the Walnut Diary

“Hometown” was a one man acoustic show streamed on CTV.ca on Friday evening. Neil ran through my favourites, most of which come from an album I played incessantly in 1973. “Helpless” now has an address. It’s Omemee, Ontario. But I don’t remember one stanza from the anthem he sang. It may be new, but I missed “Big birds flying upon the sky, yellow moon on the rise…”

The Red-Green atmosphere charmed me, as did the many old guitars and pianos, and even a pump organ. I didn’t expect to see Neil with a banjo, but it had its place in the program.

The quirky staging of the show required that a handful of attendees in parkas sit in a cold parking lot after a Christmas tree sale, watching assorted ancient televisions. It was clever, but I would have preferred a seat in the small auditorium. The set went smoothly with Neil permitting himself moments of an old guy’s indecision between songs, and occasional brief comments such as an explanation for why he drowns his harmonicas in a water glass before playing them (twice the volume).

Neil’s clearly not a fan of pipelines, though that may be Darryl Hannah’s influence. He chose to understate his environmental opinions this evening and kept his politics to a general world-weariness which sought relief in his roots.

His encore “Sugar Mountain” spoke to the ache of “You can’t be twenty on Sugar Mountain” any more, but it’s a gentle ache, not the rage of a defeated man. His voice was in fine tune, and the guitars wept their accompaniment. The stage was anything but minimalist, but the simple show charmed me to my toes.