Last Sunday, a British singer-songwriter called Rumer was featured on CBS Sunday Morning. Dallas and I like to watch this program, even though we’re convinced it’s aimed towards retirees. You can tell by all the laxative and AARP commercials! But on the Monday following the segment, Rumer’s album hit #1 on iTunes, so we can’t be the only ones watching. Then again, maybe there are a lot of retirees using iTunes!

On Thursday, Dallas, now 5 days into his Rumer obsession, was watching her videos on YouTube. This is probably her most famous song (and video), Aretha:

Well, Dallas noticed on the YouTube channel that Rumer was playing that night in Chicago at Lincoln Hall. He got so excited and asked if I wanted to go. I hadn’t really listened to much of her music since seeing the segment, but the show was only $13 and would fit in perfectly after our dinner at Glenn’s, so we got our tickets. And I did some cramming by listening to her album a few times.

If you’ve never heard of Rumer, don’t be surprised. Her album went Platinum in the UK and hit the #3 spot, but she’s pretty much unknown in the U.S. She has appeared onstage with Elton John and Burt Bacharach once flew her to his home in California so he could hear her sing. But yeh, pretty much no one here has heard of her. Back at home she performs with 8-piece orchestras, but here? A guy on keyboards, a guy on guitar and a guy with the most scaled down percussion you can imagine. Very low key.

The room was sparsely populated. I’d say there were maybe 100 people there? It was not crowded at all. You could basically walk up as close to the stage as you wanted. Must be quite a change compared to what Rumer is used to in the UK! And her voice was so clear and beautiful. It sounded exactly like the album. There are no crazy recording studio tricks that were used there. Dallas describes her as some kind of cross between Karen Carpenter, Carole King and Mama Cass. Very interesting. I hope she makes it and becomes more popular in the United States!

Also, a surprise at the show. We were sitting in the outer room waiting for the opening act to finish and who walks by? Jamie! She was there with Fitz. Totally unplanned, but nice to hang out with them during the show.

Oh, and here’s a photo of the percussionist. He was shaking a shaker percussion thingy and hitting his hand on the box that he was sitting on. That was about it. Somehow it sounded just like a drum. Oh, and I think he might have had a tambourine controlled by his foot.

And one more song that I like, Thankful: