John Craigie plays Dylan in a mirror world. An immersive performance demonstrating one of many true versions of Americana.
Love is like a drug we often take. He phrases like Dylan. The hillbilly persona that Joni Mitchell often derided Blind Boy Grunt for and was a big part of his charm when he broke out in 1963.
The song is Beethoven’s Dream. That and many of Craigie’s songs are referential to the Dylan myth of the troubadour, rambling hobo, runaway circus performer. The carefully curated character.
Where Ma Rainey and Beethoven once unwrapped their bedroll/ I’m in the alley with the Tombstone Blues
Desolation Row could be the world where the character of Craigie has stepped out of. Gives the impression he stays in character outside the stage, from the stories he spins. Which is a big part of the show.
Twenty years after Dylan first hit New York City and started to create himself, John Craigie was born in Los Angeles.
Tells us he had a very suburban upbringing. A quiet guy and maybe a bit nerdy. He gained a degree in mathematics from Santa Cruz University.
Folk singing came by way of being in a psychedelic Rock band first, when he was developing his musical chops. He has been performing publicly over twenty years which makes him a seasoned pro. One we have never heard of here until he makes his debut New Zealand mini tour.
Surprisingly there are over a dozen albums released since 2009 including live concerts.
Toured with the likes of Jack Johnson who has become an enthusiastic supporter.
I Wrote Mr Tambourine Man, performed tonight, is also a single with Johnson. A tall tale inside a tall tale. That little man is nothin’ but a thief.
The voice is Ozark Country hillbilly. A satirical edge with heart and appreciation like the Hombres’ Let It All Hang Out.
Long been fought and argued over since Dylan reached peak hagiography in 1965. Do you think you’ll be hung for a beggar or a thief? Asked Allen Ginsberg once to nervous laughter from Dylan. Talent borrows and genius steals. Ginsberg was also a friend.
Craigie’s song ties it all up neatly in one pretty package. Co-written with a rambling drunk in a New Orleans pub one night. Of course it’s a lie that reveals the truth.
Laurie Rolled Me a J. A slow-paced talking Blues or a country preacher rapping about Trump and dissing JD Vance with a fuck you. This was released in 2021 and originally the lyrics referred to Mike Pence. An angry song which continues to rail against covid, lockdowns and wild conspiracies.
The cure for covid, she said, it’s 5G/ Won’t get the vaccine because of the tracking chip. JD Vance did come from the same tribal affiliation as the character of the singer, with his pivotal book Hillbilly Elegy (2016). Steinbeck updated for the new millennium.
Virgin Guitar and his story-telling style owes something to John Prine for wit and irony behind the Rust Belt dispossessed.
The one song that is genuinely Folk Blues with acoustic guitar lines like Mississippi John Hurt, Craigie gets on a comic sarcastic tangent and observes…Nobody booed yet/ Nobody called out Judas.
Don’t Ask. Percussive guitar strumming and a Folk Blues shout reminiscent of the early Donovan.
Mallory comes from his most recent album, which is a live performance, Greatest Hits…Just Kidding. Nice harmonica playing and he gets to ham it up, especially when he inserts a bit of Bowie’s Young Americans at the end.
The show finishes with Hannah Morell being called up to play a beautiful fiddle lament on a song mourning the destruction of natural habitats.
Morell has played an opening set, of which I caught the last song.
John Craigie came with an advanced reputation, and the tradition he carries can be traced through Guthrie to Ramblin’ Jack Elliott to Pete Seeger. A Folk night at the Tuning Fork where everyone is seated and listening quietly.
A great performance to channel Dylan so effectively.
Rev. Orange Peel
Photography by Den
John Craigie
Hannah Morell
