A few months ago I penned in “Shooter Jennings Does Warren” on my calendar and bought two tickets. Unaware of the backstory behind the gig (click here for that), I had an innate feeling it was going to be a unique event, and worth the effort getting to/from the belly of Brooklyn on a Wednesday night 24 hours after Halloween.

Over the next two months, I invited a few friends and eventually amassed 10 tickets fluttering in my Apple Wallet (yes this part of the new norm).

As often happens, a simple show grew into a Thunderbird Ranch Ramble-style event.

If you don’t know about Shooter Jennings… here is his website.

My maiden voyage to Brooklyn Made was a memorable one. The bizzy buzz of (legit) music snobs and insiders outside the sold out venue before the show was electric. The room was packed and much smaller than I imagined. Only room for 500 people. While waiting for the band to start… I felt as if I was at an old time town hall meeting impatiently packed in alongside hundreds of others in anticipation of the ruckus that was soon to erupt when the master of ceremonies took the mic.

Then BAM… the opening riff to “Lawyers Guns and Money” hit fast and hard. The crowd cheered and sang along with the prodigal son of an outlaw music legend.

We all instinctively yelled… Shooter and the band were perfect.

“I went home with a waitress, the way I always do!“

The music was great. Really great… it was passionate and thoughtful. Shooter did a super job taking great care with each song and presenting it in the way that Warren would (at his best). In fact, in some cases, I like Shooter’s version of the song better than the original. The stage theatrics were an added bonus and not lost on anyone there who felt transformed to LA’s The Roxy circa 1982.

You can listen to the music on Spotify (click here) as he is releasing the show as an album.

There were so many high points of Shooter’s show as I flip through the setlist (click here) one day later. The music hit peak stride when the band clicked off “Dirty Life and Times”, “Johnny Strikes Up the Band”, and “Accidentaly Like a Martyr”.

By the way, have you ever heard Jerry Garcia’s version of this song? (click here) Like “Mission in the Rain”, it is a great platform for his sentimental side.

The band created rich deep grooves in a variety of styles that the nutty Warren Zevon used to share his stories on being in Hollywood during the 70s and 80s. Punk, rockabilly, folk, hard rock, new wave were all represented well and testament to how tight Shooter and his band were. Quite the nod to Warren Zevon.

Music fans not familiar with Warren’s catalog are easily surprised at how many of his songs they actually knew. One chap from Long Island in our clan questioned if “is this a Willie Nelson tune?” Regardless of knowing all the lyrics like the die-hards, everyone bobbed their head with a silly grin for the entire evening.

NOTE: If you go to Brooklyn Made for a show, I recommend hanging at The Three Diamond Door bar nearby (website)… great tables for arm wrestling. See pics below pre-show.

I loved it all… except when the crowd sang ever so tenderly along with the chorus of “Carmelita” about being all fucked up on heroin on the outskirts of town. It is a great song, but doesn’t translate as well as it did when Warren wrote it in the 80s.

I even loved that their rendition of of Zevon’s most popular song “Werewolves in London” was downplayed and not featured as the encore (an easy mail gimmick in that Shooter gets kudos for not pulling). Thankfully, the show was not about “Werewolves in London”… it was about sharing all of Warren Zevon’s many styles, beautiful songs and unique musical talent.

This is the reason I keep coming back for more live music!!