Catching Up With Colin - Watershed Hits The Road, Jason Isbell Rough Draft
Listen while your read! Latest Podcast Appearances:
Colin and Joe on the Top 50 I-Heart Podcast The One You Feed
Colin on Mix Tapes and The Five Count
Watershed On Tour!
Biggie is going to fire up the van and Watershed is going to hit the road for the first time in a long time for a few shows to support our latest LP Blow It Up Before It Breaks. We are really excited for all the gigs but it feels extra good to get back to spots like Minnieapolis, Appleton and Detroit. It has been way too long.
The whole run kicks off at the Rumba Cafe Saturday, September 28th. We will be playing the entire Blow It Up record top to bottom with both Herb and Dave on drums. This will be the last local Watershed show for the foreseeable future, so don’t miss this show if you got shut out the last time. Pencil Storm’s own Jeremy Porter will be opening the show with his band The Tucos. It’s going to be an epic night of rock n roll. Get tickets here.
We will be posting updates on our socials so hit Watershedcentral.com for links to all that happy-crappy. Dates below so please help us share the info and of course the tunes. Watershed Spotify here.
9/28 – Columbus, OH – Rumba Café
9/29 – Rockford, IL – Mary’s Place (Open Stage! TBA)
9/30 – Minneapolis, MN – Underground Music Café
10/1 – Madison, WI – Gamma Ray Bar (happy hour show)
10/2 – Appleton, WI – Appleton Beer Factory (WAPL Happy Hour Show)
10/3 – Cleveland, OH – 5 O’Clock Lounge
10/5 – Detroit, MI – Ghost Light
11/8 – Raleigh, NC – The Pour House
11/9 – Myrtle Beach, SC – Tin Roof (happy hour show)
Jason Isbell Rough Draft
Sometimes I write things but I don’t publish them. The following is something I knocked out but then had second thoughts about making it public. If this were just a random bar conversation it would be forgotten in an instant but putting it on the record by writing it down made me queasy for some reason. It’s just not complete. Anyway, I really enjoyed seeing Jason and the 400 Unit at the fabulous Rose Music Center. “Miles” is a song folks should see live once before they die. And if you dig rock n roll guitar (which I do), you will not hear it any better than Jason and his ace sideman Sadler Vaden laying it down. It’s like Neil Young’s Crazy Horse with two slide guitar players.
The following was written the week before the show…
It’s Not Jason Isbell, It’s Me
“I saw The Who in 1969 at Vet’s Memorial on the original Tommy tour; do you THINK I’m gonna get excited about REO Speedwagon?” - Ricki C.
Jason Isbell has risen to the status of undisputed and undefeated world champion of what is called Alt-Country. In my lifetime only two other acts have achieved this goal: Wilco/ Jeff Tweedy and Lucinda Williams.
What do I mean by undisputed and undefeated? It is the fact that my hometown of Columbus Ohio - where we take our alt-country as seriously as we do Ohio State Football - it means these three can do no wrong.
To even suggest that Yankee Hotel Foxtrot wasn’t quite as good as Being There or “Righteously” was a weak lead single from Lu could be grounds for an unprovoked shot glass slammed through your front teeth. And excommunication from the local hipster music scene.
So when Jason Isbell and his kick-ass band the 400 Unit booked a show at the fabulous Rose Music Center, I snapped up tickets like it was Aerosmith in Texas 1977. This was a no-brainer. And with Alejandro Escovedo opening, too. Wow.
So the week of the show I dialed up my research on Setlist XM and started prepping for the show on the treadmill. And much to my surprise and disappointment, I got less excited.
I don’t know why. Like everyone else, I know Jason’s story and I cried the first time I heard “Elephant” and hugged Biggie, and said “I love you, man.”
But it just wasn’t rocking my socks the way I was anticipating.
And this isn’t about Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit, I have no doubt they deserve the title of undisputed champions of Alt-Country or whatever it is called. I believe in their fans' love. Or at least Biggie’s love. Jason just got invited to play the frigging DNC for Obama’s sake.
So why am I not 100% on board when all signals point to rock n roll lift off?
I have a theory and It bums me out to admit, but I think I am getting old and moving into Ricki C. territory. See quote above.
Watershed went on our first tour opening for Dash Rip Rock. We played on bills with Loose Diamonds, Terry Anderson & the Olympic Ass Kicking Team, Wilco, The Backsliders and The Georgia Satellites. We saw Lucinda, Steve Earle, The Jayhawks, Old 97’s, The Bottle Rockets and Son Volt in small clubs, too.
My point is, as with everything in the streaming world now, Jason isn’t just competing with every alt-country act in the year 2024, he is competing with every act that ever gave me the chills.
I want that same jolt I got the first time I heard “Battleship Chains” on the radio or saw Dash play “Shake The Girl” at Jimmy’s in New Orleans. And it probably isn’t going to happen again.
“What a drag it is getting old” - Mick Jagger / “Mother’s Little Helper” / 1965.
Crowded House
Crowded House burst on the scene my junior year in high school. Needless to say, their first single, “Something So Strong” got shoved into a locker by Van Halen 5150 and RATT Dancing Undercover. However, I am happy to say that as my tastes have become slightly more refined through the years, I have become a huge fan of the band and the Finn Brothers. I was thrilled to finally catch the band at the Rose on a beautiful night and I thoroughly enjoyed the performance.
It’s 5150 Time!
Yes, I am a sucker for Van Hagar so I made the two-hour drive to the Riverbend Music Center in Cincinnati to catch The Best Of Both Worlds Tour with 20,000 other VH fans. Rolling solo, I blasted in 10 minutes before show time (bummed to miss Loverboy but what can you do?), walked down to the front of the lawn and had my fist pumping to the opener “Good Enough” in no time. It was fun to see Michael Anthony being a featured part of the band and Joe Satriani was the perfect - and possibly only - correct choice to tangle with all those insane EDVH riffs. I was really attending out of respect to Eddie (and Alex) and though I had a great time, it did make me miss the brothers. Watching someone else play Eddie’s guitar parts really makes you appreciate how insanely creative they are. Joe was working hard to pull it off. Eddie could do it with a smoke in his hand.
Also, at one point I thought to myself, “Jason Bonham is kind of going for Kenny Aronoff look.”
Turns out, after I left (I split once they finished all the VH numbers to beat the traffic) Sammy announced that Jason had to fly back to England that morning on a family emergency and Kenny flew in before the show to sit in. No rehearsal! I noticed the drummer staring at an Ipad during the performance but just figured Jason was watching Girls Gone Wild videos to help his groove.Turns out Aronoff was reading charts. What a badass.
RATT Dance Dance Dance vs Crowded House Something So Strong.
I drove 5 hours round trip alone in 103 degree heat to see this song live one last time. Glad I did. Watch This!