WARREN ZEVON : EPILOGUE: LIVE AT THE EDMONTON FOLK MUSIC FESTIVAL

1. Lawyers, Guns And Money
2. I Was In The House When The House Burned Down
3. "I Don't Play Too Many Festivals"
4. A Case Of You
5. Detox Mansion
6. Hit Somebody! (The Hockey Song)
7. Werewolves Of London
8. For My Next Trick I'll Need A Volunteer
9. A Tune With No Name
10. Dirty Life And Times
11. Poor Poor Pitiful Me
12. Play It All Night Long
13. Canadee-i-o

Label : Omnivore Recordings

Venue : Edmonton Folk Music Festival, Gallagher Park, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Recording Date : August 9, 2002

Release Date : December 5, 2025

Length : 51:28

Review (Americana Highways) : These 13 live tracks, previously unissued, represent this August 9th, 2002, duo performance in Canada. No band. Produced for release by Cheryl Pawelski, Adam Unger & Matt Cartsonis, the effort is admirable. The audio anomalies should be ignored & forgiven for this showcase Epilogue: Live at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival (Dropped Nov 28/Omnivore Recordings/51:28). Sometimes a live performance can bring out a song’s muscle rather than its perfect, sterile studio production. Other times, the live version is passable but lifeless. An example is the live version of “Lawyers, Guns & Money.” Still a great song, but Warren sounds tired of performing it. It doesn’t have the original sonics of the studio version. Maybe the wrong type of song to do as a duo. Even the audience sounds apprehensive. The playing is nonetheless skillful; Warren Zevon’s (acoustic guitar/harmonica/piano) voice is good, full, though it’s “hot” at the microphone. Matt Cartsonis (acoustic & electric guitars/dulcimer/banjo/fiddle/harmony & bgv) is a good accompaniment. The vocalizing, with a bit of poor word pronunciation (“I Was In the House When the House Burned Down”), is criticism only fueled by what I’ve previously heard live & better by Warren. Maybe he brought enthusiasm, but not quite enough inspiration. Aficionados will appreciate these songs. The material has excitement & Zevon’s biting attitude comes through during brief dialogue moments. The cover of Joni Mitchell’s “A Case of You,” solely on acoustic, is a far better performance. It segues into “Detox Mansion” uneasily. Zevon’s unique voice sounds more “into it” but also rushed. The guitar strumming is clear but with no distinctive soloing. It sounds like the lead guitar is far back in the mix & audience appreciation sounds miles away. I never cared for Warren’s between-song patter – not as friendly, humorous, or entertaining as Tom Waits or Randy Newman. The repertoire leans into Canadian themes, which is appropriate, but “Hit Somebody (The Hockey Song),” while sung well, is a distraction with its silly interspersed shouting. There’s a reason this wasn’t released by Warren’s label. It’s a good document, but not viable. Neither was the live Bob Dylan & Grateful Dead album. His classic “Werewolves of London” is rendered far gutsier & “For My Next Trick I’ll Need a Volunteer” is superbly captured. “Dirty Life & Times” & “Poor Poor Pitiful Me” are given more of a country feel with fiddle. The traditional folk song & coda “Canadee-I-O” is worth the price of the album. Lovely, poignant & sincere. Highlights – “A Case of You,” “Detox Mansion,” “Werewolves of London,” “For My Next Trick I’ll Need a Volunteer,” “Dirty Life & Times,” “Poor Poor Pitiful Me,” “Play It All Night Long,” & “Canadee-I-O.”

