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2001-06-23 - 1:29 a.m.

Which way you looking?

Sarah Harmer and Martin Sexton opened for Cowboy Junkies at Red Bank's Count Basie Theater tonight, and they were probably the two best previously-unknown opening acts I've ever seen. I'd best describe Harmer's sound as similar to that of Dar Williams. She stood there flanked by a bassist and drummer and played acoustic guitar the entire seven-song set (unlike some artists who come out and play on the first song then ditch the instrument the rest of the night).

Sexton followed and it was just him and his guitar. And he was amazing. His voice range was indescribable, particularly for one as tone-deaf as myself. And he managed to make one electic guitar sound like a lead, rhythm and bass guitar, with some percussion thrown in. His songs were quite bluesy and epic, with astounding lyrics. He was also the first opening act I've seen come out for an encore. I shall purchase his work soon.

And then the Junkies took the stage. Their set was decidedly electic, and included five songs off the new album, Open. The cool part was when I got my ticket from the will call window and pulled it out and saw "complementary" written on it (which I knew) and also the black sticker that said "cowboy junkies open 6/22 aftershow." So once the Junkies ran through their two-hour, 18-song set, I waited with Ken and Ann (Walker's parents), his brother Justin and some friends of theirs until one of the theater employees took us out by the bus and we got another chance to chat with Mike Timmins.

The amusing part of the night came when Margo Timmins (they're siblings) needed three tries to get the opening lyrics right to "Anniversary Song." She's somewhat known for mixing up lines here and there in songs, and she takes it all in stride, playing it off and joking about it, even mentioning it on the website. In fact, when they put out the live Waltz Across America album, there was a contest for people to name all the lines she crossed on the album. Anyway, it took her three tries to get the first line out for "Anniversary Song," which closed the set. Then for the encore, she introduced the first song as one she's loved since she was 14 and felt it was "an honor to play on this stage."

As soon as she sang, "The screen door slams ..." the crowd roared. And she made it through the rest of "Thunder Road" without a hitch. I guess if you've been singing it since you were 14, the lyrics are ingrained a little deeper than those your brother wrote within the last 10 years.

After chatting with Mike out by the bus and we left to walk back home, I stopped back in the lobby of the theater, where Margo had been conducting her usual post-concert meet-and-greet with the fans. "It's the only way I know how to thank you," she said earlier onstage.

As I got there, she was finishing a short conversation with the last fan in the lobby, and I stood off to the side, behind two of the theater employees. When the fan left, she started to walk back into the theater, but saw me standing there and leaned over to say hello. As we shook hands, I explained I had been out back talking with her brother.

"What did he say about me?" she asked with a mock glare of suspiscion, still holding my hand. I assured her he said nothing, and then complemented her (as I did Mike) on playing "Thunder Road."

"Thank you. It took a lot of guts to do that here," she said. I assured her it was a fine rendition, then proceeded to babble the way I'm wont to do around anyone of some celebrity stature. I stammered something about seeing him four times and also seeing the Cowboy Junkies four times.

And then I walked off along the Red Bank streets on a humid New Jersey night while the Cowboy Junkies boarded the bus for the overnight ride to Poughkipsee.


Horse in the Country
Dragging Hooks (River Song Trilogy Part III)
'Cause Cheap Is How I Feel (with Molly Pitcher hotel experience intro)
Small Swift Birds
Bread and Wine
Thousand Year Prayer
Hard To Explain (with Ann's cookies intro)
This Street, That Man, This Life
The Last Spike
Close My Eyes
Thirty Summers
Something More Besides You (slow version)
Witches
I'm So Open
Lay It Down (slow)
Anniversary Song

ENCORE:
Thunder Road
Murder, Tonight, In the Trailer Park

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