Greg Laswell in Concert

NaBloPoMo, Day 13

I’m probably one of the few people not to have discovered Greg Laswell’s music through TV or the movies. (He’s obviously a favorite of Hollywood music directors.) I discovered him through KCRW’s song of the day podcast. (A great source of new music–and free songs–by the way.)

Since I first caught Laswell’s song “How the Day Sounds” last year, it’s been in frequent rotation on my iPod and the entire album, Three Flights from Alto Nido, has been one I come back to again and again.

Completely by chance, I learned on Monday that he would be in town for an acoustic performance last night at a venue so close to me I could walk there. And am I ever glad I did! I’d never been to Space (the venue attached to the Union pizza place in Evanston) and this was a great first experience. The space was intimate and Laswell, who turned out to be a pretty funny guy and extremely personable in between songs, had an easy rapport with the audience. It was low key and almost had the feeling that we were all just hanging out in the basement (a really cool basement, mind you) listening to a friend play guitar and sing.

And sing he did. I really like Laswell’s voice, his musicality and the stories he tells with his songs. It was just him up there with a guitar and piano, and he held everyone rapt for the hour and a half he was on stage. He performed old and new songs, including a number of tunes off his just-released Covers album (including a great “In Spite of Me” and one of my favorite Kate Bush songs, “This Woman’s Work”.)

Laswell was fantastic and he seemed to be having as good a time as the two-hundred-some fans in the audience. He expressed an interest in coming back again, this time with his band in tow, and you know I’ll be there.