Holidays With Cornmeal - Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years 2011 (Setlists, Downloads & Streams)

Feb 22, 2012

There's no place like home for the holidays and, while Cornmeal has been no stranger to the road lately, they spent some quality time with us here in Chicago at the end of 2011. Playing venues both large and small, as openers and headliners, they wrote another great chapter in the ongoing affair that the folks of this city have with our very own jamgrass heroes.

First up, on the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend, Cornmeal was a part of what could have been the most electric night of music in the city all year. Playing a massive opening set before Umphrey's McGee at the Aragon, they settled right into a holiday groove. Where the UM sets featured a gospel choir and an Allie Kral sit-in, that was easily one of the most compelling and satisfying jams of the year, the Cornmeal set merits equal consideration. With the sound dialed in and the unusual liberty for an opening set to go "out there", Cornmeal did not back away from the jams one bit, and punctuated the set with a high flying, psychedelic stringband version of Elton John's "Bennie & The Jets".

Cornmeal
11/26/11 Aragon Ballroom, Chicago, IL

Girl With Short Brown Hair, Stuck In the Mud, ?, On My Own, I'm Coming Back Home Again, Trouble Gonna Find Me, Better Off This Way, Feet On The Ground, Calling Me Back Home, Jenny In the Middle, When the World's Got You Down, Bennie and the Jets

The Stream

[mp3-jplayer tracks ="Girl With The Short Brown Hair - Cornmeal - 11/26/11 Aragon Ballroom@http://www.archive.org/download/cornmeal2011-11-26.mk41_16bit/cornmeal2011-11-26.mk41.m221b.16bit-t01.mp3,Stuck In The Mud - Cornmeal - 11/26/11 Aragon Ballroom@http://www.archive.org/download/cornmeal2011-11-26.mk41_16bit/cornmeal2011-11-26.mk41.m221b.16bit-t02.mp3,? - Cornmeal - 11/26/11 Aragon Ballroom@http://www.archive.org/download/cornmeal2011-11-26.mk41_16bit/cornmeal2011-11-26.mk41.m221b.16bit-t03.mp3,On My Own - Cornmeal - 11/26/11 Aragon Ballroom@http://www.archive.org/download/cornmeal2011-11-26.mk41_16bit/cornmeal2011-11-26.mk41.m221b.16bit-t04.mp3,I'm Coming Back Home Again - Cornmeal - 11/26/11 Aragon Ballroom@http://www.archive.org/download/cornmeal2011-11-26.mk41_16bit/cornmeal2011-11-26.mk41.m221b.16bit-t05.mp3,Trouble Gonna Find Me - Cornmeal - 11/26/11 Aragon Ballroom@http://www.archive.org/download/cornmeal2011-11-26.mk41_16bit/cornmeal2011-11-26.mk41.m221b.16bit-t06.mp3,Better Off This Way - Cornmeal - 11/26/11 Aragon Ballroom@http://www.archive.org/download/cornmeal2011-11-26.mk41_16bit/cornmeal2011-11-26.mk41.m221b.16bit-t07.mp3,Feet On The Ground - Cornmeal - 11/26/11 Aragon Ballroom@http://www.archive.org/download/cornmeal2011-11-26.mk41_16bit/cornmeal2011-11-26.mk41.m221b.16bit-t08.mp3,Calling Me Back Home - Cornmeal - 11/26/11 Aragon Ballroom@http://www.archive.org/download/cornmeal2011-11-26.mk41_16bit/cornmeal2011-11-26.mk41.m221b.16bit-t09.mp3,Jenny In The Middle - Cornmeal - 11/26/11 Aragon Ballroom@http://www.archive.org/download/cornmeal2011-11-26.mk41_16bit/cornmeal2011-11-26.mk41.m221b.16bit-t10.mp3,When The World's Got You Down - Cornmeal - 11/26/11 Aragon Ballroom@http://www.archive.org/download/cornmeal2011-11-26.mk41_16bit/cornmeal2011-11-26.mk41.m221b.16bit-t11.mp3,Bennie and the Jets - Cornmeal - 11/26/11 Aragon Ballroom@http://www.archive.org/download/cornmeal2011-11-26.mk41_16bit/cornmeal2011-11-26.mk41.m221b.16bit-t12.mp3"]

[box type="download"]Download entire show (.mp3 zip)[/box]

But for diehard Chicago fans, this was only a warmup. Purchasers of Umphrey's tickets were entitled to a pre-sale for a gig which saw Cornmeal return to their old stomping grounds at Martyr's to close out the Thanksgiving weekend on Sunday. The highlight was a spectacular jam on "The Road" into Paul Simon's "I Know What I Know", but you've also got to here how smoothly they transition in and out Ted Nugent's "Stranglehold" from the confines of the bluegrass standard "Molly & Tenbrooks". Unfortunately, the only recording of this show (like above, sourced from archive.org) that emerged had extremely low levels throughout the first set. Enjoy the second set; the first is tacked on to the end of the stream for completeness.

Cornmeal
11/27/11 Martyr's, Chicago, IL

Set One
Stand Up, Bury This Burden, Time Wasting Time, That's That, I'll Be Looking At You, Shelter, Get No Better, Dirty Rag,

Set Two
River Gap, It's All Over Now Baby Blue, This Old Town, Molly and Tenbrooks > Stranglehold > Molly and Tenbrooks, Sitting In Limbo, The Road > I Know What I Know, Hillbilly Ride

The Stream

[box type="download"]Download entire show (.mp3 zip)[/box]

Cornmeal on Christmas? Not exactly, but they did make this charming video to celebrate the season:

However, Wavy, Allie, Chris, Kris and JP were back in action on New Year's Eve, taking the party to the Northwest Suburbs, where they set up shop at Durty Nellie's in Palatine with Giving Tree Band. This show featured a raging start to 2012 with covers of Metallica's "For Whom The Bell Tolls" and a raveup on the classic "In The Midnight Hour". By the time the festivities came to a close with a 2012 themed "End Of The World As We Know It", there was stunning amount of great original music laid down and we're happy to share it here with thanks to the tapers who record and share via archive.org.

Cornmeal
12/31/11 Durty Nellie's, Palatine, IL

Set One
Drinkin' Away The Memory Of You, I'm Comin' Back Home, Bury This Burden, That's That, Edge Of The World > Onward

Set Two
NYE Countdown, For Whom The Bell Tolls, In The Midnight Hour, It's Got To Be This Way, Feet On The Ground, It's True My Love, Lord Won't You Help Me Rise Above, Naive Melody (This Must Be The Place), I'll Be Looking At You, Girl With Short Brown Hair

Encore
When The World's Got You Down, It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)

New Year's Eve 2011 Stream