Thank You For The Dave

The Open House Festival programme didn't say that Gillian Welch would be in town, but there was always a good chance of it. After all her musical cohort is Dave Rawlings, and he was definitely on the bill. In the past, Dave has been the low-profile character, working with Gillian, hanging with Ryan Adams and Bright Eyes and fabulous creatures of that stripe.

But then Dave put out an album last year called 'A Friend Of A Friend' and we were all elated. His songs were deep and graceful and sometimes they rocked. And when he played Belfast there was the opportunity to witness all that with a supreme band that could fit every emotional occasion. He was dropping in bits of Woody Guthrie and leading us back to that paradise on earth, the Big Rock Candy Mountain.

There were also primo versions of songs from the album, opening with 'Monkey And The Engineer' and later namechecking 'Ruby', 'Sweet Tooth' and more. The musicians were goofing off with dance routines, the floor was stomping with audience approval and Gillian delivered 'Look At Miss Ohio' when we weren't expecting so much. And thus another precious Open House moment was revealed.