Project 365 Day 239: Hitching Post

This past winter we were excited about seeing Brandi Carlile at the Hoyt Sherman in Des Moines. We first saw her open for the band Train in DC a few years ago, and she's one of the few opening acts I've seen that I ended up more interested in than the headliner. We bought our tickets well ahead of time and were set to go, when a big ol' Iowa freezing rainstorm hit, and we decided it was probably in our best interest to not jump on the interstate that night. I had hoped she would come through central Iowa sometime in the future when we could try to go again.

To my surprise, we didn't have to wait a year or two, but only about 6 months, and this time she came to us. She and her band stopped in town tonight to play at the Ames Auditorium of all places, a smallish theater in a municipal building downtown. It was a great show, the audience was really into it, and Brandi and the band seemed to feed off the energy. She comes across as a very genuine person and performer while on stage, which has to be challenging as a touring artist. She said they changed the setlist from the Des Moines show to add a little variety, and she also checked a YouTube video of the Des Moines performance to make sure she wore different clothes tonight.

The encore was a treat, and started off with an awesome solo performance by the band's cello player, in which he used a looping pedal to build layers of his playing, until it sounded like a cello quintet was playing together. Throw in some covers of Fleetwood Mac, Johnny Cash, and Tammy Wynette, and we had ourselves a good night. She said she'd definitely be back to Ames again, and we hope she follows through on that promise.

So what's this picture go to do with anything? I have no idea. We were walking around downtown before the concert and came across this hitching post in someone's front yard. Looks kind of historical. Brandi Carlile's music has a little bit of an old school country twang to it, and horses are often featured in country music and western movies, so I think that is a good enough tie in.