Slaid Cleaves

J

jimmyjazz

2,500+ Posts
I'm prepping the smoker this afternoon to smoke a couple of briskets, and nobody's home but me. I figured I'd sit on the back porch, drink a beer and read the Chronicle while the wood gets going, and decided to throw open the windows and put something on the big stereo inside. The first good CD I came across in the "to be re-filed" stack was Slaid Cleaves' "Broke Down".

Well, damn if that isn't a refreshing shot in the arm. Slaid may not be "Texas" -- he's from Maine -- but "Broke Down" has to be one of the best Austin records of the last decade. This is the perfect afternoon (so far, knock on wood).

If you don't have it, get it. If you do, listen to it.
 
Definitely.

I've had the good fortune to see him at Cactus Cafe twice and again at the auditorium for the "Ribbon of Highway Endless Skyway" performance with Eliza Gilkyson, Jimmy LaFave, and others, and he's never disappointed.

"Unsung" is his version of Lyle's "Step Inside This House", covering artists that he feels don't get enough credit or recognition. I like it almost as much as Broke Down.
 
He's great.

He played at my church's Thursday night concert series several years ago.

I was standing at the back next to this older guy who turned out to be Slaid's dad, down visiting from Maine. We ended up striking up a conversation during intermission. We talked the whole intermission, then he introduced me to Slaid after the show. Two of the nicest people I've ever met...
 
28 lb of brisket are fixin' to hit the smoke, and I just hit "repeat". Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale is a major player in this production, too.

Unless someone offers up an award-winning brisket rub in the next 10 minutes, I'm going with whatever I can find in my pantry.
 
Love Slaid. My favorite tune is "Drinking days".
Song is about drinking too much one night and getting in a fight. Turns out he roughs up a cop and get sent to Huntsville.

In reply to:
Click to expand...
 
Preaching to the choir here. His cover of Karen Poston's song "Flowered Dresses" is amazing and is 100 times better then when Karen sings it..and she has Kelly Willis backing her up. The line "hugging my knees and holding my breath" rips my heart out.

I first saw Slaid in a tiny bar in Arlington, VA and bought his album No Angel Knows that night. I think it was 98 and had never heard of him before that night but I bought the CD before the show when I saw it was produced by Gurf Morlix & Lucinda Williams. Great album and he has only gotten better since then. I talked to him for quite a while...very nice guy.

For some reason, I can't find my copy of Broke Down. Will probably pick it up today along with Lucinda's new one which is supposed to be fantastic.
 
not much to add here - HUGE Slaid Cleaves fan. Always nice to catch a slaid show or two in Austin. Unplugged at the Grove was a natural setting for him two (three?) seasons ago. I'm a big fan of "blue piece of paper," "keys" (keychain?) and "bring it on", although "brokedown" gets me every time.
 
I've listened to him a couple of times on cross country and liked it. Never really sat down and listened to a whole album, but it sounds like I need to. I'm always looking for new sounds. Here lately, I've been on a Drive By Truckers kick and can't seem to get enough.
 
Jimmyjazz ... from direct recent experience - I was cooking a brisket for a party, so my wife asked me to cook two so she could have one for a party that next monday. I'm a foil-and-cooler guy, so I cooked both briskets like we were going to eat them both - internal temp to 175-180, in the foil to roughly 195, throw them in the cooler for ~2 hours. at that point, I pulled one out and cut it for the party, and the other one went directly into the fridge. Nothing special, didn't even re-wrap it (it was wrapped pretty tightly). two days later for the monday night thing, my wife used the "warm" setting on the oven (about 170) and put the brisket, still in it's original foil, on a casserole dish, in the oven. It spent ~2 hours there to warm up slowly, and then she pulled it, unwrapped it, cut it and served it. I have to be honest - it might actually have been better than the one we ate on Saturday at the party. It was AWESOME. Leaving it in the foil let all those juices re-absorb, adn a slow re-heat did the trick, I think.

Summary - don't worry TOO much about it - they'll keep.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Weekly Prediction Contest

* Predict HORNS-AGGIES *
Sat, Nov 30 • 6:30 PM on ABC

Recent Threads

Prediction Results Threads

2024 Schedules

Back
Top