You won’t find an artist who attacks his music with more ferocious, fearless abandon than Jon Dee Graham. He can turn a guitar solo into a blistering prayer. His songs take on the big topics: love and loss, hope and courage, family and real world stuff, celebrating everyday life in its simplicity and complexity. His shows leave you riding a high of feral guitar, “set on stun” in the words of one Austin Chronicle critic. Audiences go home emotionally levitating from his big-hearted performances.
The swampy grooves of Louisiana come to the streets of Omaha this weekend. The free annual Summer Arts Fest hits downtown, offering a variety of music from national artists. Look for the main stage, dubbed the World Music Pavilion, along Farnam St. from 10th to 15th Streets.
Eric Lindell gigs at 7 p.m. Friday, June 26. Lindell’s third disc for Alligator, Gulf Coast Highway, includes a great mix of material. The LA Daily News called Lindell’s latest “passionate blue-eyed soul, smothered with a big heap of percolating New Orleans funk.” Lindell has drawn critic’s comparisons to Van Morrison and Delbert McClinton and has appeared on “Late Night With Conan O’Brien.”
Appropriate adjectives are lacking to describe the jaw-dropping showmanship and sweat equity that Nashville’s The Hillbilly Casino puts into its shows. Appearances Sunday night, June 14, at the Sunday Roadhouse at Murphy’s and Monday, June 15, at the Zoo Bar left audiences dizzy. Frontman Nic Roulette worked the stage at Murphy’s nonstop. Roulette and his band’s in your face rockabilly sound owes much to the punk rock intensity that The Blasters fueled its roots sound with in the early 1980s, working alongside hardcore bands on the Los Angeles punk scene. Imagine the love children of Johnny Reno, Southern Culture on the Skids, The Paladins, The Blasters and X on speed with Roulette adding some martial arts moves and tap dancing. That may give you some idea of what The Hillbilly Casino brings to the stage. The crackerjack band working with Roulette are guitarist “Radioactive” Ronnie Crutcher (Brian Setzer’s Nashvillians), bassist Geoff Firebaough (BR5-49) and Andrew Dickson (drums).
Playing with Fire gears up for Saturday’s June show with a focus on great female vocalists. The summer concert series takes place at Omaha’s riverfront on the Lewis & Clark Landing. Headlining the show is Canadian vocalist Angel Forrest, who regularly draws critical acclaim and comparisons to renowned female singers from Janis Joplin to Norah Jones. Reviewers have called her performances “supercharged” and “unforgettable,” “flawless” yet “gritty.” An accomplished entertainer who has been working on the Canadian scene for 20 years, Forrest was first seen in Omaha in the winter 2008. She performed as part of the Grande Dames de Blues show that PWF promoter Jeff Davis staged at the Holland Center.
Two great shows happen June 3, the day this paper hits the streets. Texas roots/Americana singer-songwriter Hayes Carll gigs at the Waiting Room Wednesday, June 3, while Michelle Malone is at BarFly.
Carll’s latest CD, Trouble in Mind (Lone Star Music), has kept critics and audiences buzzing. Publications from the L.A. Times to Mojo Magazine to American Songwriter to Blender have applauded Carll’s music. Mojo wrote, “the songs have just the right amount of heft, humor and humanity.” The Boston Globe raved, “Authentic voices are so rare these days, it’s easy to over-praise newcomers but Carll’s debut ushers in a compelling major voice … Carll delivers a set of songs filled with little epiphanies, lyrical dexterity and dirt-dry wit.”
After an unexpected phone failure I am now the owner of a Blackberry. Sadly, I couldn’t go more than an hour with the thought of no cell phone, no texting, no Facebook updates via cell phone. The second best selling point for the Blackberry: free Pandora radio. Pandora is the streaming Internet radio program that lets you find your favorite artists and then makes more artist suggestions based on that selection. So far, no Jon Dee Graham, but punching in Graham’s name led Pandora to give me tunes by Hayes Carll, Steve Earle, and several interesting artists I’d never heard, including Graham Lindsey and Wil Ridge. The program never located any Jon Dee Graham and within that search led me to Cheap Trick. Yes, it even has a function to tell you why it chose the song, based on the “music genome project” that is apparently at the heart of Pandora. Thankfully a search for Chris Gaffney immediately brought up the late, great Gaff himself, doing an old blues tune he favored, called “Sugar Bee,” off American Music: The Hightone Records Story.
