Fort Worth crowds aren’t known for staying quiet during a band’s set – especially in the see-and-be-seen West 7th corridor. Generally the people directly in front of the stage are fans who are attending specifically to see the performance, but the bar tops are full of people who have more interest in shouting about various flavors of vodka and how long it has been since one has seen the other (“OMG!”). When a performer is able to quiet an entire room, front to back, it is a special (albeit rare) moment. Friday night at Magnolia Motor Lounge (3005 Morton St, 817-332-3344), Denton singer/songwriter Doug Burr not only mesmerized the audience in front of the stage, he quieted the chatterboxes spread around the room.
If you have caught one of Doug Burr’s shows over the past few years, chances are it was either a solo affair or stripped down to just Burr and one of his frequent collaborators Glen Farris or Dave Sims. Friday night’s show, a release party for his new album, Pale White Dove, featured a full four-piece band. Joined by the aforementioned Farris on bass and Sims on drums, as well as Cody Garcia on lead guitar duty, the band barreled through a mix of new album tracks and back catalog material highlighted by the set closer “Graniteville” from 2007’s On Promenade.
The first time the room became hauntingly quiet was about midway through the rambling Pail White Dove track “I See Satan Fall Like Lightning.” As he sang “There’s a Power in the air, see the sky all blindin,’ ” not a single person in the room had anything more important to say than Burr in that moment. As the song ended, the room was eerily hushed before the crowd showed it’s appreciation with some hollering and applause, and then, predictably, the crew surrounding the bar went back to comparing recent Tinder conquests. Throughout the night, the chatty masses intermittently showed interest, but were notably transfixed during Dove‘s “When the Arrow Hits the Sparrow“ and “Red, Red” from Burr’s 2010 release O Ye Devastator.
The end of the set allowed me to finally run to the bar and grab one last drink, and enjoy a couple returning to their conversation of “So you were saying you are a pediatric nurse?” “Yeah, but I like to party” “Sweet, what was your name again?” Everything indeed was in its right place once again.
