with slideshow: Jeff Daniels and Friends chase the Michigan blues away

Jeff Daniels said it himself, and he was right: “This one was the best one yet.”

He was referring to his annual Thanksgiving weekend concert, Jeff Daniels and Friends, Saturday night at the Michigan Theater. As usual, Daniels showed impeccable taste in “friends” — the acts, all from the Mitten State, were top-notch.

The lineup of performers included Lansing-based swing and jazz group Shout Sister Shout, Kalamazoo world roots-music band Red Sea Pedestrians, Chelsea roots-rock fivesome The Ben Daniels Band, and the outrageously attired but extraordinarily tuneful Scottville Clown Band. Local folksinger-songwriter Matt Watroba was an unannounced special guest, while performance poet Paul Princen, a recent Community High School graduate now attending Stanford University, completed the list.

Compared to past years, Saturday’s show seemed to include more songs about Michigan than ever before. The Ben Daniels Band did a bluesy homage to Ann Arbor’s now-demolished Michigan Inn; Watroba’s contribution was the original ballad “They Used to Play Baseball Here” (lamenting the demise of Tiger Stadium, and more); and Daniels himself offered the lovely “I Can See the Michigan In Me,” the blues jam “Detroit Train” and the perennial audience participation favorite “Big Bay Shuffle.”

Daniels was even wearing a Stormy Kromer hat, popular headgear of fashionable folks throughout the Upper Peninsula and northern Wisconsin.

Some of the show’s highlights included the Pedestrians’ Rachel Flanigan and her electric clarinet; the harmonica solo provided by Shout Sister Shout’s Andy Wilson on “Detroit Train”; and Princen’s dramatic poem “Delivery,” which had as much to say about how one communicates as well as the communication itself.

The evening kicked off with Daniels offering a verse of the show tune “Send in the Clowns,” the perfect lead-in to the Scottville Clown Band, offering a rousing version of “When the Saints Go Marching In.” The group mixed music and humor perfectly and was a great way to get the audience fired up.

Shout Sister Shout, with incredible vocalist Rachael Davis, was next. Multi-talented brothers Andy and Joe Wilson, with their tasty horn contributions during the jaunty “I'll be Glad When You’re Dead, You Rascal, You,” really helped this set stand out, while Red Sea Pedestrians’ set of energetic Eastern European-flavored tunes made me glad I’ll have a chance to catch a full show when they come to The Ark on Jan. 12.

Scenes from Jeff Daniels and Friends at the Michigan Theater:

We heard a bit more from Daniels Saturday than has been the case in past years, and that was just fine. He plays a mean blues guitar and his songwriting is first rate. He’s said that his Thanksgiving show is modeled on a similar event folk singer Arlo Guthrie hosts and, like Guthrie, Daniels is a talented storyteller. Nowhere was this more in evidence than during “Recreational Vehicle,” an epic about the misadventures encountered on a road trip with his family. Much like Guthrie’s “Alice’s Restaurant,” it’s always fun to hear.

Daniels closed the show with George Harrison’s “Here Comes the Sun,” played on a guitar autographed by the ex-Beatle. It was a wonderfully upbeat ending to show that clearly said that no matter how hard times may be in Michigan now, a brighter future awaits.

Roger LeLievre is a freelance writer who covers music for AnnArbor.com.