when I went to see rather good new(ish) L.A. band Dawes (i must admit a professional interest in them) play at the Slaughtered Lamb in Clerkenwell (which feels a bit like someone's front room in the basement of a boozer), supporting their producer Jonathan Wilson.

It turns out that Dawes are also Jonathan Wilson's band, and together (JW and Dawes) are Jackson's current backing band, so he sat in (en route to Spain) for one of JW's songs, then hung about to do These Days, Our Lady and a fantastic Take It Easy, before retiring to the sofa at the side of the stage. I'd call that a bonus!

What it did get me thinking about, hearing JB play with this band, was this: would more 'legends' benefit from playing with a backing band of enthusiastic youngsters, rather than the crack teams of sessioneers with which most seem to surround themselves? Jackson really seemed to feed off the looseness and slight rawness of a band who clearly held him in great esteem, but appeared as in love with the very act of playing the songs.

Oh, and if last night's performances are anything to go by, many around here will find much to love in both the none more Laurel Canyon sound of Dawes, and the more psych(ish) Americana of Jonathan Wilson's work.

Links are here, if you like that sort of thing:

http://soundcloud.com/jonathanwilson/sets/jonathan-wilson-gentle-spirit
http://soundcloud.com/mmmusic/dawes-time-spent-in-los
http://soundcloud.com/therecordcrate/dawes-if-i-wanted-someone