While performing a set with his drummer, Richard Buckner's morose, melodic country-folk laments maintained a sense of structure, like an actor crying on command. But when he sang solo, Buckner's tunes wandered, panicked and collapsed. Maintaining only a loose semblance of the songs' original hooks, his new creations were free-form emotional crashes, a harrowing shift from detached drama to despondent documentary. Months later, he would smile and joke with another Davey's crowd, but at this show, he never broke the sorrowful spell, leaving listeners convinced and more than a little concerned.
