I’m With Her Reconvene in Rhode Island to Perform Bruce Springsteen’s “Used Cars”
I’m With Her staged an impromptu reunion July 28 when Sara Watkins and Sarah Jorosz crashed Aoife O’Donovan’s solo gig and sat in for a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Used Cars.”
In reality, it was almost certainly planned, though the Rhode Island audience was likely - and pleasantly - surprised.
Captured by an audience member, the video document betrays its stealthy origins. Yet the group’s instrumental interplay - Watkins’ fiddle, O’Donovan’s guitar and Jarosz’s octave mandolin - and pristine vocal harmonies break through as they sing:
I wish he’d just hit the gas and let out a cry/and tell ’em all they can kiss our asses goodbye
The crowd responds lustily before quieting down for the home stretch. And they remain silent until the last note fades before revving up one more time.
My baby's gone and I don't know why
She let out this morning
Like a rusty shot in a hollow sky
Left me without warning
Sooner than the dogs could bark
And faster than the sun rose
Down to the banks in an old mule car
She took a flatboat across the shallow
Chicago has reached the bipolar phase of its winter where it tries to kill us all by snowing, then getting outrageously cold, then snowing again before the temperature rises to just a teensy bit above freezing, then drops again. So the streets and sidewalks are deathtraps, but the Danger Beagle laughs in the face of peril. She still wants her 6+-mile walk everyday.
So I have these yaktrax things that help at least a little with not dying of the sidewalk bashing in my occipital. They are a sort of rubber frame that, in theory, stretches around the outline of the sole of one's shoe. Except my winter boots are for dudes, because I have not found a pair for women that are not absurd in prioritizing look over functionality (see above re: mandatory 6+-mile Danger Beagling daily). I bought the yaktrax for my dainty lady feet shoes, though, and my boots are, of necessity, rather too big for my feet. The result is that he yaktrax seem to want to escape. Yesterday, I lost one and the Spousal Unit graciously hunted it down. Today, I suddenly realized outside the dog park that I had lost both. I was going to write them off, but I was pretty sure it had only been a short while since I lost them.
An apparent digression: Lately, I have been re-listening to all of "Sparks Nevada: Marshal on Mars" in order. I am out of the Pod F. Tompkast, Spontaneanation, Stay F. Homekins, and The Neighborhood Listen. I am out of Craig's List and Settling the Score. Danger Beagling consumes a LOT of podcasts, friends. So, Sparks it has been, and I have this to say:
—Goddamn if that theme song is not a jolt of endorphins every single time
—Sara Watkins' POW! is still the POW! to beat
—I can't believe I'd forgotten how straight @paulftompkins plays it when he sings the theme song when the Jupiter Spy is Sparks
—I can't believe I'd forgotten how he then utterly destroys MEJ when the Jupiter Spy is Croach and MEJ is just trying to get through the song.
ANYHOODLES.
Despite my LIMITED HUMAN SENSES, and my life-long urban dwelling, I was inspired NOT to surrender to the loss of my yaktrax, because there's crunchy, crunchy snow all over, so I was leaving two sets of footprints (no, Jesus does not come into this), and I was reasonably sure that the tall weeds (Danger Beagle loves the tall weeds—she once flushed a Bun and a Barn Cat in rapid succession and she will NEVER FORGET) immediately next to the off-leash part of the dog park was the most likely place for them to have been yanked off.
Gonna pick up some of them empties here
Just as soon as we know where they lay
Tied off of them jolly and leaving lines
On a long hot summer day
For every day I work on the Illinois River
Get a half a day off with pay
All day long I'm makin' up barges
On a long hot summer day
Song Review: I’m with Her - “Wake Me When it’s Over”
I’m with Her’s new single - a one-day-early 90th-birthday salute to Willie Nelson - is a voice-memo recording of a 2020 rehearsal.
And while that might seem a cheap way to mark Nelson’s April 29 milestone, this is I’m with Her, so it is decidedly not. It says much about Aoife O’Donovan, Sarah Jarosz and Sara Watkins’ blend and talent that a lo-fi recording of them practicing Nelson’s “Wake Me When it’s Over” for the 2020 Americana Music Association salute to him is not only releasable, but exquisite.
And Nelson would probably say this serenade beats the hell out of a chorus of “Happy Birthday.”
O’Donovan (guitar) sings lead with Jarosz (mandolin) and Watkins (fiddle) in harmony and on responses. It’s sleepy by design and simply gorgeous.
True, the depth of their voices is not fully reproduced on this digital recording. But it also doesn’t really matter.
“Please join us in wishing Willie a very happy 90th birthday tomorrow,” the band said.
Grade card: I’m with Her - “Wake Me When it’s Over” - A-
I remember the night
I remember the sound
I remember the light
When the moon came 'round
The night flowers bloomed
The air so sweet
I remember you
I remember me