Monsieur Jeffrey Evans--I've Lived A Rich Life: Live At Shangri-La Records
Sympathy For The Record Industry 2001
Going to see Jeffrey Evans play live is always a treat. Besides the fact that he never fails to deliver onstage, there's usually a laid-back energy in the air that ensures optimal comfort and enjoyment for the fortunate onlooker. It's almost like you're a kid again, sitting around with a friend, jamming on your favorite tunes, and reveling in the sheer fact that you're able to coax sound out of the guitar, period. No posturing and no politics--just a genuine love of music and the celebration of playing it.
With I've Lived A Rich Life: Live At Shangri-La Records, Monsieur Evans has taken that "vibe" and presented it in a literal form. This is more of a storytelling album than it is a musical sojurn. Most of the songs played here don't make it any further than a verse and a chorus. That's okay though--this album is all about how the songs touched his life and what they mean to him. It's about how song and life exist hand-in-hand. The stories he tells make this album like a set of his always great and honest liner notes coming to life. It is, to say the least, a funny, engaging, and sometimes even heartbreaking listen.
Actually, it is surprising just how satisfying this album is musically considering the general lack of music contained on it. This is just another testament to what a treasure Jeffrey Evans is as a performer. Getting to hear his unmistakable voice sing a 45 second snapshot of a song is worth more than the sum most bands entire catalogs.
If you don't have any of the albums he's made with '68 Comeback or the Gibson Bros., you definitely need to get those first. That's not to say you don't need this album--you do. I've Lived A Rich Life: Live At Shangri-La Records is probably the most "real" album since Everybody Hollerin' Goat by Othar Turner & the Rising Star Fife and Drum Band--Jeffrey's performance being accentuated by the sounds of Madison Avenue on a Memphis afternoon. It's like the man himself says before he launches into a cover of "Red Cadillac and a Black Moustache":
"Long, long introduction, but I'm worth it."
Truer words have never been spoken.
Score this CD directly from Sympathy For The Record Industry
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