Photos and reviews of Shakey Graves in Ottaway

[Eastern Ontario correspondent Ross MacDonald was out again. – AC]

The perfect way to start the weekend is to go and catch some live music at a local venue. And for 100 lucky individuals, they were able to see folk/rock phenom Shakey Graves and eastern Ontario’s favourite, intimate, music hall: Neat Coffee Shop in Burnstown. The century-old one-room school house turned music venue has that rare balance of intimacy and full sound, not to mention amazing wood-fired pizza and bespoke coffee (and a good selection of local craft beer).

Shakey Graves hails from Austin Texas and has a sound that blends rock, folk, and southern blues. He has opened for Mumford & Sons and Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic Zeros. And he does this all as a ‘one-man-band’. Instead of a typical digital percussion pad, Shakey’s setup had what looked like a suitcase with two drum pedals that he played with his heels. His right heel played the kick drum and his left heel played a high-hat.

The music was upbeat and had everyone swaying and tapping their toes. It was impressive that in a small rural Canadian town, there were a great many singing along with Shakey to ‘Roll The Bones’, the title track from his 2011 debut album.

Shakey was very engaging with the audience, many were asking him questions and shouting requests. And Shakey was sharing some stories too: “I played here for the first time about ten years ago. This time we are out for a holiday with the family. Just getting away from the states for a while. Not that there is anything nefarious going on there right now.”, which drew a lot of laughter.

Right after that, Shakey announced: “This song goes out to all my new friends that I just met here tonight: ‘Hard Wired’. It was amazing to watch and listen to Shakey perform. He was strumming up a storm, all the while his feet were adding percussion.

Shakey is a prolific storyteller. His songs have connections to the experiences that most go through in life and resonate close to home. “This is a song that I had hoped would be less relevant as time went on. Unfortunately it has not”: ‘Kids These Days’, A song about the struggles of youth.

It really is hard to get over Shakey’s prowess. He is not just strumming country chords while singing. He is picking and strumming at the same time. Picking the high notes so that they ring out, thumbing the low E string to give the bass, and strumming the rest of the strings in an impossible manner… all night long!

“I was born and raised in Austin Texas. We loved to complain about terrible businesses that get bulldozed like that awful sex shop ‘Chicos Bonitos’ and was replaced with a lovely sushi bar. This song goes out to all the cities like Austin”: ‘Bully’s Lament’.

And the stories continued, it was like everyone felt Shakey was talking directly to them: “About ten years ago I thought it would be fun to write a song about sex. I had just gone through a terrible breakup. But be careful what you wish for, because you will be singing it for the rest of your life.” The song, ‘Dearly Departed’, went on to be one of Shakey’s biggest hits; and there was a big sing along, especially with the ghostly “oooooo’s”.

And Shakey’s connections to the audience were natural. “After last night’s show we sat up in the green room and watched Edmonton beat Florida. Being an American i don’t know much about hockey, but fuck Florida!” This of course drew massive cheers from the partisan crowd.

It is always a huge advantage to go to a show at Neat. It is like a VIP experience being up close and personal with first class artists. However, there is one problem for the artist. At the end of his main set Shakey announced: “in Burnstown there is nowhere to go, so pretend that I’m going downstairs. And here I am, I’m back!” Big cheers from the crowd.

For the encore, Shakey asked “Any requests?” someone shouted out ‘Seeing All Red’, so of course he obliged (there was no set list written out on a sheet on the stage floor). Shakey improvised some of the lyrics, adding a lot of cursing to everyone’s delight late on a Friday night.

But Shakey still wasn’t finished, he played two more closing out the night with a cover of Neil Young’s ‘Unknown Legend’. Again, another fitting song with lyrics that hit home with the rural Ontario crowd. Shakey even improvised second guitar and harmonica vocally and with hand gestures.

As night two of Shakey Graves three-night residency at Neat came to a close, everyone was thrilled to start the weekend off with some first class live music in the middle of the woods west of Ottawa. It was like a bush party, but without the mosquitoes.