May 23rd 1999 – Cheltenham Town Hall
Supported by: Del McCoury Band
Well, this one a funny old day out! In many ways, one of my favourites even though it got a bit tedious after a while. Really wish I still had a ticket stub for this one, just because it was so different from my normal concerts.
On paper, it was going to be superb, what’s not to like about a Steve Earle concert. Seen him before, loved it…..what was added to the mix here was a little known band (to me), The Del McCoury Band – a bluegrass ensemble from York county, Pennsylvania…..more of this later.
My friend Phil and I did a day road trip for this one as it was a Sunday. Cheltenham is in the beautiful Cotswolds and only an hour and a half (in those days) from Leicester, so it would be rude not to take in a bit of scenery. I think we must’ve taken in somewhere like Burford on the way? as I ended up driving up the A40 to approach Cheltenham. Anyway, we came across a fantastic pub, just off the main road, The Fox Inn at Great Barrington which apparently did fantastic pies………it did!!
I remember leaving the main road and driving down a winding lane that opened out to a fantastic village view (Little Barrington)
We carried on to The Fox Inn, which was a lovely countryside pub with real ale and spot on pies!! It looks a different menu these days, but I’d reckon it would still be worth a visit (a few years on!!)
Fed and watered, we journeyed on to Cheltenham, only a few more miles up the road, parked up near the Town Hall and as we were a little bit late now having enjoyed the pub a bit too long, wandered in to the hall…..WTF!!!
I don’t think I’ll ever see a look like that on Phil’s face again! The Del McCoury Band were in full flow and it wasn’t quite what we were gearing ourselves up for! One microphone centre stage with 5 (I think) musicians circled around it. Del was the singer and Guitar, Ronnie (his son) on mandolin, Rob (another son) on banjo, Jason Carter on fiddle and Mike Bub on bass. Ok – so I had to look up their names 😉
To be fair the harmonies were amazing, a bit unfair to say Del was the singer, as they all sang and played instruments. Cheltenham has turned into Nashville!! I have never seen instruments played so fast and so well!
We probably heard 3 songs before they broke off, so we had some time to regroup ready for the next adventure into a whole new music world!!
Steve Earle came on for what was to be Set 1 of 3 (that’s a lot of music!!). Now we had Steve holding centre stage at the mike, but on came the 5 members of the band and stood in a semi circle around him…..fascinating! They opened with Texas Eagle, I can’t find any Cheltenham clips, but this one below from the year before gives an idea of what happened next!
Amazing sound and to see Steve Earle fit in seamlessly to the bluegrass style showed just how different music styles can bounce off each other……in fact, I don’t think I’d seen Earle look so happy!
Now Set 2 was really interesting as Steve Earle didn’t participate and left us to “enjoy” some true raw Bluegrass…….oh my!
This was full on with a genre of music, it is fair to say, neither Phil or I had paid any attention to…..and although impressive, we weren’t totally won over……….the playing skills were second to none, but after a while, I couldn’t get the image of a black and white spaghetti western out of my mind.
This band musically were stunning, no doubt, but not quite my bag.
We sneaked in another beer (I only had a couple as driving) before Set 3 kicked off……..we were a little bit Bluegrassed out at this point, but Steve Earle was back on for this set.
Steve came out and plated a few standard acoustic songs, including Guitar Town and Transcendental Blues, then, the music carried on along the same vein as Set 1 with Earle on acoustic guitar and the band around him, which was fun, but we were done. We did well and hung until they played Copperhead Road (a bit like the clip below) and then made a swift exit to hit the road back home (country road, take me home, where I belong….sorry!)
We had a fantastic day out all round and it is great to try some new style of music to be impressed by the wizardry of the musicians and by mesmerised by what you are seeing. I’ll need some heavy music next though.
Set List
Set 1 – Steve Earle with Del McCoury Band
- Texas Eagle
- Yours Forever Blue
- My Old Friend The Blues
- The Graveyard Shift
- Outlaw’s Honeymoon
- Dixieland
- Connemara Breakdown
- Harlan Man
- The Mountain
- I Still Carry You Around
SET 2 – The Del McCoury Band (no Steve Earle)
- A Far Cry From Virginia
- 12 She’s Left Me Again
- 13 Red Eyes On A Mad Dog
- 14 Don’t You Think It’s Time To Go
- 15 Pike County Breakdown
- 16 Nashville Cats
- 17 Body And Soul
- 18 Backslidin’ Blues
- 19 Back Up And Push
- 20 Get Down On Your Knees And Pray
- 21 You’ve Got The Look Of A Perfect Diamond
- 22 Blackjack County Chains
- 23 I Feel The Blues Movin’ In
- 24 Rawhide STEVE SOLO
SET 3 – Steve Earle
- More Than I Can Do
- Now She’s Gone
- Goodbye
- Taneytown
- Transcendental Blues
- I Can Wait
- Brand New Companion
- South Nashville Blues
- Guitar Town
Steve Earle joined by The Del McCoury NBand
- Mystery Train Part II
- Leroy’s Dustbowl Blues
- Hometown Blues
- Long, Lonesome Highway Blues
- I’m Looking Through You
- Ben McCulloch
- Tom Ames’ Prayer
- Carrie Brown
- Copperhead Road
…..we left……….
- Hillbilly Highway
- The Cheltenham Twist
- Johnny Come Lately
- Down The Road
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