Review – Matt Andersen at Times Change(d), Winnipeg, June 27 2009

– review by Eugene Osudar

it’s a soft
it’s a howl
it’s a roar
it’s a prowl

along the fret board
his fingers
flying around
just like the long
swirling hair
curling, unfurling
cascading down
the front
of his face

head back hair
hanging down
freely flowing blues

Beethoven!

there’s softness
then eXplosion
of immense voice
roaring playing

he’s a lion
and we’re cryin’

 

in our seats
our standing places
at the Times Changed
70 people
for the early show

a comfortable night
at the usually
busting at the seams
high and lonesome club

Matt Andersen
six two
400 pounds
mountainous man
on small red chair

playing it
ounce for ounce
pouring it all out
just for us

85 minutes
sublime
blues

16 of these songs
from a set list
with arrows and scribbles
switches and omissions

Shout Baby Shout
I Play The Fool
One Size
Better Man
Ain’t No Sunshine
When Angel Hits The Blues
Have You Seen The Blues
Come By
Key To The Highway
Steam Roller
Devil’s Bride
My Old Friend
Tell Me
Baby Come Back Home
Both Hands
Wrote A Song
It Hurts Me Too
Rock Me Baby

“I’m not exactly stealthy,”
he says, right off
it’s about his immensity
propensity
to give it all out

fancy finger pickin blues
and then detonation
of Big Hollering
Blues
and the hair
curly and covering
cascading over his
face
not a trace
of his eyes
shut down
and lost in the moment

his hair fanning down
like fragmented frayed
guitar strings
over his face

that’s what it is!

he’s a Big Man
with a soft voice
and hollers
and releases

Shout Baby Shout

he doesn’t need the mike

he can fill this club
with his Voice
Booming
Re/zzzzzzzounding
ah, cascading
into us

motifs
beliefs
Halifax man
maple leafs
oh sensuous canada

“This tune is about a friend
who had a girlfriend
that none of us liked.”

Sliding scales of unfaithfulness
you can hear it
in the playing

I Play The Fool

he knows how to play it soft
how to unleash it loud
slide the notes
strike you down
devastated audience

there’s a range in this song
that shatters the softness
into sheer
glorious madness

his voice slides
up and down
y(our) rocky spine

“I wrote this song
when i noticed that tag
that says, one size fits all.
this one’s called,
One Size Never Fits All.”

and then, comes
Ain’t No Sunshine

you feel it
in his tones
his soft
casting stones
his hard
his roar
his anguish(ed)
playing,singing
(sublime)

“Sorry for yelling at you,
it’s just a lot of fun.”

“my girl, my girl,
where have you gone?”

“Somebody asked for this tune.
I’m no good at saying no. I wrote
it for a friend going through a hard
time and I wished i could be at
home instead of on the road.”

a pure love song
between a man and a woman
friend to friend
true to true
gorgeously blue
When Angel Hits The Blues

followed by hard rocking
train tracking clickitty clack
blues,

“i’ll be your engineer baby
ride me hard babe
i’ll put the coals in your fire.”

slow rag blues,

“do you wake up every morning
to see the sun sinking down?
do you ever go walking
just to see
how far you can go?”
which once again
explodes
into massive ending
the result,
tremendous howls
from this loving audience

the relationship is on,
musician and audience
are one
(once again)
the beautiful unfolding
of unity

“I wrote this tune
for my girlfriend. Pretty
much wrote it to get out
of trouble. Flowers don’t work
for me, and i eat the chocolates.”

“every now and then i get carried away…
i’m a wave without an ocean
a love without a heart to break
you gotta hold me baby
Hold Me With Both Hands.”

ah, now we hear an amazing
(a surprise gift)
gorgeous
falsetto
from this big man
soft and hard
graceful and powerful
a beautiful love song
he’s been more than
forgiven,
he’s Loved.

“This tune proves a point,
if you go out with a musician
and break up with him,
you’re gonna get a song
written about you.”

a heart,breaking
lament, i know of what
you sing
“it’s been so long”

“One of the hazards of having really
long hair is getting it caught up
in everything.”

Come By
romping/stomping blues
“Come by early
come by soon.”

he lays his head back
that long hair
swirls down
shaking
swaying
to his playing
that guitar
looks like it’s
part of his body
fits so good there
on his belly
fingers feeling
the notes
he doesn’t need
to look
at the board
his fingers know
where to flow
like his hair
randomly
moving to the music
coursing through his
body
its the soul of the man

Steam Roller

“i wanna roll over you,
i’d like nothing better
than to play
steam roller
with you.”

hot rocking dirty blues

“This song got me in trouble with my girlfriend
at home. It’s about a fictitious woman.
Not about her. Now she’s alright with that.”

Devil’s Bride

“you should be the Devil’s Bride
no soul on earth
can warm you.”

“I was here four years ago,
hooked up with Big Dave McLean
at the open mike (Sunday Night
Times Changed Blues Jam, always
free). I was happy to see this was where
i was playing.”

break/neck
speed/metal
rail,road,blues
ends his set
crazy beautiful
playful
solos,
Yankee Doodle Dandy
Smoke On The Water

he’s the big man
open heart
beautiful
immense
Voice
soft and loud
frenzied
graceful fingers
on the fret
board
soft and loud

it’s Beethoven
Blues style

Matt Andersen
Times Changed
June 27th