Fort Defiance at the Blue Plate Special

"I'd like to go to the Blue Plate Special some time," I had kept saying week in and week out.  The Blue Plate Special is a live show in downtown Knoxville, TN, at the WDVX headquarters. But I rarely get around to going there.

I guess it took having Fort Defiance, and cold late-March weather, to play there for me to go.  Led by Jordan Eastman, with his newlywed wife Laurel, they played for a packed house.  For those of you who don't know Jordan, the best way to sum him up in a nutshell:  Bob Dylan, Gordon Lightfoot, and Johnny Cash-all in one young man.  Before he met Laurel, and she started playing with him, he was a solo artist.  Being only one man didn't stop him from playing music on stage as if there were a whole band.  He plays guitar and harmonica with some rich, sweet sounds emanating from both.  Add to that a box he stands on; with his boots, his left foot taps a tambourine.  To describe him as a multi-talented musician (which for all intents and purposes, he is) would be an understatement.

The songs in Jordan Eastman's solo career, and their titles, are complex, abstract, but rich and deep in meaning and musical talent.  If you recall a song called "Baby, Don't Hooked on Me,"  some of his songs have a similar theme.  This is the one thing that stands out in my mind about them.  As can be expected, when he meets someone not only to be in a band with him, but also to spend the rest of his life with, the choice of songs changes.

I'll never experience for myself a Johnny and June Carter Cash show.  Seeing some of them on TV at times, I notice the chemistry between them.  Jordan and Laurel have recreated that with their songs and stage presence.  Not only was Jordan on a box, but Laurel was, too.  In fact, at one point, they were in step with each other as they sang and played.

The other band that was supposed to play for this noontime special cancelled at the last minute.  To me, that only meant I, and everyone else there, could enjoy more of their music-and to clap their hands and stomp their feet in time to the music.  In the middle of their set, the radio hostess Red Hickey interviewed them.  I had an opportunity to learn the story of the boxes and the tambourine.  The tambourine Jordan used was his 6th one, which was holding up well. 

Later that night, they had a show at the Preservation Pub in downtown Knoxville.