AmericanaFest: An Unforgettable Night at the Hutton with T Bone Burnett and Jobi Riccio

Thursday Evening: T Bone Burnett and Jobi Riccio at Analog Hutton

By MCAU Correspondent Wil Comstock

When T Bone finished his latest album “On The Other Side,” he invited AMA executive director Jed Hilly to come over for a listen. Jed was so impressed he asked Burnett to play the whole album through at Americanafest. 

T Bone began by having us turn off our phones. He wanted to take us back to another time.  Introducing guitarist and co-producer Colin Linden, he began with the album’s first song, “He Came Down.”  A song about a hero who just could be the Messiah. He brought up bass player extraordinaire Dennis Crouch before launching into the Everly Brothers-sounding “(I'm Gonna Get Over This) Some Day .“  

Mandolin and violin player David Mansfield was the last musician on stage. The two have known each other for more than 50 years, playing together in Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue.  Burnett said when his friend Bobby Neuwirth died a couple of years ago, he was inspired to write a bridge for one of the songs Bobby had written. He felt Bobby was in the room with him.  The result was the island ballad “Hawaiian Blue Song.” 

Each morning Burnett walks to the end of his property in West Nashville and watches the sun rise. He said that at first, it’s purple and then turns orange and yellow.  “First Light of Day” was written for his wife, Callie, the light of his life. 

He told of meeting Olivia Harrison and mentioning he would like to write a song in the style of her husband George Harrison. Olivia said he should include the words “little darling” in the lyrics.  T Bone did just that on the album’s closer, “Little Darling.”  

For this collection, Burnett said he switched from writing in his head to his heart.  The album seems to be about a couple’s journey to “The Other Side.”

Jed Hilly took the stage to say, ” I know a lot of you go from venue to venue at AmericanaFest, but the place to be is right here. There is a buzz all over about our next artist, Jobi Riccio.

Riccio began with the lovely “Summer” as she fingerpicked and drew us in with her mellow voice.  Highlights of mine were “Whiplash,” the title cut from last year’s album. A song about moving through your late teens into adulthood as a queer person. And “For Me It’s You,” a familiar riff with Jobi’s signature poetry on this unrequited love song. Riccio hails from Colorado and makes Nashville home now. She takes the pain we all face in life, wears it on her sleeve, and finds her own way of expressing it.  She’s my new favorite!