In the circles I travel around in, Damien Jurado is somewhat of a legend.  It feels like the dude’s been around forever, and he’s been doing it his own way.  Going into his show at Spaceland, the new record, Saint Bartlett, was still fresh to my ears and my friends and I were excited for a followup to Damien’s 2008 Spaceland show.  The wonderful Tenlon’s Fort started the night off sounding better than ever.  This fuller lineup really suits Jack Gibson’s songs and I’m sad to hear that he’s moving back to Texas to pursue film.  Next up was the pacific Northwest’s Kay Kay and The Weathered Underground.  These guys performed a set of their own and then stuck around to back up Damien.  Though neat as a nine piece, I preferred their more subdued lineup as “The Saint Bartlett Band” later in the evening.  Damien took the stage with a disclaimer: he was under the weather and was going to try his best to push through.  Although I didn’t detect any hoarseness, his stamina was definitely lacking.  They played an abbreviated set through some of the new record and only did a couple old ones, including fan favorite “Abilene” off of 2003′s Where Shall You Take Me? Skipping an encore, it was apparent that the poor guy needed some rest.  We left happy to have been there but disappointed overall that we caught one of our favorites on an off night.

—James Cartwright