Conan O’Brien Records Rockabilly Concert In Nashville For Vinyl Release
By Travis Woods
Having gone from hosting “the greatest franchise in television history” to moving to a TBS George Lopez pre-show to touring the United States in a big bus, Conan O’Brien’s odyssey of the past several months probably isn’t the career arc he had been shooting for when he first dreamt of making it in show business (although, in terms of his fans, the bearded Coco can probably do no wrong at this point); that said, O’Brien made another move backwards in time yesterday as he led a rockabilly band through a burning set of – you guessed it – rockabilly at a live concert at Jack White’s Third Man Records in Nashville, Tennessee, according to USA Today.
“O’Brien wore all black, his unemployment beard and a light blue Fender electric guitar. He was comfortable and confident, using the kind of salty language you can’t get away with on TV as he joked about himself, White and members of his band…
“’ I’m going back in time,” he joked. /Next week I’ll be playing Vaudeville and then I’m going to be a steamboat captain…’ He opened the set with Elvis Presley’s Blue Moon, burned through The Stray Cats’ Rock This Town and laid a comedy routine about his middle class upbringing over Presley’s Poke Salad Annie… One of the night’s highlights was his version of Radiohead’s Creep, which he sang with an exaggerated British accent. ‘This is the only way I can sing Thom Yorke songs, as a 19th-century chimney sweep with a top hat and a smudge on my cheek,’ O’Brien said.”
Moreover, O’Brien has even announced plans to release the show as a vinyl-only release!
In other news, Jay Leno announced today that he plans on releasing audio and video of him spending an afternoon changing the breaks to a Studebaker Scotsman on cassette tape and laser disc, because that’s what the hip kids buy today, right?
What do you think of O’Brien’s plans to release the show on vinyl?
Friday, June 11, 2010 1:13PM
breaks on his Studebaker?? how about brakes!
Friday, June 11, 2010 1:43PM
Conan rocks! He’s gonna come back this fall and give Leno and Letterman some stiff competition.
Monday, September 27, 2010 4:32PM
I think Leno is a dick.
While a lot of us rockabilly kids would probably still roll our eyes at some of the musical choices as not quite choice or on the level, it does kick us into view in a mainstream way that validates us to a few squares. Who knows, maybe CoCo will get a straight razor shave and trade his gel in for pomade and roll with the cool kids full time. And maybe his next record will be full of Johnny Burnette. Hell, I can dream, can't I?