Martin Devaney‘s career started off with an album coming out about every two years. Since Letters Never Sent in 2006, he’s concentrated on helping the artists signed to his label Eclectone Records. But recently he stepped back in the studio with friend Jake Hyer and recorded The West End.
The Turf Club was the site of the CD release party – decorated for Christmas with paper ornaments, red and white garlands and an inflatable snowman that won’t tip over.
Erik Koskinen lead off the night with songs from his latest release, Keep it To Yourself, ending the set with “Detroit Detroit.†Paul Bergen was especially strong on lead guitar, playing what look like a Gibson Explorer for much of the show. Molly Maher also took the stage with Koskinen and they played three songs together.
Then came the main event, Martin Devaney with Jake Hyer on violin, Dave Boquist on guitar, Mick Wirtz on drums and Steve Murray on bass – all of them personnel on the album. Devaney lead off with the album’s leading track “Hold On.”
Musician and writer Jim Walsh wants to be quoted as saying the $7 admission was a “fucking bargain!”
While Devaney’s previous albums were a mix of country, blues, folk and rock, “West End” is all alt-country, mostly thanks to Hyer’s violin and backing vocals.  While playing “Nobody Writes Letters Anymore”, Santa and a friend of his danced in front of the stage. When Jim Walsh saw that he exclaimed, “He’s supposed to be at work!”
About half of the songs of Devaney’s album were, in his words, “written and put away.â€Â “The Man Who Got Awayâ€, the second-to-last track on The West End, is one of those.
Darren Jackson, aka Kid Dakota finished off the night with Eliza Blue accompanying on violin and vocals. She blended well with Jackson’s voice, but her violin was drowned out much of the time, unfortunately. They played a few songs from Kid Dakota’s album A Winner’s Shadow including “Chutes and Ladders” [See this HWTS video link] and an encore performance of “Winter Kill.” [HWTS video link.] They also played “Phantom Pain” which is one of the tracks on Kid Dakota’s upcoming album Til Dawn Do Us Part.
Martin Devaney’s CD release party brought many prominent people together in one place and they did good work – befitting Devaney’s title of unofficial mayor of St. Paul.