High Wide & Handsome at the Highline Ballroom: Loudon Wainwright III and co. put on a night to remember

Tuesday night was an incredible on, with the one-time-only 'High Wide & Handsome: The Charlie Poole Project' concert in NYC, featuring a who's who of NYC's acoustic best and of Loudon Wainwright III's talented family. The cast (it felt like a narrative musical at times) included family members Rufus and Martha Wainwright, Lucy Wainwright Roche, Maggie Roche, Terre Roche, Dave Roche and Suzzy Roche, plus multi-instrumentalists Chaim Tannenbaum and Sufjan Stevens-collaborator Rob Moose, along with Greg Cohen (bass), Erik Friedlander (cello), Paul Asaro (piano) and producer Dick Connette (harmonium). A country pioneer and bootlegger, Poole would've been pleased about the night, though he likely would have stuck to the bar.

The Roches harmonies were gorgeous, Martha and Rufus each sang lead on a song, and Lucy proved to have an incredibly gorgeous voice. The atmosphere felt like a cross between a multimedia history lesson replete with slides, a family reunion, a musical theater narrative, storytelling session, and a hootenany. Here's Rufus leading the band at one point:



Spotted in the crowd were liner note writer Greil Marcus, New Lost City Rambler John Cohen, Holy Modal Rambler Peter Stampfel, and singer Jenni Muldaur.

Loudon and Lucy were kind enough to pose with me:



Oh and Loudon closed with a rollicking version of his own "Dead Skunk (In The Middle of The Road)." Utterly appropriate considering Charlie's fondness for humor and novelty songs.