{"id":456,"date":"2013-08-24T20:00:50","date_gmt":"2013-08-24T20:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/216.71.127.204\/wordpress\/?p=456"},"modified":"2015-10-07T20:39:10","modified_gmt":"2015-10-07T20:39:10","slug":"matt-harlan-rachel-jones-barnes-house-concerts-houston-tx","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/houstonmusicreview.com\/wordpress\/2013\/08\/24\/matt-harlan-rachel-jones-barnes-house-concerts-houston-tx\/","title":{"rendered":"Matt Harlan & Rachel Jones – Barnes House Concerts – Houston, TX"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n
Written by James Killen <\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Aug 24, 2013 at 07:00 PM<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\"Image\"Barbara and I took off for the far northwest side of Houston last Saturday night, for bit of Bill and Deanna Barnes\u2019 gracious hospitality and an evening of intimate entertainment with Matt Harlan and his bride, Rachel Jones. It was a full house crowd with a scrumptious buffet and lots of friendly conversation before the show. The \u201957 graduating class of Reagan High School in the Heights was well represented in the audience, along with fans that had driven from as far away as Willis and Pasadena.<\/p>\n

Matt has been busy this summer, having just returned from a tour with Brian Hudson and having done a series of shows in June that included Kerrville with the Sentimentals. There is a live Matt and the Sentimentals disc in the works and he and Rachel will be heading into the studio in September for a recording of all new songs. Then early next year Matt and Rachel will be touring the Netherlands. Shows like this one give the young couple a chance to tighten up their act before the next few months of recording and touring.<\/p>\n

The show started with the title track to Matt\u2019s last studio album, \u201cBow and be Simple\u201d, followed by the seldom heard \u201cWarm November\u201d and \u201cToo Much Going On.\u201d All three of those tunes, as well as the ones that followed throughout the night, featured Rachel\u2019s harmonies more prominently than even six months ago. Rachel has become a stronger performer in the last couple of years. She steps into the harmony vocals with professional confidence and truly adds to the depth of the songs.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s always interesting to me to listen to a great and prolific song-writer do cover songs. The songs that they choose and the subtle ways that they make them their own, reveal the places from which their own compositions come. Matt and Rachel did more covers this evening than I have heard in any show before, including songs from Jonathon Byrd, Jimmy Pizzitola, Tom Waits, Shovels and Rope, and Townes Van Zandt for the encore \u201cSnowin\u2019 on Raton\u201d.<\/p>\n

Interspersed with the favorites that we\u2019ve been enjoying for years, the couple threw in some songs that will be featured on their next studio record. Some of them have been a part of Matt\u2019s unrecorded portfolio for quite a while, like \u201cSlow Moving Train\u201d, Raven Hotel\u201d and \u201cOld Alan Road\u201d. Others are new compositions, like Matt\u2019s song for Rachel in which she carries the lead vocal, \u201cRiding with the Wind\u201d and his tribute to the Warren Zevon song \u201cMohamed\u2019s Radio\u201d, that is currently titled, \u201cRock and Roll\u201d.<\/p>\n

It was nice to spend the evening just talking with fellow music lovers and catching up with Matt and Rachel to see which way the music winds will be blowing them over the next few months. It sounds like there will be some new recordings available soon and opportunities to catch this Houston based duet in other venues as their burgeoning career evolves. Ya\u2019ll have fun. We do.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Written by James Killen Aug 24, 2013 at 07:00 PM Barbara and I took off for the far northwest side of Houston last Saturday night, for bit of Bill and Deanna Barnes\u2019 gracious hospitality and an evening of intimate entertainment with Matt Harlan and his bride, Rachel Jones. It was a full house crowd with… <\/p>\n

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