Where My Heart Wants to Be

There was a short set of songs in The Little Room at Largo at the Coronet on Friday, December 18, 2015 after Jon Brion’s show. Gosh I love this space, even though it is pretty cold on the winter nights! So great to sit just a few feet away from the performers.

The set on Friday night was led by David Garza. He started off pretty soon after Jon’s set, inviting his friend, singer Gaby Moreno, on stage for a couple songs.  They started off with the song “Los Peces en el Rio,” with Sara Watkins joining in on the fiddle. Then their friend Arthur was invited onstage to play guitar while David played piano for a cover of the very pretty Christmas song “December” originally sung by Kay Starr.

David then played guitar with Sebastian Steinberg on bass and the others exited the stage. I believe David was playing one of his original songs, but I am afraid I don’t know the title. Lyrics included, “Who do you fool when you say yes?” “Who makes you dream of jet black days and dirty blonde midnights?  “What’ll it take to break your heart?”

Sean Watkins then joined the pair on stage for an apocalyptic song by E.C Ball called “Tribulations.” There followed a song that Sean called the first one that he learned to play, a Carter Family song, “Bury Me Beneath the Willow.”  Then Sean played a new song he had written that he referenced as a response to the Gillian Welch song “Caleb Meyer.” I believe he has played this one at a previous Watkins Family Hour and it will be on his forthcoming album. The song is the one with the line, “Darling please don’t cry because the world is wrong.” Sean finished up his time on stage by playing his song from Nickel Creek, “Somebody More Like You.”

David then played two more songs before concluding the evening. The first he introduced by mentioning “scary bad high school poetry,” and I think it may be called “Snow Black.” It had a line, “You whispered fairy tales so sweet and wrapped me in your arms.” The second one, “Lost at Sea” from his band, Twang Twang Shock-a-Boom, reminded me of the song “Nature Boy,” maybe because of the first line, “Long ago and far away I ruled a kingdom on a beach.” It wraps up neatly with the line, “I’m exactly where my heart wants to be, lost at sea.” I’ve borrowed part of that line for this blog post title. My heart wants to be in The Little Room at Largo!