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I've never been disappointed at a Bob Schneider show, and I've never known anyone who stumbled onto one of Bob's performances and didn't leave as a disciple ready to spread the word. I've seen Bob perform under a few different arrangements. As lead of the Scabs, he has an opportunity to push the limits of raunchiness, singing with the Texas Bluegrass Massacre, he can put a country twist and instrumentation to his masterpieces, and as a solo artist, he has an opportunity to go from mainstream rock to experimental electronica. My 11-year old daughter has become a big Bob Schneider fan, but I've always had to regulate what songs she's heard, and I'd never risk taking her to one of his live shows until she gets a little older. But a unique opportunity presented itself. Bob Schneider hooked up with Will Taylor to perform with Strings Attached during their regular performance season. I have a few reviews that feature Strings Attached, so you may have already read about the concept. Musicians scrap their regular band, Will Taylor and the other members of Strings Attached craft new arrangements to the musician's work. The arrangements typically include violin, cello, viola, piano, bass, and trumpet. Not your typical band setup. The result is an unforgettable performance. When I learned that Bob was scheduled for a Strings Attachment performance, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to let my daughter see him live. I knew that the Strings Attached audience was typically older than Bob's regular crowd, and being broadcast live on KGSR, I knew that Bob would be forced to tame it down a little. That's not to say that he'd still have an opportunity to rock. Always being blown away at Strings Attached shows, I had high expectation, and Bob delivered. Some songs lent themselves to an easy translation to the Strings Attached format because they started out as stripped down, raw tunes. Lorena and I Have Reason to Believe fell into this category. Beautiful arrangements gave these a more polished feel. What was more interesting, was hearing songs that had full instrumentation swapped for string arrangements. I was caught off guard when Cap'n Kirk emerged from an dramatically altered intro. Most amazingly, Bob can't help but find and crank out a groove regardless of the instruments around him. This is a testament to both Will Taylor and Bob. I imagine that if I gave Bob a touch tone phone and a mic, he'd find a way to crank out a rump shakin' jam. If anyone's heard Honey Bomb, they know Bob is a linguistic acrobat. Seeing it live heightens the appreciation for his talent. Listening to the song crescendo with the backing of a muted trumpet, piano, cello, drums, and violin was unbelievable. I have to admit that even though I have a lot of Bob Schneider's work, there were a couple of songs I hadn't heard before. One began, "I had a dream that I was dying... to see you." This had to have been one of the most beautifully written songs that I'd heard. Now I have it on CD. I still don't know what it's called. At a Texas Bluegrass Massacre show, Bob had mentioned that they were recording the performance, and that people could by CDs of the performance immediately following the show. I thought, "What kind of crap is Bob trying to pull? How could he possibly have CDs right after the show?" But before the Strings Attached show, Will sent an email stating that they would have recordings of the show immediately following it. I had to get in on that action. Now I have a CD of the Strings Attached show with possibly Bob's most beautiful song ever. Since it just shows up as Track 4 or whatever number it is, I'll just have to keep showing up at Bob's shows until he mentions the name of the song. Bob has been considered musician of the year in Austin several times. Go to a live show, and you'll know why. Bob is one of the few artists that will go from ballad to jazz to folk to rap to country and somehow make it appear that these are meant to be strung together.