I survived another rain drenched trip to Santa Monica and I’m glad I went. Jim put on an epic performance, 2 hours and 20 minutes of solo music until the last 2 songs of his encore. Jim is such an enthusiastic performer. He was having a great time and told the familiar stories about Ralph Stanley and Merle Haggard and Nick Lowe and Robert Hunter. There was another guitar and microphone set up on stage but he never mentioned any guests and when he was 2 songs into his encore I figured someone was a no show. Then he called Freedy Johnston out of the crowd and they performed the final 2 songs together, both Merle Haggard songs. I had a chance to chat with Jim and Freedy after the show. Jim has a new record with Buddy Miller about to come out. Freedy said he has a new record coming out in February and Doug, Dusty Wakeman, and Dave Raven all play on it. So there!
Well tonite was my last ticketed show of 2012 so I will be staying home for a while unless someone we know plays a New Years Eve show around here.
P.S. And another thing. This is the third show in a row I went to by myself. What is up with that?