Handsome Family
Club Café
September 28, 2016
Lately I’ve been trying to pin point exactly when I first started listening to the Handsome Family. To my best recollection it was sometime in late 2001. An old friend of mine gave me a CD he made on his computer. On the disc were songs from Twilight which he said had just come out as well as a best of mix from their earlier efforts. I was amazed that he could make a music CD that I could play on my home stereo (It actually wasn’t very long before this that making a CD on your computer more often than not was just an exercise in futility. I know I made more than my fair share of coasters). Before the Handsome Family show this past Wednesday at Club Café, Brett Sparks spoke about how thrilled he was that they were selling their latest offering in limited edition transparent green vinyl. He said it was only an extra 40 cents per album so it was a total no brainer to issue Unseen with that format. It’s amazing how things transpire and evolve and we don’t even notice the time frame.
The last vinyl album I purchased was Little Creatures by the Talking Heads in the summer of 1985. I received Rock ‘n’ Roll Animal by Lou Reed on CD as a gift when I was in college, but I didn’t actually purchase any CDs of my own until the summer of 1991 when I bought my first boom box that played CDs. I picked up The Doors and Out of Time by R.E.M. I only mention these things because I always seem to mark periods of my life by what I happen to be listening to at that time. The Handsome Family has been with me for the better part of the past 15 years.
I’ve raised kids, grown older with my wonderful wife, endured a career change, put on a few pounds, lost one dog and gained another one, created a website, published a book and started another one, sprouted a few gray hairs around the edges and probably mellowed a bit. I’ve gone through my musical phases, where I have to hear everything from a particular artist. I did this as a teenager with The Who, Rush, U2 and Yes. I did this with Social Distortion, Daniel Lanois, Ryan Adams, Johnny Cash, Lucinda Williams, Neko Case, Doves, Emmylou Harris, Soundtrack of our Lives and Eels as an adult. But the Handsome Family never fell into that category of me needing to devour everything they made. What I had I loved, but I had certainly never been exposed to the entire cannon. To this day I only own Singing Bones, Last Days of Wonder and Honey Moon along with two homemade CDs.
When they performed on September 28 at Club Café in Pittsburgh’s South Side I was the rare fan there who A) Hadn’t been turned on to them by True Detective and B) Didn’t know most of their music in its entirety as a hard core fan would. Call me a casual – huge fan if there is such a thing. Over the years I’ve tried to turn several of my friends on to their music to no avail. When I saw they were coming to Pittsburgh I knew it was sort of a rare thing and I knew I wanted to see them. Wrangling someone into a show in the city during the week by a band they aren’t really familiar with can be a sort of a challenge considering the vast majority of my friends (suburban dads) aren’t necessarily into the whole club experience and are usually kept very busy with family duties.
The evening itself started out wonderfully. The weather was perfect for a September evening and I found a parking spot right across the street from the Club Café. After 6pm the police don’t monitor the meters so my amazing parking spot was totally free. One of the biggest question marks/hassles about venturing to the South Side is parking and in this instance it became a huge plus.
I arrived just as the doors opened. When I got inside there were just about a dozen people milling about. Brett Sparks sat at the bar sipping a beer. As I stood at his merchandise table he chatted with fans. Eventually he made his way to the table and we exchanged a few words. I mentioned I was interested in purchasing the concert poster he had for sale. He looked down at the item in question and asked “How much are they?” Somehow it seemed as if I was carrying on a conversation with Tommy Chong from Up in Smoke.
I told him, “The sign says $10.”
He said, “Oh, OK…I was only going to ask for $5.”
As he put the money into his pocket I thought of how organic the entire conversation was. We only spoke for a few minutes, but here was the guy I’d invited into my life for the better part of the last two decades and in a very short period I felt that I knew. I was glad for him. Money tends to change people. I remember hearing of a story where Bono was flying in a private plane smoking cigarettes out of one of those long stemmed holders like people did in The Great Gatsby. Apparently he waited for the stewardess to come and light it for him. Here was this musician, an artist who has created along with his wife Rennie, some really authentic and powerful music. I presume that True Detective has put him in a financial position to just be able to create. As I mentioned, I’m glad for him.
I did end up having to go by myself which initially bothered me, but which totally prepared me for the next time. It was great and not for one second would I hesitate to go to another show by myself. I moved around where I wanted to and when I wanted to. From my vantage point close to the door I watched other single patrons enter the Club. One in particular was Rick Seback (Rick is a bit of a Pittsburgh icon with his series of PBS documentaries on virtually every topic and slice of Americana dealing with this region). As he approached I held out my hand and told him what a big fan of his I was. We spoke for a few moments before he moved to a single open seat on the other side of the Club.
David Manchester of Arlo Aldo performed an acoustic set to kick off the evening. I knew none of the songs, but what I heard I liked. I also purchased a limited edition vinyl 45 he had for sale. At some point down the line I’ll post my thoughts on it.
From the opening chords the Handsome Family sounded great. Rennie switched back and forth between some sort of an acoustic mini bass and a banjo. Brett stuck with an electric guitar all evening. The two back up musicians picked up the rest. I haven’t yet found a complete set list of the show, but below is just from memory and what I knew for sure.
“So Much Wine”
“Tiny Tina”
“Frogs”
“Giant of Illinois”
“Far From Any Road” (They most certainly HAVE to play this at every show)
“The Loneliness of Magnets”
“The Bottomless Hole”
“Weightless Again”
“Arlene”
The conversation between Brett and Rennie in between the songs was most enjoyable as they invited the audience in on some of the inside backstory of their work. They explained bits and pieces and nuances of individual tracks. As she spoke about Ambien and some of the other more serious subjects they cover (“Arlene” is after all a song about a deranged stalker bashing in the head of a girl and killing her) and as she performed, she maintained this completely content smile on her face.
Missing from their relatively short set list was “Gravity,” “Amelia Earhart vs the Dancing Bear” and “Drunk by noon” but I understand they can’t play everything. They did only play for about an hour and a half, including the encore, but not everybody plays like Springsteen.
The Handsome Family is a bit of an oddity. Brett and Rennie Sparks have been referred to as the Gomez and Morticia Adams of country music. Their music can be both weird and lovely, tortured and absurd, filled with melancholy stretches and happy interludes. It stretches across the Americana spectrum from traditional twang to blustery distortion. I like it. And I’m OK if I’m the only one in on the act.
