Day 93 / April 3, 2011
Sweetwater Tavern / Falls Church, VA
| A | NG | P | G | VG | O |
The best singer songwriters you never heard of… and a beer…
Sweetwater Tavern twice in one week. Stopped by with some friends before heading out to see a concert (more on that later).
This time I had the Outlaw Ale, and this time is did count. Outlaw is dark colored ale with a toasty, malt taste, not too hoppy. A friend described it as “thin” – you could easily have a few of these at one sitting. Tonight, I just had two.
We then headed up to the Strathmore Mansion to see Don Dixon and Marti Jones (Marti is a she, and she is Don’s wife). In the 80’s, Dixon produced several albums by REM, The Smithereens and other bands, and then struck out on his own. The only Don Dixon song most people maybe have heard of is “Praying Mantis” from 1985’s Most of the Girls Like to Dance. Dixon went on to record about a half dozen other albums, with clever lyrics and catchy hooks, but never really hit it big.
Marti Jones’ career followed a similar path, releasing 4 albums between 1985 and 1990, all produced by Dixon, with his rapsy vocals backing her up on several tracks. Jones has released only two albums of new material since 1990, and now makes her living primarily as a painter.
Jones and Dixon are touring in support of a just released new album of duets (available on CDbaby.com). Dixon spoke about how he had to coax Marti back on the road again. It was great to hear them sing together again. They also came out and chatted with the crowd when the show was done.
Here’s a couple YouTube clips of some of their performances from recent years.
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