Russ Barenberg is Flawless at the Station Inn
Russ Barenberg has a lot to smile about these days. His new record When At Last is receiving high praise from all the critics, and he’s just been nominated for a Grammy (best country instrumental) for the tune “Little Monk.” Moreover, he gets to perform with folks like Edgar Meyer, Jerry Douglas, Stuart Duncan, Viktor Krauss, and Bryan Sutton, to name just a few, pretty regularly. Saturday night, January 5, at The Station Inn Barenberg proved (once again) that he is worthy of all the recent praise.
Backed by an A-list line-up of musicians that included Viktor Krauss on upright bass, Stuart Duncan on fiddle, and Todd Lombardo on rhythm guitar, Barenberg brought out his 1946 J-45 and treated the full-house to two flawless sets that included most of the tunes from When At Last as well as a few from his collaborations with Edgar Meyer and Jerry Douglas. With the vintage J-45 miked, Barenberg’s guitar tone was thunderous and warm—the best live acoustic tone I’ve heard in Nashville to date. He and Stuart Duncan traded solos with ease and precision, causing Barenberg to grin from ear to ear throughout the set. The addition of Todd Lombardo was a nice surprise, as Lombardo has quickly earned a solid reputation among Nashville’s top players since moving to town just one year ago.
Barenberg’s solo performance of the tune “Here on Earth” from the Skip, Hop, & Wobble record was on par with the fingerstyle playing of Leo Kottke and, to be honest, left me wanting more solo acoustic guitar from Barenberg, who is quite obviously at the top of his game. As if expecting this kind of response, Barenberg has lined up a guitar duo performance with Bryan Sutton at The Station Inn on January 17th that promises to be one of the best shows of 2008.
There’s no excuse for missing this guitar summit. See you there!
—Vincent Wynne
