Mirabile dictu

We saw just a short segment of the KRLU fundraiser tonight, tied in with Ralph Emory. The wonder was that Kris Kristofferson sang on pitch, perhaps for the first time ever, and on two songs! Billy Joe Shaver and Willie Nelson were on and, in the background, we could see Sammy Allred, but didn't watch long enough to see whether he was credited or played the mandolin or anything. The revelation was Gene Watson, who used to come through here all the time, but we never went to hear him. Now we certainly would. I like it that his current tour dates include an event called The Smoked Meat Festival. Just as was the case the prior evening, when we did more or less the same thing, it was all pretty much a come-on for sales of video recordings. The production the night before was a peculiar selection of Motown artists. For the Miracles there was an unnamed Smokey stand-in and another substitute. The Miracles From the Beginning is just about grooveless after all these years and so is the Tempts album so full of songs penned by Smokey. That's my favorite era, with Claudette, but others argue for the later, smoother stuff.