A Bunch of Dudes Playing Music

So many singers are known by their voice—Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Carly Simon. Although not as widely known, Mike Doughty is no different. His droning, monotone voice is what characterized every song he played last Friday night at the TLA. Haunting, melodic, and just gosh darn beautiful.

Doughty stayed true to his “dude theory”—the idea of making a relaxed record that sounds like a bunch of dudes playing music for the pure joy of playing—throughout the night. Backed by bassist Andrew “Scrap” Livingston, keyboardist John Kirby, and drummer Pete McNeal, the band opened with “St. Louise is Listening”—a Soul Coughing tune. Doughty continued to play homage to some oldies but goodies throughout the night like Soul Coughing’s “Circles” and “Soft Serve.” But it was on Doughty’s solo songs that the band’s skills really shone. On “I Hear the Bells” and “Navigating by the Stars at Night,” Doughty’s voice was just as much an instrument as the bass and drums.

What was most appealing about the night was Doughty’s ability to connect with the crowd. How many musicians ask the crowd what songs they’d like to hear? Similar to his “Question Jar” tour last year, Doughty asked the audience for requests. Sadly, "It’s Raining Men" wasn’t played, but I think Doughty satisfied the crowd anyway with favorites like “Tremendous Brunettes” and “Looking at the World from the Bottom of the Well.”

Before "Fort Hood," Doughty’s most political song on his newest album, Doughty mentioned that, “Fort Hood is the Texas Army base that has lost the most troops in the Iraq War.” He introduced the song by saying he didn’t write most of it, as the chorus steals from a song from the 60s musical Hair—“The Flesh Failures (Let the Sunshine in).” (You'd know it as soon as you heard it.)

But Doughty didn’t keep the crowd down in the dumps for too long when he broke out his synthesizer on “More Bacon Than the Pan Can Handle.” The crowd didn’t know whether to dance to the funky tune or laugh when the synthesizer repeatedly echoed "Where’s the cake?" "Get the cake." That’s what’s great about Doughty’s shows: his ability to do fun and quirky songs like "More Bacon than the Pan Can Handle" alongside more thought-provoking songs.

It doesn’t look like Doughty will be around this area again for a while, but if you feel like making the trek he’ll be in Harrisburg on May 31.

Photo credit: Chris Oberlin