Murphy’s presents two of the great ladies of contemporary blues in the coming days. The always bewitching and soulful Janiva Magness is at Murphy’s this Thursday, May 21, at 5:30 p.m. Earlier this month in Memphis, Magness took home the prestigious Blues Music Award for Contemporary Blues Female Artist of the Year. This is the third consecutive year she earned that honor. Come see and hear why she’s one of the most popular ladies on the international blues circuit. Austin’s own multiple Blues Music Award winner and Grammy nominee, Marcia Ball, gigs at Murphy’s for a special show. She brings her New Orleans-flavored R&B to Omaha Saturday, May 23, at 7 p.m. The Blues Society All-Stars open.
The national Blues Foundation’s Blues Music Awards were handed out Thursday, May 7, in Memphis. Winners included artists who either play Omaha and Lincoln regularly or will soon be stopping at a venue near you.
Janiva Magness heats up Murphy’s next Thursday, May 21. Magness took home the B.B. King Entertainer of the Year award. She also won Contemporary Blues Female Artist of the Year honors for the third consecutive year. Magness is touring behind her latest Alligator release, What Love Will Do. Her live show lives up to the hype, she’s a remarkable vocalist and entertainer, full of sass and soul.
Soaring Wings Vineyard’s annual Spring Wine & Blues Festival is May 9 beginning at 12:30 p.m. with Lincoln band Naked Kate & The Naked Reserves. At 3:30 p.m. the extremely popular boogie-blues of Kansan Kelley Hunt hits the stage. Jumpin’ Chicago blues band Nick Moss & The Flip Tops is the final act at 6:30 p.m. Admission is $20, children less than 12 are admitted free when accompanied by an adult. The vineyard is located at 17111 S. 138th St., just south of Springfield. Check details at soaringwingswine.com.
Mental Health Association Benefit Also Saturday, May 9, the Mental Health Association of Nebraska presents Jammin’ Away the Blues at Lincoln’s Rococo Theatre. Junior Stephens Blues Project featuring John “Honeyboy” Turner plays at 7 p.m. and Blue House with the Rent-to-Own Horns is at 8:30 p.m. The headliner is extremely popular guitar star Jimmy Thackery at 10 p.m. He is widely considered one of a handful of top-flight blues guitarists who are the best of the best working today. Thackery came to the attention of blues fans as the guitarist for hard-charging blues band The Nighthawks during the 1970s and ’80s. Thackery’s latest disc is Inside Tracks (Telarc), released in October of 2008. See rococotheatre.com for tickets, which are $20 in advance, $25 day of show. For more information on the Mental Health Association of Nebraska call 441.4371.
There are lots of cool music happenings at the Zoo Bar this week. Thursday, April 30, at 6 p.m. see blues veterans The Nighthawks. The band hails from the Washington, D.C., area and has been working the national scene for over 30 years, with regular stops at the Zoo. Stay late that night for two up-and-coming bands. Pop-rock combo Little Black Stereo, featuring keyboard player Nick Semrad; and Omaha band Midwest Dilemma, led by Justin Lamoureaux, are also on the late-night bill with their cinematic roots-rock/Americana sound. Midwest Dilemma’s CD Timelines & Tragedies won the 2008 Omaha Entertainment Award for Album of the Year.
The ever-popular boogie blues, Delta grooves and vintage rock rhythms of The Bel Airs get the party started at the Zoo Bar for the 9 p.m. shows Friday and Saturday, May 1 and 2. Also, Friday, May 1, Charlie Burton & The Dorothy Lynch Mob have the happy hour gig from 5-7 p.m. Saturday, May 2, the Zoo presents a special 6 p.m. show with the Latin music of Son del Llano.
Blues Society of Omaha President Terry O’Halloran sent an email last week saying former Omaha blues musician Brad Cordle is dealing with a health crisis. Local blues fans know Cordle from his many years as vocalist for popular band The Jailbreakers. O’Halloran reported Cordle “is in the final stage of Diabetic Retinopathy, a condition that would leave him blind. The only treatment that will stop the further deterioration of his eyesight is a series of surgeries.”
Cordle now lives in Las Vegas and members of the Las Vegas Blues Society are fundraising to help with the procedures. The Vegas Blues Society is hosting a benefit for Cordle there, and accepting donations via mail. O’Halloran also plans to pass the hat at Murphy’s shows.
