LaVere, sans McNally [mainly]

Well, I like to think of myself as a patron of all the arts, not just music, and when a talented artiste catches my admiration, it sticks. Last night I drove two hours to Oxfordtown for a free Amy LaVere show, “in conjunction with the Oxford Film Festival.” Arriving about dark, I had my choice of three or so films which fit the time frame prior to show, thinking that this was a mere cinematic opener for the show proper. I chose a film about music, Native Son, specifically about the process of making and installing an Elvis stature in his hometown of Tupelo. This hourlong doc was preceded by a 15-minute film called Tupelolove. And Amy LaVere was IN both. Like on-screen. Like in my face.

I knew she has a parallel acting career, for instance playing Wanda Jackson in Walk the Line (though her scenes with Phoenix & Witherspoon ended up on the cutting room floor). I’ve seen her in the Memphis indie A Woman’s Picture; the sequel, called Only Child, will be released in the fall. Anyway, she plays a fictional tour guide in Tupelove (she actually guided at Sun Records for awhile in real life), who loves Marvel Comics and gets tangled a bit with a male tourist whose car breaks down in Tupelo. the film was produced by the Tupelo visitors center/chamber of commerce, but it’s well done for a 15-minute spot, from the same director as Native Son (Mike McCarthy I think). In Native Son, the focus is on sculptor Bill Beckwith and McCarthy’s family itself–great cameo interview with Jimbo Mathus, Midsouth guru and writer of songs like “Good Old Times” which Amy and Shannon play, and others which Amy has recorded. Amy herself shows up at the ribbon-cutting for the statue and is interviewed in Native Son.

As for the free show, it was mainly country covers with John Paul Keith laying down a mean guitar; no Amy-penned songs were done in over 90 minutes, though a few she has recorded (e/g., Michelle Shocked’s “If Love Were a Train”) were done. Good to see a few diehard LaVere fans like Anthony from Memphis (though not Paul from Los Angeles). The place is Soulshine Pizza, same franchise as in Nashville where I saw LaVEre/McNally the other week. And I ordered the same thing: The Dr. John 12″ special! In Nash, Shannon was curious about that, asking the ingredients: she then told me he himself eats exactly none of them. I mean, I don’t go to shows to get dietary information about legendary musicians, but I didn’t refuse to listen to her insights there. I shouldn’t eat some of the ingredients, but damn it was all good, both nights.

Finally, never know who will react when one wears Lucinda merch in public. At the Film Fest, I was hailed by a guy named Robert Ledbetter, from Arkansas, who turned out to be an actor in a different film that night, also author of a book about Nathan B Forrest. I was skeptical, but Square Books had it in stock. He said he used to hang with Lu, and dedicated the first printing of that book to her and Steve Earle! No evidenc with the current edition, though Steve Earle does blurb it favorably on the inside flyleaf. Small world.