Tin Pan South late show, Michael McDonald, etc., Mercy Lounge, 4/4/09

The question of the day: would I or would I not be successful in getting in the door of Mercy Lounge to get to see Michael McDonald in a round with artists Meghan Kabir, Luke Laird, Leigh Nash, Emerson Hart, Kyle Cook and Michael's son Dylan McDonald? I didn't have a Tin Pan South pass so I went early, took my place around 6th in the cash line and waited and hoped. At least I had the possibility of my dear songwriter friend Debbie Pascarella saving me a seat inside. But happily, pass holders and cash payers got in. There were no seats but my consolation was a well-positioned spot at the front of the stage along with a swarm of photographers weaving in and out(note: great spot to see the show but not conducive to note-taking, hence lack of some detail here and there). If I hadn't, though, at least I could have said I saw Michael McDonald. In yet another display of the man's unaffected nature and humility he's known for, he and someone carried his keyboard in from the parking lot and made a joke about doing an honest day's work!

Main performers Meghan Kabir (who appeared to be the round organizer), Luke Laird, Leigh Nash and Michael had four songs each. Leigh, known from Sixpence None the Richer and Meghan gave the audience some powerful personal songs (why were we so quiet, Meghan? We were listening!). Luke Laird is co-writer of two Carrie Underwood hits "So Small" and "Last Name" (which as he noted was comical as he performed it as written in the female point of view!). Michael McDonald, of course, is "the man" in my book. He did a song in tribute of Martin Luther King (on a guitar close to the size of a ukelele...still surprising to those of us who associate him primarily with the keyboard), his song written originally for Christmas called "Peace", and Doobie Brothers hits "It Keeps You Running" and "What A Fool Believes". The audience demanded an encore from him and got "I Keep Forgetting", joined on stage by his sister Maureen who had done the backing vocal on the recording.

Guest artists were Emerson Hart from Tonic (who did a Tonic hit and a lullabye for his daughter), Kyle Cook from Matchbox 20 and Dylan McDonald, who had two songs each.

Along with Michael, the two I was most waiting to hear were Kyle and Dylan. Kyle's Matchbox 20 bandmate Rob Thomas always said Kyle had an excellent voice and I agree. He did one of his own songs and an evening highlight for me, a recent Matchbox single "In These Hard Times". He noted it was not a huge hit for the group and that many people may not have heard the song. Well, I did, and it's one of those many tuning fork of the heart songs that Rob, Kyle and the group have been so successful at hitting me with. So, I was a puddle.

I'd really been looking forward to hearing Dylan, since I've been digging his songs on his MySpace page. He is vastly different from his dad musically, but the apple sure doesn't fall far from the tree. He and guitarist Daniel DelMonaco did two quite excellent acoustic songs. I'd sure like to hear more from him. And you can, when he and his band the Avians play at the Basement on April 17. I got to meet Dylan afterward...a nice and gracious fellow.

Another late but awesome evening. Sleep? What's that? Who cares, anyway? I love this town.