Sad songs say so much

Self-induced depression can be a good thing, despite what the happy pillmakers would have you believe. Two New York folkies brought their solo-but-supportive acts Wednesday night to Moonlight Music Cafe for a dark, dreary acoustic set.

Sam Shaber and Edie Carey performed in turn their songs of longing and solitude for a 95-minute show, interspersing music with banter to lighten the mood.

Can you have a good time at enduring somber tunes? Sadly, yes.

Sam Shaber, left, and Edie Carey perform
at Moonlight Music Cafe.

The show started at 8 p.m., despite listed times of 7 or 7:30 (take your pick). Two women, three guitars, one stage — it’s a go.

Before an audience of about 15, Carey opened with Shaber singing backup. The two traded songs and backup chores throughout.

Carey seemed to go darker of the two, sharing a story about how her boyfriend at the time asked her to do a good song about him, “I Need You.” She also shared a song about temping pre-9/11 at Cantor Fitzgerald, on the 103rd and 105th floors of the World Trade Center, “Under a Sky.” (Coincidentally, Shaber said she also temped in the same building.)

Shaber talked about her father and the song he inspired, “Solitaire,” evoking images of a warmer time driving along the streets of Manhattan. And she playfully put down friends you can’t stand in as yet unreleased “The Patron Saint of Tuesday.”

Carey highlights included “The Fred and Becky Song” (or “(A Love) To Call My Own”) and “If I Start to Cry,” her own very different father-inspired song. Shaber highlights included “Rooftop” and show closer “Eldorado.” They even threw in one song with both playing guitar, their self-described “Indigo Girls moment.”

Both were solid in their vocals and their guitar work, turning a tight set despite the low turnout.

And yes, it was classic folk: casual, depressing, deep. Sam Shaber and Edie Carey did bring the house down, but in a lyrically haunting way, unafraid of the dark.

"Eighty Numbered Streets," Sam Shaber (2002)

"When I Was Made," Edie Carey (2003)

Posted: Thursday, February 9, 2006, 6:22 pm, in B'ham, Culture.
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