"I want to say this about Tommy: Some people say that Keith Richards is the embodiment of rock 'n roll. Well, I know 'em both, and I say it's Tommy Stinson. Keith is a cowboy, he goes back to Gene Autry. Tommy—he goes back to Johnny Thunders. Tommy Stinson is rock 'n roll. " - Jim Dickinson, record producer (Sticky Fingers) and musician - and father of Luther Dickinson!

Well, I love Tommy Stinson, loved him with the Replacements and love his solo stuff too. I was gifted with a ticket to see The Lemonheads nearby with Tommy Stinson as the opening act. I figured I would attend and see Tommy's band and then leave. I was incorrect.

Tommy had no band. He was solo. He nonchalantly came out and played a handful of his solo band's electric rockers by himself unaccompanied on acoustic guitar. And he killed. Crushed.

To see him emerge from the Replacements like this, where he was the bassist behind one of the most acclaimed singer /lyricists of the 80s/90s, is just wild. It's like finding out the drummer from Nirvana can do more than drum.

But it's also great because as Jim Dickinson says, this guy is rock. He has some swagger but a lot of soul. He's like the American answer to Ronnie Wood or Keith but younger and incredibly down to earth. He has a Dylan / Petty/ Ronnie voice and cool lyrics, and he plays guitar as though he has not put it down in years. So satisfying. With a little slop and a lot of laughs.

He played an incredibly tight 40 minute set, 11 or 12 songs, I was so busy enjoying that I did not fully track it. Here is what I got:

Tommy Stinson, May 2, Fairfield CT

Not This Time (from Anything Can Happen)
Time To Change This Bad News Into Good
Breathing Room (from Anything Can Happen)
Nothing (Bash and Pop)
Not A Moment Too Soon (from Village Gorilla Head)
Come to Hide (from One Man Mutiny)
(Cowboys in the Campfire) It seems to me we don’t see eye to eye / seems to me we’re dancing cheek to cheek
(Cowboys in the Campfire) The Man Who Dumped His Girlfriend For Her Daughter Who Drank Herself To Death
(I missed a song here)
Friday Night Is Killing Me (from Friday Night is Killing Me)
First Steps (Bash & Pop)

Anyway, it was real rock. It was redemptive.

I was going to leave after this but ran into some friends and ended up staying for the Lemonheads. Good call. I vaguely knew them from the early 90s, when they were in the college rock bin but in the all-guitar almost-grungy mix, not the irritating artsy statement / synth mix. They were in with the "children of Neil Young" kind of thing, but I had not felt how much they were so until tonight. Great melodies, big guitar, cool sonorous voice. Great American rock in flannel shirts.

No long songs from either band, just rocking rock that rocked me. I will take it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!