PREVIEW: Troubadour’s Last Call at Caffe Lena Friday and the Eighth Step Saturday
A Greenwich Village folk original, Tom Paxton has played Caffe Lena since 1960 and the Eighth Step since 1988.
He says adios to both this weekend, Friday at Caffe Lena and Saturday at the Eighth Step.
Paxton is entitled to pack his guitar into its case. He turns 88 in less than two weeks and will retire after this tour.
By now, the Caffe Lena show is likely sold out, although its first-class streaming capability can carry anybody into the Caffe via “your digital device of choice,” as Harry Shearer says of his weekly “Le Show” program, carried here on WAMC. Tune in for Paxton and the Don Juans at http://www.caffelena.tv. Show time is 8 p.m.
The Eighth Step presents Paxton and his compadres-in-song the Don Juans Saturday in what’s likely to be his final show here.
Tom Paxton
Paxton has performed every two years since 1988 at The Step as it’s moved from its original Willett Street home on Albany’s Washington Park to its short tenure in the Cohoes Music Hall, and now in the Eighth Step in Proctors.
The younger Don Juans team of Don Henry (64) and Jon Vezner (73) has sustained and supported their elder troubadour band mate to highly entertaining effect since 2017. Henry was only two when Paxton released his first album, “I’m The Man Who Built the Bridges” in 1962, Vezner was 11.
Don Juans: Don Henry, left, and Jon Vezner
Henry and Vezner penned the huge very touching hit “Where’ve You Been?” for Vezner’s wife Kathy Mattea in 1989 – the first-ever song honored with a Grammy, Academy of Country Music, Country Music Association and Nashville Songwriters Association International awards.
Henry and Vezner have made tunes together ever since but became the Don Juans performing duo more recently.
Far less recently, Greenwich Village 60s folk king Dave Van Ronk hailed Paxton for singing original songs alongside the traditional fare that dominated folk until Bob Dylan hit own. “Bridges” was the first of 66 Paxton albums; other singers started recording his songs as soon as he released them, including Van Ronk, Dylan and older folk stars Pete Seeger, the Carter Family and the Weavers; but also rockers Clear Light and the Pogues; song stylists including Willie Nelson and Norah Jones – even Princess Christina of the Netherlands. A Paxton tune once turned up in a Monty Python episode.
Henry and Vezner also earned their share of cover versions by other singers including Ray Charles, Janis Ian, John Mellencamp and Miranda Lambert. Their styles fit well; on his own, Henry turns his wit playful and loose while Vezner builds his lyrics on sincerity and insight.
Paxton adroitly works both sides of that street, and that gives their live shows together a compelling balance. Several of Paxton’s more recent albums are live sets with the Don Juans.
Those two may roll on without him, but this trio show promises to be special, a fond farewell to a first-generation folk-scare star who’s given fans decades of both well-made and emotional songs and sincerely effective live performances.
After a May 2017 Step visit (where I shot these photos), I reported, “Paxton’s songs have held up well but, a somewhat mannered singer whose finger-picking still seems effortless, he’s wisely teamed up with fellow singer-songwriters Don Henry and Jon Vezner who sing in a more natural style and color his songs with supportive playing. On Friday, they sang their own strong stuff when Paxton rested.
“They were totally unified hootenanny-style in Paxton classics ‘Bottle of Wine’ that wrapped the first set, ‘The Last Thing On My Mind’ and ‘Ramblin’ Boy‘ near the end of the second. ‘Eleanor’s Song,’ an evocative co-write, proved these three guys are onto something. The strongest solo spot was Henry’s. He has the whole rig: writing, singing, playing and patter. On Friday when he sang ‘Schenectady,’ all you could hear was his guitar and voice and his fans’ hushed breathing.”
Show time: 7:30 p.m. doors 7. Tickets: $32.50 advance, $37.50 day of show, $55 priority seating plus pre-show meet and greet onstage at 6:30 p.m. 518-346-6204 www.8thstep.org
Hoke's Jukebox 