the of mirror eye

* Freakwater: Selfishness In Man (6 mb) | Slow Ride (3.5 mb) | My Old Drunk Friend (6.5 mb)

From Live At Great American Music Hall : Apr 17, 1998 : San Francisco, CA

There are four equally great things about seeing this band, Freakwater, live. And here they are in no particular order:
1a) Hearing Catherine Irwin’s throaty alto and watching her sneer as she sings.
1b) Hearing Janet Beveridge Bean’s crystalline soprano and seeing her classic country style.
1c) Hearing them both sing together on lines like “There’s nothing so pure like the kindness of an athesist > A simple lack act of unselfishness > That never has to be repaid“. There’s nothing like the harmonies and feelings that develop after singing together for as long as they have.
1d) Hearing the rock solid bass guitar playing of David Wayne Gay. He’s always got a cigarette burning and the look of someone who’s half in the bag.
This is a band that I first heard when I was a couple of years into college and immediately fell for their country sound. There was something about their rawness that really did it for me. And then I got to see them play live (and a couple of times since then) and I was absolutely blown away. They were everything I’d thought they would be and more. The songs were just that much better, live and the in between song banter was the icing on the cake.
For some reason I don’t think they’ve really gotten their due as one of the main players in the roots revival/americana movement. Their first album was released a full year before the Uncle Tupelo breakout No Depression. But we can let bygones be bygones and just enjoy the sounds for what they are. Pure blasts of country.

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On another note. In 1994, a bunch of kids from Louisville, KY got together and made a movie about forming a band and touring called Half-Cocked. The movie itself was decent, but there was one particular scene that was incredible. It involved the above mentioned Catherine Irwin sitting on some dilapidated couch, singing a solo rendition of My Old Drunk Friend. It was an absolutely heart breaking performance, shot in saturated black and white. Amazing.