Spread over five rooms of a city-centre arts complex, Take Root packs a lot of music into a small time-window by means of quite seamless efficiency. Opening up, Tift Merritt enjoyed throwing Tori Amos shapes at the grand piano, while Cactus Blossoms are a modern version of The Everly Brothers, with captivating harmonies.
Hurray For The Riff Raff challenged the audience’s country sensibilities and triumphed, while Margo Price’s huge lungs were enhanced by a handy Theremin – surely a first for country music. A charming solo Andrew Combs offered a welcome relief from all the twanging electric guitars and entranced the nomadic audience with his new tree-hugging tune, Dirty Rain. As things cranked up to the climax, Chuck Prophet & The Mission Express set the bar nearly impossibly high for Jason Isbell and his crack sessioneers to rise above. They succeeded, with a panoramic 90-minute set, but it was a close thing.
