Jun. 22: Acoustic glory at The Pageant

(Credit: Ted Barron)

Jason Gonulsen
Special to Metromix

I've seen so many memorable shows at The Pageant, and my first concert there still remains one of the best I've attended. Steve Earle and The Dukes were on tour in support of 'Transcendental Blues,' and I was pumped. They ended up playing for well over two hours, rocking the near capacity crowd in every way imaginable. I particularly remember someone yelling out a song request, to which Earle replied: “I appreciate that. But, let me explain something, because it sounds like this is your first time at one of my shows. I pretty much play whatever the hell I want.”

That's just how Steve Earle does it.

For this tour, Earle will performing solo acoustic in support of his newest album, 'Townes,' a tribute to the late Townes Van Zandt. Often mentioning Van Zandt as his "teacher," Earle is sure to give his acoustic guitar and the Townes catalog a workout on Wednesday evening. If you've never seen him solo, expect a lot of stories from the legendary singer-songwriter—he'll even weave those tales into the songs themselves, like only he can. While Van Zandt is no longer with us, we are fortunate enough to have Steve Earle still around to remind us of how great an artist Townes was; it's because of that fact that I'm so excited to see him again. As a bonus, Joe Pug will open the show, so be sure to be on time.

As if that wasn't enough to look forward to, The Avett Brothers are scheduled to play on Thursday at The Pageant, making it quite a week of acoustic-based music at the Delmar Blvd. music venue. I heard that The Avett Brothers' 2008 show at The Sheldon was quite a treat, and I'm hoping this week's stop in St. Louis is more of the same. 2007's 'Emotionalism' was one of their best albums to date, and in August they will release 'I and Love and You.' Busy brothers they are, wouldn't you agree?

Five Steve Earle/Avett Brothers videos: