Home Music Cris Jacobs Guests With Greensky Bluegrass In Charleston

Cris Jacobs Guests With Greensky Bluegrass In Charleston

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On Wednesday night, Greensky Bluegrass rolled through Charleston, South Carolina, performing a sold-out midweek show at Charleston Music Hall. With Cris Jacobs Band signed on as support for this leg of the tour, the Michigan-born progressive bluegrass quintet made use of their opener, inviting out Cris Jacobs to join the band to finish off Greensky’s second set.

Eschewing a long-standing tradition, Greensky Bluegrass forewent their traditional nod to “Casual Wednesday,” neither playing the day’s namesake song nor performing a characteristically wild cover or guest-fueled set. However, this is not to say Greensky Bluegrass’ January 23 performance was standard by any means, given the band’s guest performer and the group’s standout setlist that saw the band integrate rarely played fan-favorites into the fold.

To open up the show, Greensky Bluegrass offered up two tracks off 2014’s If Sorrows Swim, “In Control” followed up by “A Letter To Seymour.” Next up was “Grow Bananas,” an old-school number from 2006’s Tuesday Letter that the group rarely performs live. Wednesday’s performance marked its first play in 2019 and its eighth performance since December of 2016. With Joshua Davis’ “Last Winter In Copper Country” following up the classic tune, the group continued with 2008’s “Into The Rafters,” a cover of Bill Monroe’s “Wheel Hoss” and a second track off Five Interstates, “200 Miles From Montana.”

With the vast majority of the first set composed of older, more-established song selections, Greensky Bluegrass took the opportunity to showcase two new compositions off their latest studio album, All For Money, which was released last Friday on January 18. After the pairing of “Cathedral Eyes” and “Ashes,” the band finished off their standout first set with a performance of fan-favorite If Sorrows Swim’s track “Kerosene.”

After the show’s energized second set opener, “Just To Lie,” the band ran through a number of originals, including “Hold On,” “Take Cover” and “Do It Alone.” Next up was a cover of John Hartford’s “Steam Powered Aeroplane,” which led into the recently live debuted All For Money song, “Wish I Didn’t Know,” and a take on If Sorrows Swim’s fiery “Burn Them.” To close out set two, Cris Jacobs joined the group for two numbers: “Jaywalking” and “Handle With Care.” Augmented by the guest guitarist, the six-piece on stage breezed through the final two songs of the night, easily building the final song, a cover of Traveling Wilbury’s “Handle With Care,” into a frenzied peak. To close out the evening in full, Greensky Bluegrass returned sans guest for a final rendition of “Dustbowl Overtures.”

Setlist (via Camp Greensky)

Set One: In Control, Letter to Seymour, Grow Bananas, Last Winter in Copper Country, Into the Rafters, Wheel Hoss, 200 Miles from Montana, Cathedral Eyes, Ashes, Kerosene

Set Two: Just to Lie, Hold On, Take Cover, Do It Alone, Steam Powered Aeroplane, Wish I Didn’t Know, Burn Them, Jaywalking*, Handle With Care*

Encore: Dustbowl Overtures

  • * with Cris Jacobs