Knoxville520.com

It's taken this long to recover from the double shot that was Gillian Welch and David Rawlings' recent show. The first shot rang at the World Grotto and was billed, rather last minute, as "David Rawlings Machine." Once you got used to the idea of a velvet-roped entrance on Market Square, the feeling that a frisking was entirely possible, and a $15.00 cover charge, the show began.

From that point on, it was easy to fathom paying twice that, enjoying a frisking, or the standing-room only that was created by a crowd thrilled to be a part of what felt like David Rawlings' living room. Everyone thought that the "Machine" would be Gillian Welch. She was present, very accounted for, and provided the gracious harmonies that Rawlings often gives her. But the real Machine was Rawlings' 1935 Epiphone Olympic, with an arch top, and f-holes on the face, like a violin. Any woman in that room, and undoubtedly a fair amount of the guys present, would love to be reincarnated as his guitar. It's as if he was dancing alone with his beauty, whispering to her, making sweet love which happened to result in sound that shook you in some deep and almost frightening place.