CONCERT REVIEW: JOHN MCEUEN

Photo by BILL BROWNLEE/Special to The Star

One of the best performance spaces in the Kansas City area is a
nondescript room on an nonymous commercial strip of Shawnee Mission Parkway.  It contains a few dozen folding chairs, industrial carpet and a small riser that passes for a stage.

Jim Curley, proprietor of the Mountain Music Shoppe in Shawnee, calls it the Parlor Room.  When he turns off the overhead fluorescent lights to signal the start of a presentation, the venue is transformed into a
magnificent concert hall.

John McEuen, best known for his work with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, played the first of three scheduled sold-out concerts at the Mountain Music Shoppe on Wednesday evening.  His full band performs Thursday at the VooDoo Lounge.  McEuen also will also participate in a free autograph session Friday from 5 to 6:30 p.m.

"It's nice to see all the people in the Shawnee area that don't have cable," McEuen kidded as he took the stage.  In truth, the audience knew how fortunate they were to see the influencial musician in such an intimate space.  The approximately 60 gracefully aging hippies, bluegrass fans and amateur musicians in attendance were treated to 90 minutes of vastly entertaining Americana.

Equal parts comedy routine, history lesson and jaw-dropping display of musical virtuosity, McEuen's showcase sparkled.  He clearly relishes performing.   And while he's enthralled with his own prowess on guitar, banjo, mandolin and fiddle, his showiness is balanced by a self-effacing nature and comedic talent.  McEuen's gags included stepping into his guitar strap rather than slinging the instrument
over his shoulder and a hysterical impression a roadie's behavior at a concert.

He also told a series of jokes that would have shamed Minnie Pearl. McEuen suggested that he planned to open up a combination taxidermy and veterinary clinic on Shawnee Mission Parkway.  "Either way you get your dog back," he deadpanned.

Formed forty years ago, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band successfully fused traditional American folk musics to contemporary rock and country sounds.  McEuen spoke proudly about their momentous "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" album of 1972.  He offered stories about a few of the legends that appeared on the album, including Vassar Clements, Merle Travis, Lester Flatt and Maybelle Carter.

While McEuen was talkative, a few musical moments were especially memorable.  He evoked the misty American past with a craggy version of "Mountain Whippoorwill (Or, How Hillbilly Jim Won the Great Fiddler's Prize)."  His 1974 recorded version seems like youthful folly by comparison.   The aging process only enhances the silver-maned McEuen's artistic authority.   McEuen reprised "Mr. Bojangles," the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's biggest hit, and offered a pretty guitar piece from his film music for "Good Old Boys," a vehicle for his friend Tommy Lee Jones.

McEuen spoke longingly of Kansas City's fabled Vanguard Coffee House and Cowtown Ballroom.  "We used to book our days off in Kansas City," he said.  "Those were different times."

Perhaps.  But the welcome presence of the Mountain Music Shoppe tempers such nostalgia.

Although McEuen is perhaps the most prominent act to perform at the Mountain Music Shoppe, the venue boasts an ongoing schedule of top-tier acoustic-based artists.  A full schedule of events is available at the Music Shoppe's Web site.

| Bill Brownlee, Special to The Star