Posted on March 14, 2015 at 4:26 am

If every concert of my SubCulture residency is going to be like this one, then I’m going to have a fantastic year. Three incredible singers, an extraordinary violinist, the monstrous and affable Caucasian Rhythm Kings (featuring a new drummer, Zac Coe, from the original band of 13!), fifteen songs, including two brand-new world premieres, and a sold-out house. That’s the way to do it!

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Photo by James Hartnett

Nothing In Common (Wearing Someone Else’s Clothes)
Melinda (untitled new project)
There With You
– Caissie Levy
Another Life (The Bridges of Madison County)
– Caissie Levy
Wondering (The Bridges of Madison County)
Advice to the Playaz (text by William Shakespeare)
– Norbert Leo Butz
If I Didn’t Believe In You (The Last Five Years)
– Norbert Leo Butz
One More Thing Than I Can Handle
– Rebecca Faulkenberry
One Summer (different untitled new project)
– Rebecca Faulkenberry
Break Me Blues
Letting You Go (Songs of Jason Robert Brown)
– Caissie Levy
Killing The Blues (music and lyrics by Rowland Salley)
– Norbert Leo Butz, guitar and vocals
It All Fades Away (The Bridges of Madison County)
Caravan of Angels
Moving Too Fast (The Last Five Years)
– Norbert Leo Butz & JRB

And then we actually did an encore of “Melinda” because it’s so much fun.

JRB, piano and vocals
Todd Reynolds, violin
Gary Sieger, electric and acoustic guitars
Justin Goldner, electric and acoustic guitars, mandolin
Randy Landau, electric and acoustic bass
Zac Coe, drums

Getting to hear Norbert sing the Advice to the Players speech from Hamlet was one of the highlights of my year, and then his “If I Didn’t Believe In You” simply destroyed us all. Becca did a brand new song that she only learned two days ago and brought it to life so beautifully you’d think she’d been singing it for years. And if you haven’t heard Caissie Levy sing “Another Life,” you maybe haven’t ever heard that song at all. Everyone who’s seen Honeymoon In Vegas knows Todd Reynolds from his barn-burning solo during the Entr’acte, but to have him collaborate with me on an entire concert and bring his incredible artistry to the table was a real privilege for me, and exactly the kind of musical partnership I hope to make a regular feature of this residency. Thanks so much to everyone at SubCulture and to our incredible audience – we all had a sensational time.

April 20 is the next concert, featuring me and Tom Kitt on the dueling pianos! See you there!