Chris Smither opener Peter Mulvey –Saturday Show–
Chris Smither, Peter Mulvey
McCabe's Guitar Shop3101 Pico Blvd, Los Angeles 90405
Peter Mulvey opens the Saturday bill for Chris Smither. Smither’s recent album All About the Bones is his 20th release, with songs that take on mortality, politics, renewal, family and surrender.
Smither is a New Orleans-raised singer-songwriter and guitarist known for blues-influenced finger-picking and rhythmic foot-tapping; Bonnie Raitt has recorded his songs. Milwaukee singer-songwriter and guitarist Mulvey is known for witty writing and an “extraordinary guitar style,” and has shared stages with Ani DiFranco, Emmylou Harris, Richard Thompson, Indigo Girls and Greg Brown. The Irish Times called him “consistently the most original and dynamic of the US singer-songwriters to tour these shores.”
McCabe’s is a working instrument shop with a concert history stretching back to the late 1960s, and its back room has welcomed both emerging artists and performers who keep returning. The show takes place among walls hung with guitars and other stringed instruments, with the audience seated in folding chairs facing a small stage. It is a listening room: there is no bar, and the quiet lets acoustic detail and lyrics carry through the room. Concerts are ticketed, and the shop’s current listings and tickets are available online, so check ahead for your show. The shop is on Pico Boulevard in Santa Monica; the concert room is reached through the store. Expect an evening focused on the performance, rather than drinks or dinner between sets.