PAUL GILBERT ROCKS NASHVILLE WITH WROC
What do George Washington, social etiquette and electric guitars have in common? Paul Gilbert. The guitar virtuoso brought all three together to a sold out crowd in Nashville on Monday, playing in support of his latest album WROC.
WROC, pronounced like “rock”, isn’t just a new way to alter the spelling of the word; It’s an acronym for Washington’s Rules of Civility, a book of social etiquette rules published by George Washington (yes, that George Washington) in the 18th century. These amusing and perhaps antiquated sounding rules have been set to harmonious choruses and catchy electric guitar riffs by Gilbert. If anyone remembers the catchy song to learn the Preamble of the U.S. Constitution, this is an album and show that takes it to the next level: Schoolhouse Rock on steroids.
The show opened with a set from Greg Koch, who like Gilbert is regarded as a master of the craft on guitar. Accompanied by his son Dylan on drums and Toby Lee Marshall on organ, they started the night with a fusion of funk and blues. Greg’s introductions of songs with brief anecdotes and crowdwork enhanced the quirky and funky vibe of their set. Like many funk songs, the subjects and titles are humorously captivating– “Daddy Long Legs” was a standout tune that took the subject of The Who’s “Boris The Spider” and put it to a groovy sound a-la Dr. John.
After the crowd had been thoroughly entertained by jokes and jams about answering machines, “Tonus Diabolicus” and “Six Legged Fire Breathing Dog”, Paul Gilbert took to the stage. Dressed in all black and adorned in a Revolutionary era tricorn hat, it was full guitar pedal to the metal from the start. He began with what’s been billed as the “Crazy PG Medley”, or what I’d describe as a medley to end all medleys. The 10+ minute epic showcased compositions from across his career as a solo artist, with Racer X and Mr. Big (with Blue Öyster Cult’s “Godzilla” thrown in as well).
This was not the kind of concert where the entire crowd was singing every word back to the stage. This was the kind of show where audiences were invested in every note and trying to discern the words of Washington’s morality code. That didn’t stop Gilbert from including the packed house in the act, though– I don’t think the word “countenance” has ever been used in a rock n’ roll sing-along line before, but it was here. “Let your countenance, countenance be pleasant”, he sang to the audience, opening his arms for them to sing their vocabulary and history lesson back to him. As wordy as the songs may be, the melodies he crafted are intensely catchy, and surprisingly easy to remember- as any good study tool should be.
Gilbert was joined by Doug Rappoport on guitar, Timer Blakely on bass, and Jeff Martin on the drums. Rappoport was holding his own, trading licks with Gilbert; Blakely was all smiles and energy on stage right, chugging out the basslines; Martin rolled with revolutionary-style snares and full bass drum beats, drawing as much attention to him as the lineup of guitarists in front.
One of the most mesmerizing parts of the show was right in the middle, where the band disappeared and Gilbert took center stage with only an acoustic guitar. “Gonna play the biggest song in the universe,” he joked before launching into the chorus of “To Be With You”, the worldwide hit from his band Mr. Big. After that, however, he shred his way through a song by his shred metal band Racer X. Truly, there is no one who can shred an acoustic guitar like Paul Gilbert can. Some make guitars sound like they’re speaking, and some make guitars wail. Paul Gilbert pushes the instrument beyond personification, into an otherworldly realm that feels more like the rush of stars at the speed of light. One can tell that each split-second tone he plays is something he feels; the emotion and intensity is written all over his face as he emotes each note. It’s stupefying to watch his fingers shuffle and run up and down the frets with such precision, and to hear the full range of sound he can produce from a single instrument.
The band was joined once again by Greg Koch, who added some boogie-woogie to the night as they covered ZZ Top’s “Thunderbird” and Aerosmith’s “Last Child”. Then, with a slide on his finger and a double neck guitar, Gilbert rounded out the night with a few more songs from WROC and a cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway To Heaven”.
Some of the tenets used are, in retrospect, humorous: “take no salt or cut your bread with your knife greasy”- and sound even funnier against such technical musicianship.
In those last few songs though, it truly struck just how impressive the juxtaposition was: Words written hundreds of years ago, meant to be a stoic moral manifesto, now being brought to life with instrumentation that could’ve hardly been dreamed of in that era. Electric guitars played at warp speed by a master of shred is perhaps the last way one would expect to learn Washington’s code of morals, and yet it sold out a show in Nashville. In America’s 250th year, it just works.