Jesse Elliott of These United StatesBack in September, three singer-songwriters penned a three-disc box set called Of Great and Mortal Men: 43 Songs for 43 U.S. Presidencies, the sort of ambitious undertaking that could only hope to gain recognition during an election year. With the help of Bill Callahan, Alan Sparhawk (Low), Mark Kozelek (Sun Kil Moon) and Rosie Thomas, the album turned the heads of people who had never heard of the three songwriters (Christian Kiefer, J Matthew Gerken and Jefferson Pitcher).
The line to get into Sixth & I on Saturday stretched around the corner, although it didn’t quite rival the Ben’s Chili Bowl lines. In fact, Songs for Presidents had the benefit of being decently full without making its audience feel like sardines—not going to feel that way again all weekend.
This was one of those weird shows where people came more for the intrigue than to play the sing-a-long game. In fact, the one time Kiefer, Gerkin and Pitcher attempted to get the audience to sing along, they were met by a sort of low pitched mumble. Sadly, that was for the set-closing ode to Barack Obama.
