Go See Hear In L.A.: Dec. 20-Jan. 2

In the holiday spirit of giving, I will be giving you two weeks of picks instead of one. While maybe it has to do with giving myself a break during this winter break time period.
Either way, onto the shows.
On Dec. 20, Middle Brother, a band formed by members of the Dawes, Delta Spirit and Deer Tick, will be playing a benefit show at the Troubadour. Don’t know much about the band, but they have a good pedigree.
Also, on the 20th the Blind Boys of Alabama will be filling Disney Hall with their sweet sounds.
That rockabilly filly Rosie Flores will be playing a trio of shows before the year’s end. Her shows on the 22 at the Cat Club and the 23rd at the Redwood Bar will be Christmas-themed while her 29th show at the Cat Club will regular rocking affair.
On the 27th, the Long Tangles out of New Orleans come to the Silverlake Lounge for a show. They are one of those boy-girl duos and they have a lovely poppy sound with some appealing dark shading. Watch out for them.
When it comes to New Year’s Eve, the top bet is the Lucinda Williams show at the Viper Room, if you can snag tickets. There’ll also be a swinging time at the Mint with the Royal Crown Revue and Donovan Frankenreiter headlines at the Grove of Anaheim

Have a great holiday. Thanks for reading. And see you in ’11.

Matthew Ryan at Molly Malone’s, Los Angeles, CA, 2/21/10

Over the past three years, Matthew Ryan has produced a fascinating trilogy of discs, From A Late Night High Rise, Matthew Ryan vs. The Silver State and Dear Lover, which matched with confessional singer-songwriter tunes with haunting folk-tronica sonic background. For his solo appearance at L.A.’s Molly Malone’s, however, it was just him on stage, accompanied only with his guitar and an occasional harmonica.
In his raspy, hushed voice, Ryan shared a searing set of life-scarred songs, like “They Were Wrong,” “American Dirt,” “Dear Lover” and “The Wilderness.” His emotionally intimate tunes feature such evocative lyrics as “I want the dream that we never had,” “I don’t feel much lately but that’s how I hide,” and “we were in the front row at the sad last goodbye.” There’s a little bit of Springsteen in Ryan’s working class/dead-end life setting but a little of the Irish poet (maybe it was the Irish bar that got me thinking that way) in him too. Ryan’s stripped-down set-up at this show also fit with his emotionally stripped down lyrics.
I felt too a certain punk rock influence - both in the physicality of his songs and structurally in the way he repeats phrases to add emphasis. It’s not surprising then that one of few covers songs that he has recorded is the Clash’s “Somebody Got Murdered.” He didn’t perform that one, but he did do another favorite cover, the Go-Betweens’ “Providence,” which does fit wonderfully in with his own tunes. It was also one of the several tunes that he closed the set with playing in the audience – a shadowy area that was an appropriate area for Ryan’s neither black nor white musical world.
In the small club’s crowd was Lucinda Williams, a big-time admirer. She expressed her admiration for him during this set and he dedicated his slowed down version of Burt Bacharach’s “I Will Never Fall In Love Again” to her and her husband Tom, and Williams sang along. While his songs were darkly intense, Ryan was far from the brooding musician on stage. He humorously announced that he made it through “Chrome” successfully for the first time in three shows and later stopped a song to help an older woman look for her purse.
Opening the show was the country rocker Gina Villalobos who turned out a lively set to her hometown crowd. Her feisty, rootsy tunes and crackly, gritty vocals brought Lucinda Williams to mind, and not just because she was in the audience. Songs like “Somebody Save Me” “Pictures of Pictures” and “Sun In My Eyes;” however, stood out on their own. I was aware of Villalobos but hadn’t kept up with her music; however, this show reminded me of her talent.