Review (Glide Magazine) : Available on vinyl, digital and compact disc formats for successive late 2025 Record Store Days, Warren Zevon’s final live performance, recorded Live At The Edmonton Folk Music Festival, joins 1980’s Stand In The Fire (issued in expanded form twice) and 1993’s Learning To Flinch, as sterling examples of how the late singer/songwriter so artfully transposed the unique traits of his original material to the concert stage. Epilogue is a clear, if not exactly resplendent, depiction of the man’s persona. Hearing the slight but tangible gusto Zevon injects into “I Was In the House When the House Burned Down” makes the comparatively muted opening of “Lawyers, Guns And Money” seem like a deceptively ingratiating opening to this roughly fifty-minute recording (mastered by Michael Graves, after audio restoration and mixing by Warren’s stage colleague Matt Cartsonis with Jordan McLeod). Accompanied with an understated and thus unobtrusive style by multi-instrumentalist Cartsonis–co-producer of the album with Cheryl Pawelski and Adam Unger plus the author of its honestly affectionate liner notes–it’s difficult, if not impossible, to wholly comprehend this Joni Mitchell cover: is “A Case of You” direct homage to the Canadian songwriter or indirect tribute to her country of origin? Considering that the show’s closing is the traditional “Canadee-I-O,” Zevon’s own life experience may figure in as well. And sure enough, the immediate segue to “Detox Mansion” suggests any of those multiple interpretations are valid. Certainly, as Cartsonis’ distorted electric guitar buttresses rather than overwhelms Warren’s vigorous acoustic rhythm strumming, the inclusion of this self-referential piece, intentionally or not, stylishly sets the stage for an array of selections spanning the Zevon canon. And none of the nine originals, extending across roughly a quarter century, sounds out of place next to each other. “Werewolves of London” from his sophomore album Excitable Boy, appears as if with a wink of an eye alongside “For My Next Trick I’ll Need A Volunteer,” from 2000’s eleventh (!) effort, Life’ll Kill Ya. Meanwhile, a cull from Warren’s Jackson Browne-produced debut long-player of 1976, “Poor Poor Pitiful Me,” precedes a sly “Play It All Night Long” from the 1980s Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School. With the able and versatile Cartsonis in tow, Zevon gives them his all throughout, but there’s a tangible sense that his usual bravura is somewhat lacking. Still, to a song, lyrics within each resonate with meaning in the context of Warren’s “Dirty Life And Times” (which follows Cartsonis’ solo spotlight, the likewise banjo-dominated “A Tune With No Name”). From the former number, the line ‘Sometimes I feel like my shadow’s casting me’ sounds particularly portentous given the author’s studied combination of reserve and abandon in his vocal delivery (plus Cartsonis’ written account of Zevon’s physical frailty around this time, roughly thirteen months prior to his passing). If the set list thus reads like Warren Zevon’s life is flashing before the eyes, hear the resolute strength in his vocals and the emphatic vigor in his piano playing on “Hit Somebody (The Hockey Song).” And that’s not to mention his gleeful but subdued repartee with the audience, whose members sound reasonably enthused, if not exactly rabid in their responses, by the end of the show. The musicianly virtues on display during the Epilogue recall the spare, near-wholly solo arrangements comprising 1995’s Mutineer (mostly home recordings) as well as the solo tours following his commercial apogee. As a result, there’s palpable continuity between Live At The Edmonton Folk Music Festival and Warren Zevon’s body of work at large and, as such, it may well be the most personal of the entire discography (ever-so-nuanced as those elements are). A sly, sardonic grin etches the visage of this wilfully idiosyncratic artist in the front cover photo. And, as the same profile, rendered in black and white, appears under the disc tray of the double-fold digi-pak, there’s no mistaking the implicit disclaimer of sentimentality. All the better to relish the multiple availability of these Omnivore Recordings packages. As the 2025 inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame himself once said, ‘Enjoy every sandwich.’

Review (Tinnitist) : Although he left us in 2003, 2025 Rock And Roll Hall of Fame inductee Zevon left us with a treasure trove of nearly four decades of incredible songs and performances. Neither Warren, nor his long-time band member, accompanist and friend Matt Cartsonis, nor the 14,000 people in attendance at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival knew this would be Warren’s final concert — it was just another great performance from an exceptional songwriter and artist. Epilogue: Live At The Edmonton Folk Music Festival offers you the chance to experience it for the first time, or relive it if you were there.Portable speakers Featuring Warren on guitar, harmonica, and piano, with Cartsonis adding guitar, dulcimer, fiddle, harmonies and more, the set includes classics like Werewolves Of London, Poor Poor Pitiful Me, Lawyers, Guns And Money, Play It All Night Long and the rarity Dirty Life And Times, which he only played twice. The pair even found room in the set to pay tribute to Canada with a cover of Joni Mitchell’s A Case Of You and the traditional Canadee-i-o. Epilogue: Live At The Edmonton Folk Music Festival has been mastered and restored by multiple Grammy-winning engineer Michael Graves and Jordan McLeod of Osiris Studio with Matt Cartsonis. Cartsonis also adds poignant liner notes about the performance, and insight into his musical relationship and friendship with Zevon. Epilogue: Live At The Edmonton Folk Music Festival is a gift from a truly legendary singer and songwriter. Turn those speakers up full blast. Play it all night long.