Save Me

Music saves me on a daily basis. At home, in the car, in the office. There are moments every day that I hear a song that makes me have emotions. That’s a good thing. And if I get the chance to see live music, it’s that much better.

So look at me going out with some folks on a Monday night to The Birchmere to see the amazing singer-songwriter, Aimee Mann. It was Mann’s first area show since 2019 - I last saw her live in 2017 at The Lincoln Theatre here in DC.

Opening the show was Jonathan Coulton, an American folk/comedy singer-songwriter, who has collaborated with and toured with Mann a number of times. Coulton may be best known as the house musician for the NPR show “Ask Me Another”. His thirty-minute solo set was fantastic. Folky and witty, Coulton drew from a number of his albums. Opening with the deceiving “love song” “Millionaire Girlfriend” he beautifully sets up for the audience for the big reveal - You’ll have to listen to the song here if you want to be in on the joke.

Mann joined Coulton for two tracks: “All This Time” from his fantastic album Solid State, which Coulton describes as a concept album about the internet, trolls, artificial intelligence, and how love and empathy will save humanity. Other highlights included the suburban anthem “Shop Vac” and the former planet Pluto’s love song with it’s moon, “I’m Your Moon”. The set was as smooth as a baby’s beard (from the witty banter between the two singers).

After a brief break, out came Aimee Mann with a full band and they launched into the show with “You Fall” and “I See You” - two new tracks from her latest Queens of the Summer Hotel (which was originally meant to be a stage adaptation of Susanna Kaysen's Girl, Interrupted). What was evident from the start is how solid the band is playing together. With Paul Bryan (who produced her latest) on bass and backing vocals, Adam Tressler on guitar, Jamie Edwards on piano/keyboards and John Sands on drums/percussion. The ease at which they play and interact with Mann was flawless.

At this point Mann brings Coulton back to the stage, and they sing "Patient Zero" and "Rollercoasters," both from 2017's Mental Illness, which won the Grammy for Best Folk Album. Their harmonies are so delicate and beautiful. “Rollercoasters” has been steadily creeping up my top songs from Mann.

Over the next hour plus, she pulled out some familiar material as well as some surprises that I hadn’t hear yet live - including “Gumby” from the underrated Charmer. She of course played “Save Me” from the “Magnolia” soundtrack, a crowd favorite and closed the set with “King of the Jailhouse” a waltzy number from The Forgotten Arm.

After stepping off briefly from the stage, Mann and the band returned for three more songs. Starting with Steely Dan’s “Brooklyn (Owes The Charmer Under Me)”. Steely Dan was/is a huge favorite of Mann’s and she was even going to open for the band this summer. Through communication errors and other reasons, she was dropped. All would be forgiven if Donald Fagen would just tell Aimee what the song “Brooklyn (Owes The Charmer Under Me)” means. He wrote a lengthy response: “The short answer is it’s about his downstairs neighbor, who was a jackass, like a list of every prize this guy felt entitled to. But the long answer is it came with a description of what his life was like back then, and all I’ll say about that is that at one point, a pet iguana got loose.” The band sounded fantastic on this - not the most well known Steely Dan song - and its interpretation was a welcome addition to the set.

Mann and the band closed out with “Wise Up” the Oscar nominated song from “Magnolia” which was truly gorgeous and “Long Shot” the fantastic opening track from Mann's 1996 album I'm With Stupid.

And with that, up rose the crowd with a well-deserved standing ovation. Mann and the band had put on a fantastic two-hour show. Mann “saved” a lot of us last night by performing with a sense of relief to be back on the road and joy for doing what she does so well.

Mann’s tour continues through the end of May - check her out if you get a chance.