to see artists even though they’re well past their hit-making years. Rodney Crowell, at 69, is still in great voice, is still writing good songs, and can still really play his trusty black & white guitar. Throw in two virtuoso musicians on lead guitar and violin, and you get an excellent evening of music! Guitarist Joe Robinson was especially impressive with his intricate playing, similar to Chet Atkins’ full mastery of the instrument. Robinson was given the spotlight for two of his own songs.
The peak of Crowell’s career was over three decades ago, with his album Diamonds & Dirt In 1988.
The album produced five #1 hits on the country chart. Although his music is classified as country, some of it seems built more on blues and rock & roll. Maybe “Outlaw Country” is the closest label.
Some of Crowell’s better known songs include “‘Til I Gain Control Again”, “Shame On The Moon” (covered by Bob Seger), “I Ain’t Livin’ Long LikeThis” (covered by Waylon Jennings), “An American Dream” (covered by The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band with Linda Ronstadt), and “I Couldn’t Leave You If I Tried”.
Even though we didn’t know many of the songs Crowell played at the concert, they all came off great, and the crowd was enthusiastic.
Other older artists we’ve seen in the past couple years include:
(Guitarist Leo Kottke)
(Kris Kristofferson)
(Paul Stookey of Peter, Paul & Mary)
The point is, all of the shows were well worth the time and the price of the tickets. We recommend attending concerts like these when established artists are in your area. You’re almost certain to have a great time with their music and their stories.
After the Rodney Crowell concert, the venue (The Shedd Institute in Eugene) sent us a thank you card with this photo:
That was a nice touch!
I am a solid Rodney Crowell fan. I eagerly await each new album and snap it up. I highly recommend dipping into any one of his albums post his hit packed “Diamonds & Dirt”. Mostly all diamonds to be found in every album. I feel the same about Rosanne Cash, who as you know, was once Rodney’s wife. While I like many of her hits from the 80’s and early 90’s (check out “On The Surface” – with Rodney in close harmony, and “What We Really Want”), I find that each of her albums since then are rich in lyrical content as well as very strong vocally and instrumentally.