Crank it

Sometimes starting a show is like starting an old car. We walk onstage, turn the key, and listen to the engine crank throughout the first song. Will the battery die? Will we give it too much gas and flood it? Will the engine ever turn over or are we going to have to get out and push all night long?

Last night’s Green Show was a little like starting an old car. I was turning the key and pumping the gas pedal through the first couple of songs, wondering if we were ever going to get this old jalopy moving. When the car won't start, I tend to pump the gas and flood the engine. No-one wants to see a performer work; it’s our job to make it look effortless.

The engine finally caught during “Dark as a Dungeon” a slow, somber song about the miner’s life; "the dangers are double, the pleasures are few." Sometimes the jump-start we need can’t be achieved with “harder, faster, louder.” Sometimes that kick in the pants comes from going deeper into the soul of a song. I have to be quiet and listen hard to catch it, but it’s almost always there.