I've been waiting for, literally, years to see Mike Doughty (former leader singer of Soul Coughing) play a live show.

I had been moderately impressed by Soul Coughing, back in their hey-day in the mid to late 90s, but it wasn't until I heard Mike Doughty's 2005 solo record, Haughty Melodic, on Dave Matthew's ATO Records label that I became a true believer. On Haughty Melodic, Mike still employed his trademark partly sung, partly spoken word style of delivery, but now it was over unabashed pop as opposed the fusion of hip hop, jazz, rock and folk that defined Soul Coughing.

The follow up to Haughty Melodic, 2008 Golden Delicious cemented me as a huge fan, and I spent the better part of the last half of 2008 listening to that record on repeat. For some reason (or maybe I just missed it), there was no Texas shows for the Golden Delicious tour. In late 2009 Mike released Sad Man, Happy Man and announced a tour that actually included a veritable slew of Texas dates.

So, last night I got to see Mike Doughty play at the best "listening room" venue in Dallas, Poor David's Pub, and it was an absolutely fantastic experience. Rather than bringing a full band, Mike played his acoustic accompanied only by cello (and occasional electric guitar player) Andrew "Scrap" Livingston playing for a full hour and half. The set pulled from all of his solo records (everything mentioned above, along with choice cuts from his early releases, Skittish and Rockity Roll) as well as Soul Coughing hit, Circles. Keeping things interesting he even kept dropping in moments of hilarity by answering dozens of extremely random questions that audience members dropped into a "Question Jar" before the show began.

To wrap everything up, he had an excellent opening act, Christina Courtin and sold copies of a recording of the show, at the end of the evening.

He's on tour for the next month (dates below) - check out a few tracks from the show and be sure to check him out if he comes to your town.

Live MP3 MP3s:
27 Jennifers
Circles
I Hear The Bells
White Lexus

Tour Dates:
Tue 02/23/10 Santa Fe, NM Santa Fe Brewing Company
Wed 02/24/10 Albuquerque, NM The Cooperage
Fri 02/26/10 Tucson, AZ Club Congress
Sat 02/27/10 Cave Creek, AZ Cave Creek Coffee Co.
Wed 03/03/10 San Diego, CA Anthology
Thu 03/04/10 West Hollywood, CA Troubadour
Fri 03/05/10 Santa Barbara, CA Soho Restaurant & Music Club
Sat 03/06/10 San Francisco, CA Slim's
Sun 03/07/10 Santa Cruz, CA The Crepe Place
Tue 03/09/10 Eugene, OR WOW Hall
Wed 03/10/10 Portland, OR Mississippi Studios
Thu 03/11/10 Portland, OR Mississippi Studios
Fri 03/12/10 Seattle, WA The Triple Door
Sat 03/13/10 Vancouver, BC Biltmore Cabaret
Tue 03/16/10 Boulder, CO Fox Theatre
Wed 03/17/10 Denver, CO The Walnut Room
Fri 03/19/10 Minneapolis, MN Dakota Jazz Club & Restaurant
Sat 03/20/10 Minneapolis, MN Dakota Jazz Club & Restaurant
Sat 03/27/10 New York, NY Le Poisson Rouge
Fri 04/23/10 Cambridge, MA Regattabar
Sat 04/24/10 New York, NY Le Poisson Rouge

Labels: dallas, indie, live mp3s, mike doughty, poor davids pub, soundboard mp3s, tour dates