Jessie Malin

Well, it seems I can’t get enough of the City Winery franchises and their often problematic cramped quarters and chatty beautiful people-audiences (Hell, I’d probably show up in Napa too had that branch not gone belly up bust). Jessie Malin did a one-off fly-in to Nash from NYC yesterday, playing his first solo record The Fine Art of Self-Destruction in sequence then ponying up a half dozen on the back end, including a Clash cover but not including, alas, the tune “Lucinda” from his Glitter in the Gutter LP. Sitting so close, I couldn’t bring myself to shout it out, though he was kind enough to mention the possibility an hour later at Duke’s Bar of east Nashville when I approached him and let him stand me a drink. We didn’t get to talk, but that’s because a lot of his loyalists had flown in themselves–which of course I applaud by analogy with Lu fandom. The pair at my table were from Philly, and I met a gent from Mass. who remembered me from various Americana conferences. Also let’s count front row-er Marla Booker, whose CD I will be looking up on CD Baby, Zero Casualties. More significantly for Lu fans, her collaborative EP McFarland Road has a co-write with one Stuart Mathis, a tune called “Carousel.” What’s more, the guy plays pedal steel (?!!!) on another song “Home.” The EP is not on CD baby but rather via http://reverbnation.com/mcfarlandroad .

Fine backing band for Jessie too, including a player (Christine) who splits her time between Marah and JM. As Malin put it, “this has never been a strong market for me generally,” but he had to concede that the local CW employees treated them well–even as he took a well-deserved pot shot or two at this kind of venue. I do fear City Winery Nash might become a Bluebird Café writ large, when the guidebooks get a hold of it and if the layout and configuration remain the same. But hey, CW books some of the best, have to grant it. Buy a Jessie Malin record for Record Store Day; I myself picked up his new studio album and also a 2007 live at the Mercury Lounge NYC disc which features by way of track four a certain three-syllable girl’s name of a title.