O’Halloran wrote, “If you would like to make a contribution, and would like a charitable donation receipt for tax purposes, please make your check out to ‘The Las Vegas Blues Society,’ put ‘Brad Cordle’ on the memo line, and he will get 100 percent of your contribution.” Donations may be mailed to: The Las Vegas Blues Society, PO Box 371077, Las Vegas, NV, 89137.
Terry O’Halloran, owner of Murphy’s, BarFly and The Lift, and president of the Blues Society of Omaha, loves music so much he’s still experimenting with times and places to book music that works. Trying to add more roots-oriented music in a late show on Thursday nights, after the weekly 5:30 p.m. early show, has met with less than outstanding attendance. O’Halloran had Sarah Benck and her rockin’ band booked after Carolyn Wonderland’s Thursday, April 2 performance. While I have to admit it was a struggle with my schedule for me to stick around, I caught most of the first set and was reminded again how great Benck and her band are. Not a lot of people stuck around from the busy Carolyn Wonderland show, but there were more than I expected, considering it’s difficult for a lot of us to stay out late and clock in per usual the next day.
Minneapolis-based Tom Feldmann was forced to cancel December dates he had scheduled, including a stop at Mick’s, when he came down with the flu. Yes, that’s another of the less glamorous stories of being a musician on the road. The new date for Omaha: Tom Feldmann & The Get-Rites appears at the Barley Street Tavern in Benson Saturday, April 11. Also on the bill is Matt Cox, who just released a fine new CD, My Last Dollar.
This is an excellent pairing. Feldmann’s indie-folk-gospel-blues should appeal to those who like Cox’s folk-Americana-blues sound. Feldmann has several self-produced CDs of his original work and has won praise from a variety of national publications. Dirty Linen Magazine wrote, “Feldmann & The Get-Rites are masters of the no-excuses, no-holds-barred, folk-blues-roots Americana music.” Blues Revue magazine raved, “Feldmann deserves all the publicity he can get: He’s the real deal, a soulful original who uses country blues to get at his own personal demons, which lie somewhere between Gram Parsons’ beautiful death angels and Uncle Tupelo’s lurching workingman’s blues.”
You can also find Matt Cox playing a solo acoustic show at Ozone Tuesday, April 14.
It’s exciting to see the local scene for roots music continuing to heat up. A good crowd assembled for a triple-bill of fine Omaha roots music at the Waiting Room Friday, March 27. It was the CD release party for Matt Cox’s third independent disc, My Last Dollar, with friends Black Squirrels and Filter Kings sharing the bill.
I’ve been a fan of Cox’s strong songwriting and solid musicianship since the release of his second disc, Folker’s Travels. His songwriting continues to evolve in the time-honored folk-blues traditions; the new disc showcases his acoustic and band sounds. Special guest on the disc and at the CD release was Kat Smith of the Black Squirrels. She joins Cox on harmonies on several songs. Singing together, they remind me of Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion’s harmony work.
Just as the first robins chirping in my courtyard are a sure sign of spring, so is the annual invasion of Austin for the South by Southwest (SXSW) music conference. It has been a while since I’ve attended. This year some of my Reader colleagues were there, including Tim McMahan, who Facebooked and blogged at least daily about his rock-oriented experiences. See his columns and lazy-i.com.
This year, Facebook let me follow the highlights vicariously via Austin musician friends, fans and visitors like Los Angeles publicist Cary Baker. Baker’s publicity firm, Conqueroo, hosted a 9th annual free, no-credentials-needed party on Wednesday, March 18. The musicians scheduled were a who’s who of great roots-Americana acts: Randy Weeks, Gurf Morlix, James McMurtry, Jon Dee Graham, Dave Gonzalez and the Stone River Boys and special surprise guest Raul Malo.
Here is a belated musical road trip tale. I landed a cheap airfare and made a quick trip to Austin for Jon Dee Graham’s 50th birthday, Feb. 28. If you read this column you know Graham has become a particular favorite of mine. Graham’s remarkable songs of hope and perseverance, struggle and survival, have taken on new resonance for his listeners and for himself in the face of the troubles the singer-songwriter endured in 2008. He managed to pull himself out of the wreckage of a nearly fatal car accident in July 2008, and was back onstage performing a month later. In December, Graham dealt with another setback when he fell off a ladder while putting up Christmas lights on his family’s home.
