Last Friday night, the Dave Rawlings Machine announced a micro tour: just three stops, including one in the little nearby town of Saxapahaw. So Thursday or not, one's gotta see Gil and Dave. We assume they were in the deep south last week and wanted to make some spending money on their trip north for this weekend's Merlefest in west NC ? Regardless...

No John Paul Jones this time. They were just a four piece - Gil and Dave and Willie Watson and the bass player whose name I can never catch.

The Machine has released but one album (2009's A Friend Of A Friend), so they've been playing those songs for quite a while. They always do a lot of standards and obscure covers, along with a few Gillian Welch-fronted songs and a couple that Willie Watson sang on, to keep things interesting.

Started at nearly ten and lasted just past midnight. Which makes for a miserable Friday AM. But here I am!

Here's The Bells Of Harlem.