Micah Schnabel Bares His Heart at Buffalo Records, Kearney, Nebraska

I’ve seen Two Cow Garage twice and  I came away with the same conclusion each time; these guys are genuinely nice. You can tell that they really value their audience and don’t take them for granted. Schnabel and his artist partner, Vanessa Jean Speckman, proved this once again. They are real, down-to-earth, people who are not afraid to wear their hearts on their sleeves. Schnabel even remembered my daughter who had complimented him on his lyrics last time around.

He’s more than just nice, though. He is a talented lyricist and poet who connects with audience on an intimate level whether he is singing about his own doubts and frailties or the broken world around him. Person after person at his show commented on how much they identified with his songs on a deep emotional level. You can’t help but think, “he knows me and he is singing about my life,” when he’s really singing about his own. It’s an emotional rollercoaster to listen to him sing.

Schnabel was armed only with an accoustic guitar with “Art or Die” written on it, but I almost prefer it that way. The playing was superb; the beauty of the guitar blended with the rawness and honesty of the lyrics perfectly. Songs like “Jazz and Cinnamon Toast Crunch,” “Are There Any Questions?,” “Cash 4 Gold,” and “Oh, What A Bummer” provided both a scathing indictment of the current political mess in which we find ourselves and a scathing indictment of our own failings to ourselves and to those we love.

I can only hope that Schnabel never gives up his muscial calling and that he keeps coming back and giving us some of himself.  Selfish, I know.

Setlist:

Your New Norman Rockwell; Jazz and Cinnamon Toast Crunch; Are There Any Questions?; The Interview; Memory; Hello, My Name Is Henry; Cash 4 Gold; Mexico; More Drugs; Boys And Girls; Sid And Nancy; Oh, What A Bummer