Despite being in fairly constant pain and piling up mountains of medical bills, Graham remains more upbeat than discouraged. He’s written a good three CDs worth of material, he said, and is working on plans for recording, packaging and marketing all the new music.
Let me start this column by reminding you that guitar star Dave Gonzalez is at the Zoo Bar Thursday, Friday and Saturday, March 12-14.
I ran into too many folks who didn’t seem to know about Gonzalez’s recent BarFly gig Wednesday, March 4. If you can invest in a couple hours to road trip to Lincoln’s Zoo Bar, you can still see and hear what Gonzalez is up to these days.
Gonzalez and his new band, The Stone River Boys, are using their Midwest run to get ready for a string of gigs at Austin’s prestigious SXSW music conference next week. Gonzalez leads The Stone River Boys, a band that grew out of his tours last summer with Austin’s Mike Barfield.
California’s Dave Gonzalez is back in the metro this month, beginning with a date at BarFly Wednesday, March 4. Gonzalez built a loyal audience following as the lead guitarist and main vocalist for The Paladins, a rockabilly trio with over 20 years of national touring on their odometer. When Gonzalez transitioned from The Paladins to become co-founder of the Hacienda Brothers, he moved from roots-rock to a sound the band dubbed “Western Soul.” Thanks to Gonzalez’s partnership with fellow California singer-songwriter Chris Gaffney, the success the Hacienda Brothers found in five years on the road quickly matched and even exceeded the surefire street-cred of The Paladins.
At the heart of the Hacienda Brothers was the soulful and distinctive magic of Chris Gaffney’s voice. “Gaff,” as he was known to friends and fans alike, was diagnosed with liver cancer about this time in 2008. As regular readers of this column know, Gaff, a Golden Gloves boxer in his youth, lost this last battle April 17, 2008. His untimely passing left Gonzalez with a remarkable finished album to promote alone, the amazing Arizona Motel. The performances capture Gaffney at his finest, with a stable of songs written mostly by Gonzalez. If you are a fan of Gaff’s you need to have Arizona Motel. The beautiful, haunting songs sometimes produce the feeling that Gaffney is leaning over our shoulders still. Keep your eyes out for the tribute disc Gaff’s friend Dave Alvin produced that is due out at the end of May, A Man of Somebody’s Dreams: A Tribute to the Songs of Chris Gaffney (Yep Roc).
Charlie Johnson of the Mezcal Brothers has formed a rockabilly trio steeped in old-school, tube-amped sounds of vintage rockabilly. The Royal Pawns began with jam sessions in Johnson’s basement and does retro rockabilly Sun Studios style. The trio crackles with the fabulous guitar licks of Benny Kushner (also guitarist for the Mezcals). Drummer extraordinaire Justin G. Jones gives the band its heartbeat. Jones is also the drummer for multiple Lincoln bands including Son del Llano, The Bellflowers and Son of 76 & The Watchmen. Johnson adds the pounding doghouse bass and provides most of the vocals, giving the songs the right amount of slicked-back personality. The new disc, Royally, is a revved-up mix of originals and a few choice covers.
A couple weeks ago this column reported on the funding challenges promoter Jeff Davis has faced this year in bringing the summer Playing With Fire series back to the riverfront for 2009. Davis reported that last week he made the decision to move forward with the event. He has received some new promises of funding to offset the loss of other sponsorships. While he still needs to raise additional funds, he said he wanted to respect and acknowledge the contributions of his event team who have worked hard over the first five years of the series. He didn’t want to fail those who invested volunteer dedication or let down sponsors who have continued to support the series. He observed that the loss of the event would negatively impact other 501c3 non-profits that benefit from the series, including the Omaha Food Bank, which, he noted, will need donations more than ever in this tough economic year.
Davis also has a deep personal interest in the Blues Society of Omaha’s BluesEd youth development program. The kids’ bands get a performing slot on the big stage at his events and he has further encouraged the kids’ growth by organizing touring performers who conduct professional clinics for the youth.
Davis helped BluesEd band The Side Effects get several opportunities to play at Canadian festivals. The Side Effects have been acknowledged by the Omaha music community with nominations three years in a row for Omaha Entertainment Awards.
The Playing With Fire series was bringing free, world-class blues entertainment to the riverfront even before the high-profile casino concert series took off. Davis said last year’s attendance at PWF concerts was up while gate donations were down, something he expects to see more of with the current economy.
