By Johnny Ray Huston
Once upon a time in Detroit, I worked at a record store. Kelley Stoltz sometimes shopped there. He liked Echo and the Bunnyman even back then. And Brendan Benson worked at a different, maybe cooler record store. I had no idea that he and Kelley would end up writing so many good and great songs.
Benson’s tour for his new album My Old, Familiar Friend hits Great American Music Hall tomorrow night, and one of the opening acts, Maxim Ludwig and the Santa Fe Seven, is also worth a look-see and true listen. Ludwig lists the Band as one of his musical favorites, and “To Be with Sweet Marie” genuinely calls the Band to mind — not trifling, since most people know the sound of the Band is hard to even contrive. Ludwig’s father has an interest in the Brothers Grimm, and you get the feeling that interest informs his son’s music, the same way that the images on great album covers might fuel his imagination.
Maxim Ludwig & the Santa Fe Seven, “Big Black Train”
BRENDAN BENSON
with Maxim Ludwig and the Santa Fe Seven
Thu/10, 8 p.m. (doors 7:30 p.m.), $18
Great American Music Hall
859 O’Farrell, SF
(415) 885-0750
www.gamh.com