Down in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, there is a little place called the Red Dragon Listening Room where they revere songwriters and the songs they give to us. Mostly stripped down to acoustics and vocals, the artists that perform here are allowed to shine in ways they may not at other venues. You don’t just hear the music, you absorb it through the thin layers of your skin and oftentimes some of those songs and voices will stay embedded there for days or months. When Shawn Mullins performed at the Red Dragon this past Friday night, December 7th, it was like magic; that voice encircling the room like a warm blanket, completely mesmerizing the sold out audience and the songs are still encircling you days later.
Mullins, an Atlanta native who gained fame with his more pop-leaning “Lullaby” in the late 1990’s, recently released a new version – two, actually – of that fabled album, Soul’s Core, re-recording it in its entirety both with his band and acoustically. Called Soul’s Core Revival, it revamps the songs from a different perspective, as the songwriter has grown older and wiser. The songs have become fuller and more meaningful, in a hindsight sort of way. So when you listen to Mullins singing “Anchored In You,” “Shimmer,” “Twin Rocks Oregon” and that infamous “Lullaby” live, you can actually see that part of his soul is weaving into the chords as he plays them on his acoustic guitar.
And that’s just the more serious songs. When he decides to spin a more winking web and rock out, with Tom “Panda” Ryan adding some juicy meaty basslines and higher range harmonies, you can tell the storyteller isn’t always serious and funereal. Take “Pre-Apocalyptic Blues” or Jim Stafford’s “Swamp Witch” as perfect examples of what it means to have fun amidst the more somber tunes. And when Mullins becomes one with his guitar, songs like “California,” “Light You Up” and “Beautiful Wreck” soar, taking the audience with him, climaxing in loud appreciativeness.
Mullins covered two Kris Kristofferson songs: “To Beat The Devil” and “Sunday Morning Coming Down.” A personal musical hero of his, he told everyone how when he was playing early gigs and they would want him to do covers, he’d say he was doing, “a weird old Willie Nelson song and then do a weird old Kristofferson song instead.” He also mentioned that when he was flying in from Atlanta, the Lynyrd Skynyrd guys were on the plane with him, which immediately summoned up a “Freebird” from the crowd. Later on when he was introducing “House Of The Rising Sun” as “a song so old nobody knows who wrote it,” someone immediately yelled out that it was “Freebird,” invoking a big chuckle from Mullins. “That was great,” he said, still laughing.
For those who think of Mullins as more of a country artist, they need to listen to how the blues really is prevalent in many of his songs. From “Ferguson,” a song written with Chuck Cannon, and Cannon’s own “Ghost Of Johnny Cash” caused chill bumps to run over the skin. When you hear lines like, “The blood we all bleed is the same shade of red,” from the former, and “When you’re down here on your knees, most angels look too tall,” from the latter, you feel it, deep inside at the core. Following a passionate rendering of “The Great Unknown,” someone yelled out, “You have the most amazing voice.”
The Cupcake Strippers, a local band featuring the fantastic guitarist Gary Ragan, violin empress Christy Lee Gandy, bassist Willis Dauzat, drummer Sam Trevathan and acoustic guitarist Ray Carona, opened for Mullins with eight songs that ranged from the thought-provoking “When The Water Comes Up” to a fun-spirited cover of Tom Petty’s “You Wreck Me.” Ragan, whom I last saw accompanying Steve Judice last year, handled most of the vocals but his electric guitar playing was shining bright, especially on “Judge Roy Bean” where it was like another voice dueting with guest singer Ryan Hanks. The hilarious “Cowboy,” about some Hank Jr worshipping high school classmates of Carona, was sparking from the get-go, while Gandy’s solemn violin laced through “Shooting Stars” like a butterfly. A great way to get things started for the night.
If you haven’t yet caught a Shawn Mullins show, the time is ripe for you to do so, especially if all the standing ovations Mullins received during his show at the Red Dragon is any indication. Mullins is in superior voice, his songs have a deeper symbolism and he is working on new material, which should make for another stellar year ahead for the singer-songwriter-guitar player.
SETLIST: Twin Rocks Oregon, The L&D Don’t Stop Here Anymore, To Beat The Devil, The Great Unknown, Ghost Of Johnny Cash, California, Light You Up, Gulf Of Mexico, Anchored In You, Sunshine, Ferguson, Pre-Apocalyptic Blues, Swamp Witch, My Stupid Heart, Shimmer, Beautiful Wreck, House Of The Rising Sun, Lullaby ENCORE: Sunday Morning Coming Down.
