May 3–10, 2001

scene and heard

Country Atmosphere

It can be daunting recreating album atmospherics in a live setting, but armed with an arsenal of instruments, singer/songwriter Jim White and his four-piece backing crew were up to the task. While White’s recent No Such Place (Luaka Bop) fused country and folk with electronic backings, his April 28 North Star set kept the circuitry to a minimum and sought out alternate means of matching the album feel. The drum set teemed with bells and chimes which enhanced the gloominess of "Corvair" just as well as studio trickery. When he wasn’t soloing or sitting behind a pedal steel, auxiliary guitarist Chris Heinrich tinkered with his effects kit to bring airy subtleties to the background of cuts like "A Perfect Day To Chase Tornados" (from 1997’s Wrong Eyed Jesus ). An oddly shaped, seemingly homemade stand-up bass brought a thick low end throughout the set, and White himself played an electric guitar fused with a banjo skin at points. "In case you were wondering, this is called a Banjocaster," he explained. "It was invented by our bassist, and if you’d like, he’ll gladly make you one. You’ll just need to give him an old, worthless guitar to work with."

—John Vettese