Long time readers will know that I'm a big fan of Michael Runion. I've had the opportunity to see him a few times over the last few years and his show's are as heartfelt and honest as anything I've ever seen. It also doesn't hurt that he's a phenomenal singer-songwriter, writing songs that tell stories and pull you in from the first line.

Last year, I had a chance to see Michael in Austin in July. He was good enough to play a short acoustic set for us on the streets of downtown Austin, in 103 degree weather, before his scheduled stop, a full on rocking electric set that night at Lamberts BBQ. Check out the acoustic set, and read more about that day, here. We were fortunate enough to get to record both sets - and actually got to try something new during the Lamberts BBQ set.

Lamberts had their soundboard hooked up to a Mac running ProTools, and captured every instrument and vocal as individual discrete tracks which allows true multi track mixing. The sound guy did a great job setting levels during the show, but being able to remix and master the recording after the fact gave a lot more latitude in tweaking the show to really emphasis different parts as needed (example, bringing up lead guitars during solos, increasing and decreasing vocals to make them stand out over the music.)

All in all, this made a great show an even better recording - the set was solid, Michael and his backing band, the Royal Family, tore through 9 songs - mixing between some older recordings from his early EPs, tracks from his brilliant full length "Our Time Will Come" and a couple of tracks from his TOUR EP (get them all at his online store here. The set also alternated nicely between slow, fast, and hard songs - never get boring by changing up the tempo. Be sure to check out "The Daylight" - it's the male/female "duet" version from the TOUR EP, with Michael's cousin, Sarah Sinclair, providing the female part... I've got to admit, I love the EP version with Z Berg from The Like, but I think I like this version even better. Sarah's vocals are like honey.

Enjoy the set and if you are in Los Angeles or the surrounding area, you can catch Michael later today at the Echo.

Last - you can also check out a couple of acoustic tracks from a set we captured in Houston, in 2006, here.

Live MP3 MP3s:
Intro
Til We Have To
Lemon Grove
Red Pony
No Friend
Maxine
S.L.S
Intro to...
Keep It To Yourself
The Daylight
Intro to...
Back and Forth
Outro

Labels: austin, indie, lamberts bbq, live mp3s, michael runion, soundboard mp3s

So last year I posted on a Michael Runion show that I attended back in 2006. As I mentioned at the time, I managed to screw up the recording and came away with only a couple of songs - though I'm glad I got that. So since then I've been waiting, very very patiently, for Michael to come back through Texas.

To be honest, it wasn't very hard. I can safely say that Runion is a fantastic singer-songwriter, just one of those guys who can sit down with an acoustic and dazzle you with gentle strumming, and lyrics that pull you into a 4 minute story, then get on stage with his band and tear it up, rock and roll style.

So good news for all of us, Runion and his band, the Royal Family, went out on tour wandering around the country opening for Conor Oberst. After their run with the Bright Eyes front man, they did a handful of headlining shows as they headed home to Los Angeles, and like all bands should, their last show was in Texas (Austin, that is).

Seeing that I've been harassing him for the last few years, Runion was kind enough to play an exclusive little acoustic show for us, on the streets of Austin, before their headlining gig at Lamberts (a fantastic BBQ joint on 2nd Street).

It was a brutal 103 degrees outside, yet it didn't seem to faze Runion while he played through a 5 song set, that featured 3 brand new tracks and 2 songs from his last record, Our Time Will Come. It was a fantastic set, and I've barely listened to anything else since we got back from Austin. There's just something special about these street recordings. They seem honest. Just a guy playing his guitar and singing songs about his life while buses buzz past, construction workers clang, and birds chirp melodies in the background.

It's always interesting to me how I can love certain songs on a record, and other songs live. I've had "Our Time Will Come" since it came out last year - and my favorite song has consistently been the title track. After the acoustic set my favorite song is definitely "Where I'm From". I always enjoyed it on the record, but something about this particular rendition really grabbed me. I think it's just a lot more tonally dynamic as Runion's voice rises and falls, accenting the story about how he wanders from city to city, meeting women and the common question they all ask him.

So, with that said, quit reading and check out the tracks! I was lucky enough to get to record the full band session that evening, and some or all of those tracks will be coming at a later time. As I mentioned earlier, both variants of the Michael Runion experience are fantastic - and it was especially cool to get to see several of these acoustic tracks transformed into pure rock later the same day... More to come.

Oh, and check out Michael Runion's MySpace for studio track goodness.

This is the third "On The Streets Of..." recording session for Lullabyes, where we capture great bands playing stripped down acoustic sets on random streets in Texas. You can also check out Bishop Allen back in 2007 and The Whispertown 2000 earlier this year at SXSW.

Live MP3 MP3s:
No Friend
Keep It To Yourself
Back and Forth
Our Time Will Come
Where I'm From

Labels: austin, from the streets of, live mp3s, michael runion, soundboard mp3s

The Daylight vs Z Berg from michaelrunion on Vimeo.

Michael Runion and Elizabeth Anne "Z" Berg, lead singer/guitarist of L.A band, The Life.

I knew there was a reason I liked The Life.

Labels: michael runion, video, z berg