Musical Appearances

Genghis Cohen
March 24, 2007

Bruce Greenwood once again appeared as backup artist to Gregg Lee Henry at Genghis Cohen on Saturday March 24 at 9:30pm. It was a full house with lots of Bruce and Gregg's fans and friends in attendance. Before the show Gregg even introduced us to two high school buddies who'd trekked all the way from Lakeview, Colorado for the show. Laura Lee Hughes of The Unusual Suspects was also there.

The show was more serious than usual and opened with a pensive Gregg delivering a new song that was cleverly contrived around "breaking up" in real life and on the new wave of communication devices - phones, texts, etc. That was followed by four more, of which only "Aint' Nothin' to It" was familiar. He ended up with one of the 22 songs he wrote for last year's musical, "Little Egypt" - this one seemed to be called "You'll be Home," and dealt with the inner peace of familiar things.

Bruce Greenwood was then invited to join Gregg onstage and they opened with a new song which took a wry look at love's fickle fortune, "Any Fool Can Get Lucky". That was followed by a new arrangement of "Something for the Pain." Bruce had confided he was worried about the new harmonies Gregg had come up with for him just that day, but he needn't have worried, of course. It was delivered with the same aching need both men somehow so easily convey. The third duo piece was new and exceedingly clever, built around a Western theme with the refrain of "Saddle up and ride." It had some particularly nice touches written in for Bruce and at its conclusion, Bruce grinned and told us (almost privately) "I LOVE that song!" Well, we already knew that from the performance!

Gregg took his time introducing "The Back of Your Hand," giving Bruce full credit for the song's success. He explained that Bruce was doing a big Hollywood blockbuster ("That closed after a week," Bruce interceded). Gregg said it starred Harrison Ford but that Dwight Yoakum was also in it, and that Bruce took their finished cut of the piece to Dwight, who casually asked if he might record it. Gregg paused and said, "Well let me think about that." After we all laughed he added wryly. "That would be a yes..." and then gave us another great rendition of it. Bruce and Gregg ended their brief session together with another new one with the refrain of "This Ain't No Game - Baby You Win!" It was another clever piece by Gregg with lots of double innuendos about the game of love.

After Bruce left the stage, Gregg did a new number that was upbeat in an offbeat way, called "How'd I get this in love?" which seemed to reflect on the ironies involved in finding yourself with your life partner. A little tongue-in-cheek but heartfelt, and it all came right across to the audience. His next number was also new and compared nature's drought with life's: "Send a Little Rain Down." The much too brief session ended with the familiar and fabulously delivered "Directions." That one found Gregg in rare form.

He did one encore for us and it was his always hilarious tribute to the American in Paris, "Je Suis American." It was a great night with Gregg and Bruce, for which the packed audience was rightfully enthusiastic. It ended much too soon, leaving all of us wanting much more!

Gregg's Concert

Breaking Up

Ain't Nothin' To It

Thank God You Stayed

Deep Deep Blue Sea

You'll Be Home (from Little Egypt)

With Bruce Greenwood

Any Fool Can Get Lucky

Something For the Pain

Saddle Up and Ride

The Back of Your Hand

Baby You Win

Alone

How'd I Get This In Love?

Send a Little Rain Down

Directions

Encore

Jus Suis Americain

 For additional information on this gig, check the fan report: Two Gigs in One Night
 For more information on Gregg, check his website: gregghenry.com