NXNE Day 2: Outlaws & Gunslingers - Part 1

Thursday night brought the show that I was looking forward to most of all - Outlaws & Gunslingers at Lee's Palace. I swear, this show was as if some divine being had rummaged through my head and said, "Who are the bands that Katie would die to see all together on one night?" and then put them all on one bill for me.

I took so many photos that I'm going to end up having to split this review into two, or maybe even three, parts.

First up, Mr. Andy Kim.

Andy and his band are always super tight and put on a very entertaining show, and this was no exception. I never get tired of seeing him live, because he always delivers. Andy has a new cd out, and played a lot of new songs (many of which I'd heard at his previous shows). He also played old favourites - Be My Baby, Baby How'd We Ever Get This Way (Ron Sexsmith, who introduced the band, came out and joined Andy for this song, too!), and if memory serves me well, they closed the set with back-to-back Sugar Sugar and Rock Me Gently. Pretty awesome!!

Next up, the set containing my favourite musician ever - Mr. Danny Michel - along with Justin Rutledge and Oh Susanna. In my opinion, this was the best of the singer-songwriter triple acts of the night. Danny has a new cd out on July 1 (but, as he announced to the crowd, he had just picked them up from being pressed, and they were available for that night only, before the actual release date... so, naturally, I have my new cd in hand - thanks for lending me the $20, Chrisy!!) So, each act did three songs each, one at a time, and Danny's were all songs from the new album. He played Maybe You Can Find It In Your Heart, Wish Willy, and Who's Gonna Miss You? ... and I loved each song more than the next! Fantastic cd. I definitely recommend it.

Unfortunately, I'm not quite as familiar with Justin or Oh Susanna's music, though I have seen them live a few times before. I did recognize Justin's song "Be A Man", which was absolutely beautiful performed live.

The reason this set stuck out from the others for me was that it seemed like they really enjoyed playing each other's songs. It didn't seem like they had barely had any rehearsals, which I'm sure was the case! Also, their stellar back-up band included Bazil Donovan and Glenn Milchem from Blue Rodeo, so how could you go wrong with that!?

More photos HERE, and the rest of the review & photos from this show to follow!