reubent, I like when an artist has his or her backing band be the show opener, as is I believe the situation with Lucinda and Buick 6. I haven’t seen them yet, but she has always had a great band. I saw her at The Wiltern Theater (a great room) on the Car Wheels tour, and she had Jim Lauderdale open for her. He then remained on stage for her set, playing acoustic rhythm guitar and singing harmony. She had Jim Christie on drums, who quit Dwight Yoakam (no one likes working for him) when she offered him a job. On guitar were Kenny Vaughan and Doug Pettibone. What a band! I just realized why the drumming is so good on the Essence album---it’s Jim Keltner!
I just read that Bill Frisell plays guitar on the Spirit and Ghosts albums, and am looking forward to hearing how that worked out. I saw Lucinda on TV a few weeks back (she looked like h*ll !), singing with Steve Earle. Steve’s road band was backing and they were fantastic, especially the drummer. Steve is a harsh critic, but he, like I, is a huge fan of Buddy Miller, whom I mentioned above. Steve proclaimed Buddy’s 1995 Your Love And Other Lies the Country album of the decade! I sure wish Lucinda would have Buddy produce her---right now he’s the best.