Man Is Man

Man Is Man is another one I saw when my iMac was out. They played Hideout with Bone And Bell. I was far too late to see Heather Smith and B&B. I think she was finished by 9:45. I caught most of Christa's Man Is Man. The new release is called The Birds Will Eat Us but I did not see it on any merch table. So I could not get it. Her stuff is scary dark. Rural-children-of-the-corn scary....not urban. Urban implies developed, tamed. Rural is on the outer fringe of that. Rural implies a type of isolation, with different noises at night. I heard it said that night by someone in the audience or by Christa herself, women should write more scary shit.  And people should write more about them. Well I do try....writing about them. Without the CD I have to go with what I recall. The crowd was a good size. I know it's Hideout, it's small but it's subcultural capital is bigger. She played with her usual autoharp. She had a full band but I think it was the last night with the cello player. That's tragic 'cause I really liked him in the band.

  So I always go to those words to describe Man Is Man. Sometimes I use "rustic" instead of rural to put in front of "dark". I'm not trying to dance around the word "country".  I can't bring myself to call this country music. For some reason I feel a distinction. There are things Christa seems to stare in the face and describe passionately without a sense of pity. She could describe to you Dante's Inferno like a dispassionate fucking tour guide. Tragedy, drama, loneliness, these are things you find in her music but you're not weighed down by the sadness. There are artists that do sad very effectively. They sell it to you very well. Man Is Man somehow empowers even in the darkest corners of your interior castle to make you feel like you can change your lot. Shit is happening but you got a gun that they don't know about. Yeah...listening to MIM makes you feel like your packing. I wanna say more...but there was nothing on the bloody merch table!
Zig