Ryan Adams and the Unknown Band with Emmylou Harris and Cory Chisel at Breese Stevens Field, Madison, WI, 9/29/17

Cory Chisel's opening set

I couldn't not see more dates on the Prisoner tour. I was kicking myself for not buying tickets for Chicago, and trying to figure out exactly how much wriggle room I had in my work schedule to take a road trip (honestly, bad idea). But then I found out that Ryan was, after a swing through Europe, a break, and a UK tour, coming back to the Upper Midwest....to do a show with the legendary Emmylou Harris. Emmylou has been on my concert bucket list for a while, so I can't tell you how excited I was for this.

The show was outdoors at Breese Stevens Field, in the busiest part of Madison on a Friday. Music started early, at 5:30 p.m., when the laser sun was right in the performers' eyes during the opening set.

Cory Chisel opened with Adriel Denae on backup vocals and tambourine, and a bassist. He's a Wisconsin native who's apparently been gaining notoriety in Nashville (and by the way, you have to hear Emmylou pronounce "Nashville" in person). He has a beautiful voice and a pretty country affect -- it sounded classic. His jokes were a little goofy, but I enjoyed his set. He certainly fit the bill, complementing Emmylou pretty well (and Ryan, if you only consider his catalog until 2001!). At one point, he said something like, "This bill is a dreamboat for us. It's the kind of show that makes you want to kick your own self off the stage so Emmylou can play sooner." I was glad they were as psyched as I was.

Emmylou and Mr. McLachlan

After the show, Ryan tweeted about how great Cory's set had been, saying you could consider him a new mega-fan. I'm interested to hear what it sounds like recorded.

Emmylou was incredible. Early in her set, it seemed she might be losing her voice, but a little warmup and some hot tea on a stand by the microphone got her going again. She played an acoustic guitar for her whole set and was accompanied by her band the Red Dirt Ramblers, which featured a very talented Eamon McLachlan (?) on mandolin and fiddle. There were a couple of interesting basses played, including an upright bass with a really slim profile. A drummer and a keyboardist rounded out the lineup.

Emmylou's set included "Orphan Girl" and "The Pearl", both of which I had been hoping for. Conor Oberst covered "The Pearl" for a birthday celebration in honor Emmylou's career fairly recently, and I had fallen in love with the song. It has one of the catchiest and somehow most satisfying melodies in its verse I can think of -- seeing Emmylou perform it was a highlight. At one point she paused and gave her longest speech of the show, saying that in spite of everything, she still believed in America, thought we had our hearts in the right places, but we still had some racism to address in our country. She launched into a hauntingly beautiful "My Name Is Emmett Till", a first person narrative about the 1956 murder of a 14-year-old black boy in Mississippi. It seemed especially poignant for what's been going on in America lately.

The other highlight of her set was a Merle Haggard cover. Merle died last year, and Emmylou said of him, "If anyone asks me what country music is, I tell them to listen to the music of Merle Haggard. End of story." It was a charming little tribute.

Ryan and the Flying V, with Aaron in back

At the end of her set, the Red Dirt Ramblers left the stage and Cory Chisel came back out and played Emmylou's guitar while the two of them sang a "The Traveling Kind", a Rodney Crowell song that Cory and Emmylou had helped to write. It was very cool to see them together, and it seemed to me that Cory was a little starstruck -- he didn't know what to do with the guitar after the set (in spite of there being a stand right next to him) and just gently laid it on the ground and backed away slowly. I think I like the Cory+Emmylou version better than the Emmylou+Rodney version I can find online.

Ryan came out and played a kickass set in the manner I've become accustomed to during this Prisoner tour. He started simply - "It's good to see you -- let's have some fun," -- and launched into "Do You Still Love Me" on that Flying V. "To Be Young" was the second song, and "Gimme Something Good" the third. I felt like this opening was really powerful and set the tone for what was almost a perfect setlist for me.

Ryan and Emmylou (dream duo)

For song 6, Ryan invited Emmylou back out onto the stage -- here's my footage. It was clear they had not prepared very much, both of them having been really busy lately (Ryan on tour in the US, UK, and Europe almost without pause this year). Emmylou had the lyrics printed out. Ryan's introduction of her was sweet -- it's clear he holds her in a kind of reverence. She wonderingly admired his microphone-swathed-in-Christmas-lights. That interpersonal interaction alone was a highlight of the show, for me. The song was only minorly marred by a security guard interrupting us to tell us if anyone was using flash photography to ask them to stop (as if any of the hardcore fans I met at the front of the line would be so crass).

It was broken anyway

Later in the show, though, Ryan did have to stop and ask someone to stop using the flash on their camera. He said he was shaking like a leaf. But he also was pretty cool about it, saying "It's not you, it's me, it's this weird genetic thing" and that the photos would look better without the flash (true). The person evidently stopped and things were better from there on out. The giant video boards at the outdoor venue eventually started to flash white, though, toward the end and it gave the appearance of someone using a camera flash. I was momentarily worried about whether that would have any negative effects, but he didn't comment on it.

The improv song was "A Single Red Balloon", and featured a little aside about the people in the adjacent apartment complex, and whether they might be Judas Priest fans. His improv songs are always a highlight for me.

DRA's been doing a new thing on the road in the UK, which is to perform "Broken Anyway" while only singing, letting the band carry the instrumental parts. He does this standing on a box at the very front of the stage, whereas his station when he plays the guitar is pretty far back from the edge.

I expected he would do this, as the box was set up, and was curious what it would be like in person. It's strange to see DRA not holding a guitar. The song was utterly beautiful, though, and with the fog machine obscuring just about everyone except his silhouette at the front of the stage, it was easy to get lost in the lyrics.

The band played until 4 minutes to curfew, so I thought it was over. Then Ryan ran back out, grabbed an acoustic guitar ("There's a curfew, there's a curfew, shh!") and launched into a beautiful solo "Winding Wheel" as the only song of an encore, valiantly squeezed in before the curfew.

Killer show - action-packed two hour set that still left me wanting more, as always. Thanks, DRA.

Setlist from Ryan Adams' Instagram account