This past Saturday, [Daniel->] and I went to see Doug Burr play at Flipnotics in Austin. Daniel discovered Doug’s music a few months back through Paste Music, and lent me the album shortly thereafter. It has haunted my CD player regularly since then, its “concept gospel” sound making it one of my favorite discs of recent memory.

I jumped at the chance to see Doug in person when Daniel mentioned he was coming to town. Flipnotics is a pretty small place, with seating for probably 30 people or so, which meant we got a great view of the goings-on. The show was great, and included most of the album’s songs and several new ones that hadn’t been recorded yet. Doug manned the guitar and harmonica, while Todd Pertll (whose surname really needs more vowels) played banjo and pedal steel guitar. Todd’s steel playing bears special mention, as he accomplished much more with the already versatile instrument than I’ve seen done before, using an effects processor to vary the sound, loops to create persistent harmonic underlays, and an E-Bow to create a sustained continuous sound. Great fun to watch and listen to.

To top it off, we got to visit with both Todd & Doug for a few minutes after the show, both of whom turn out to be genuinely nice guys. We talked music a bit, complimented them on the album, discussed Denton and Dallas, talked a bit about the challenges of balancing music with the demands of family life, and promised to drag along a few more friends the next time we came out to see them.

So check out the photos, buy the album or go see a show!