Will Kimbrough at Coopershouse1790

There is one last cottage industry for musicians, the house concert.  It is a nice way to stay more fully employed on the road.  At the historic Cooper’s House 1790, Will Kimbrough performed a show to supplement his Washington, D.C. gig, supporting Radney Foster (a few days before, at The Hamilton).  No Depression readers are familiar with Kimbrough from his days as a Coral Reefer, Todd Snider’s Nervous Wrecks, paring with Tommy Womack in Daddy, his stint in Emmylou Harris’s band, and most recently as a member of the collective, Willie Sugarcapps.  He is a fine songwriter (contributing to the aforementioned bands plus his extensive catalog) and a fine guitar player too.  He can belt out a song with soul and beauty.  The nice thing about hearing Will in a house concert setting, is the relaxed pace, which gives him time to tell back stories about songs, share some humor, and engage the crowd in a chorus.  Over the two set evening, Kimbrough covered songs old and new, playing his 1940’s Gibson war horse guitar and some mandolin.  We got a good sense of his gulf coast, Alabama upbringing (“Nobody from nowhere”, “Mr. Lee”, “Mud bottom”), his attempts to balance family life with the life of a working troubadour (“Three Angels”, “Wings”, “Gypsy Train”, “Champion of the world”).  He evoked the heart and soul of Muscle Shoals music and Spooner Oldham with songs like “Soulfully”.  If Will isn’t coming to a living room near you in the near future, you can get a pretty good sense of his shows in his recent dvd release “Live at Coast”, kind of a house concert in a recording studio.