AltCountry: Fairfax Live at the Mercy Lounge, Nashville, TN, July 22, 2005

On one of the hottest days of July, the air conditioning in Nashville’s Mercy Lounge was busted as Fairfax took the stage. Insert clever comment about Fairfax being the next hot band. However, more than a clever comment, it’s true. Fairfax plays an incredible version of bluegrass-inspired AltCountry, an ensemble gathered to give life to these songs.

“Dollar Short” kicked things off with its echoes of the band Canyon, most known for backing Jay Farrar on his live CD/DVD. Elsewhere, you could hear the bluegrass inspired sound, but then the full band would come in, bringing them up to a Son Volt sound. I also caught glimpses of Tom Petty’s countrified rock (or rocked country), but this similarity may be just due to lead singer/rhythm guitarist Nick Pagliari looking a little like Petty. “Reformed Man” plucks out the first chords like America’s “Lonely People.” Interestingly, there were also some hints of Jars of Clay who covered “Lonely People.” Fairfax takes some of the style of Autumndivers minus the atmospherics. More so on the CD than live, you can also hear Toad the Wet Sprocket on songs like “The Intervention.”

That’s a whole swirl of influences and hints at the sound that came from Fairfax that night (and on their CD, Water Cooler Stories), but the bottom line is that Fairfax can take the roots, swing them in folky arrangements, while also having more than one AltCountry rocker up their sleeves. What began as a trio of Pagliari, Jeremy Stephens (fiddle/mandolin/guitar/vocals), and Dennis Harris (drums/percussion), has now grown to a septet. Phil Lewis gives everything a good foundation on bass, while even adding some nice vocal harmonies. David Steele and Chris Cottros add excellent electric guitars, including a burning solo on their cover of Dylan’s “Tangled Up in Blue,” their version owing much to the Band. Speaking of the Band, they also included “The Weight,” the kind of version that brings out the joy of a classic.

As an ensemble, you get to see a lot of punctuation marks. On the unreleased song, “Please Don’t Give Up on Me Now,” Harris’ tom tom rhythm on the chorus differentiates the song. Stephens as a multi-instrumentalist lends so much to the diversity of Fairfax’s song, but especially his mandolin solo on “Swell” just punctuated the whole thing. The songs themselves aren’t what make Fairfax stand out; it’s the band coming together to place pieces side by side, on top of each other, and push them apart again, like an ever-moving jigsaw puzzle where you see the image form, see it disappear, only to find the thrill of seeing it reappear, even while they may also just be trying to “get you ready for the party” (“Dollar Short”).

As with Matt Woods (see below), Fairfax has some themes of redemption that appear in their lyrics. “Reformed Man” especially is a story of changing one’s life, hoping to convince a love interest to accept you back again, but there’s great parallels here to our relationship with God. Even more so I suppose this is apparent to a Lutheran pastor with a line like, “A reformed man, I stand, here I am,” looking very much like a reference to Martin Luther’s statement before the Catholic magistrates when asked to recant his writings, “Here I stand. I can do no other.”

The night closed with every dripping with the heat, but still enough energy for a “Sweet Old Kentucky” bluegrass stomp. I stomped on home, tapping my foot in my hotel elevator, thinking that I had just spent one hot evening listening to Water Cooler Stories.

Thanks to Fairfax, EchoMusic, and Chris Sevier Productions for the review CD and arrangements.


Jazz-influenced Rock: Matt Woods (with James Harrison)
Matt Woods’ acoustic set with James Harrison opened the evening. The two swapped songs back and forth, supporting each other with harmonies and guitar. Woods said this was meant to show the differences and similarities in their music and not intended to be a long-running format for their shows. It was good to hear that Woods doesn’t plan on continuing to try to collaborate with Harrison in this way, because while their set certainly showed the differences and similarities, the differences were too striking.

Woods’ laid back, quiet, singer/songwriter persona quickly was overshadowed, caught off guard almost by Harrison’s “Dude” image which is goofy, comedic, and towards the self-important. Before throwing the accolades on Woods, it should be said that in another context, I would thoroughly enjoy Harrison’s show. His jazzy style, very tight guitar work, matches up well with his off-beat lyrics (“I may look like a pimp/But I feel like a ho”).

While Woods said that his influences and style comes more from Dave Matthews and other roots rockers, there’s a lot of Jazz-influenced Rock in his songs. Perhaps that side of the songs has developed through Harrison’s capable lead guitar, but even on the album, Something Surreal, there’s elements of John Mayer (“Misconception” and “Never Not Too Late”), Jason Mraz (“Bottled Up Inside”), and Duncan Sheik (“Offering” bears a very close similarity to Sheik’s “Hardly Breathing”).

Woods and Harrison, besides sharing some jazz-influenced rock sounds, also both brought out themes of redemption in their lyrics. It’s definitely the kind of hopeful turn that finds resonance with the Gospel.

Like Mraz, Woods needs a Toca Riverva from the Mraz band who seems to naturally fall into the role of making Mraz sound good. While Harrison has some fairly good fingerstyle chops, he doesn’t fulfill that role. When Woods finds his Rivera, his show will truly find a new level. Until then, check out Something Surreal for all of its gems.

Thanks to Matt Woods and Chris Sevier Productions for the review CD.