This is a series of concert DVDs, filmed for a Texas TV-station. The long running "Live From Austin, TX" TV show has a very good reputation, and they tend to go for artists with solid musicianship and good songs rather than whatever is popular at the moment. When they broadcast they show 3 or 4 songs. But they tape entire concerts and a lot have been released on DVD the last few years.
OK... I've got just two. Some sample huh? But I think we can make some valid observations....
1) This is not showbiz with lasers, dancing girls etc. The focus is firmly on the players and the music.
2) These are one-off shows. They don't have multiple shows to edit into a single DVD. What happened on the night is what they put on the DVD.
3) Quality is very good - though this varies with age. These guys have archives going a long way back.
I have the John Hiatt and Richard Thompson "Live From Austin, TX" DVDs.
The Thompson show is essentially in two halves - acoustic and electric. He swops his Lowden acoustic for his custom-built Danny Ferrington electric half-way. Unusually it's a trio format - Thompson plus a rhythm section of Danny "no relation" Thompson on bass (and he's in fantastic form) and the excellent Michael Jerome on drums.
The sound and picture are very good, and you get a good selection of songs that show his stylistic breadth. Chronologially it's narrower, nothing from the 70s or his time with Fairport Convention, and not much from the 80s. You get some of his most popular live songs (Al Bowlly's In Heaven, 1952 Vincent Black Lighting, Shoot Out The Lights, Crawl Back Under My Stone) and also some less usual selections (Put It There Pal, Mr. Rebound).
As I said, these shows are "live on the night". Thompson runs into mild tuning problems during the electric segment, then breaks a string on his showpiece "Shoot Out The Lights" (he plays most of that with 5 strings). The string breakage seems put a burr up his butt because the solos thereafter are really something - in particular the long solo he puts onto the end of the 2nd encore "Put It There Pal".
You also get a good dose of Thompson's line of dead-pan, very English between-song patter.
There's a CD release of this show as well on the same label, but it loses one song ("Put It There Pal" with the big solo) and loses some of the between-songs chat.
The Hiatt Show also features a small band. Hiatt takes care of rhythm guitar and piano, and is backed by Davey Faragher on bass and vocals, Michael Ward on guitar and Michael Urbano on drums. It's a young band, and they rock pretty hard. Ward gets plenty of time in the spotlight (and he's worth it) and the rhythm section is tight and powerful. Since this is guitarforum.co.za, Ward's gear may be of interest - an unusual, Les Paul "Signature" gold-top (see
http://www.oldenburger-music-station.de/Gibson-Les-Paul-Signature-1974.htm) , and , if my eyes do not deceive me, a Danny Ferrington baritone electric. Hiatt plays a Washburn acoustic and the 50-something Tele that Nick Lowe gave him.
Hiatt is on top form vocally (and his guitars are not just for show). The show was recorded in '93 when he was riding a wave of very strong albums, and the material is strong. He also shows a witty and slightly goofy stage persona. The climax is a potent rendition of "Perfectly Good Guitar" with Ward cranking that sucker right up and venturing eagerly into feedback territory.
In both cases the emphasis is on capturing a performance as it happened on the night. The direction is always musical, and whilst there's a stage and lighting there's nothing to divert attention from the guys on stage and what they're up to.
There's plenty more in this series. A lot of it country-ish or tex mex-ish, but there's also Eric Johnson, Stevie Ray Vaughan and (out of print but available from 2nd dealers, E-bay etc) Roy Buchanan. The older shows tend to be shorter.
I've seen quite a few DVDs from this series in Look & Listen.
More stocking fillers....
(somebody asked me a while back for a good place to start exploring Thompson's considerable catalog. This DVD would actually be a good place to start.)
