A Former Opener & A Former Lead Guitarist

Who would have thought a Saturday night in Nashville might lead to an impromptu live Anne McCue set? Well, I drove up for an event at the east Nashville dive Dino’s billed as “Poetry Sucks” (a legitimate artistic happening, despite the name), and invited Anne to show up. She did, leading to a debate as to where to head after the poetry reading ended: Jim Lauderdale for fifteen bucks ‘cross town at the Station Inn, or Kenny Vaughan, free cover at the nearby Family Wash. I feel sure Lucinda frequented the latter in her middle Tennessee residence days; I’ve never known admission to be charged there, yet Nashville luminaries like Kevin Gordon and Paul Burch sometimes choose to have their CD release gigs there because it’s such a cool space. Anyway, word quickly spread that despite the listing, Vaughan was either still in Texas or driving his way back; before I knew it, Anne asked the guy in charge if she could play out the evening for tips as a substitute. She drove home to get her gear and we got almost a full hour of tunes, half original, half cover. In addition to the predictable (yet very welcome) Tony Joe White and Hendrix songs, she did material from The Doors, the Killers, the Police, and even Marlene Dietrich by way of Nina Simone. My request in honor of the MIA Fabulous Superlative, “Don’t Go To Texas [Without Me],” was duly performed, though Anne had never before played it solo. Quite the spontaneous and wondrous cap to an evening–only in Nashville (OK, maybe in Austin or LA).

I had bought Kenny Vaughan’s record at Grimey’s earlier that day, and recommend it. He’s on the Sugar Hill label, but the packaging and liner notes weren’t very inspiring, including ambiguous songwriting credits. It’s basically Marty Stuart and the other Fab. Superlatives in back of him, with a guest or two. Three instrumentals out of the ten. I’ll hear them live some day. No regrets, no complaints.