This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
It was an interesting concept from the get-go: Put together two guys who each have made a name for themselves — Jackie Greene and Anders Osborne — with seemingly different backgrounds and styles and have them "sitting around playing songs" in an acoustic format.
But Greene and Osborne showed Saturday night at The State Room that putting together two talented musicians was an experiment that worked.
On the surface, it seemed to be a format that would better fit Greene's style of heartfelt ballads than Osborne, who's known for his guitar-heavy jam-rock. But it was Osborne who really shined, as the stripped-down acoustic versions of his songs about addiction and emptiness packed extra emotional punch.
And he seemed to have a hell of a good time doing it, tossing his mussed hair back and forth, moaning, grunting, mugging and grimacing, looking and acting as if he was channeling Nick Nolte. He had a hard time staying seated and bantered back and forth with the crowd, coming off like a drunk uncle who also happens to be pretty talented. Greene was more reserved and buttoned-down in this musical equivalent of the Odd Couple.
Highlights included Greene's renditions of "Don't Let The Devil Take Your Mind," "Light Up Your Window," and "Shaken," and Osborne's tunes "Coming Down," "Fools Gold," and "Mind of a Junkie."
Osborne also threw in a new song he introduced, saying he wrote it specifically for Greene when he was on the plane to Utah. "I was thinking Jackie a little bit and thinking about me and what do we have in common ... This song is about porn," Osborne joked.
"That's what we have in common?" Greene quipped.
The song was actually a tender tribute to friendship, featuring lyrics like "When the moonlight and the sunshine gently blend, know that you're my friend," and "Everything that's good eventually ascends, as long as you have a friend."
The crowd was enthralled and, talking to folks after the show, it seemed many had come to see either Greene or Osborne, not knowing much about the other, but came away fans of both.
There was obviously some real chemistry between the two, especially considering it was just their second night playing together — their first show was in Telluride, Colo. the night before and they were heading to Jackson, Wyo. on Sunday. Greene's electric organ, in particular, was a nice compliment on several of Osborne's songs.
They were at their best as they were wrapping up the night, when, instead of trading songs back and forth, they both contributed to a driving, energetic cover of "Not Fade Away" that let the two interact more musically.
Hopefully Osborne and Greene sustain their musical mash-up and we get to hear more of these two songwriters together.