Chrissie Hynde's voice has not changed since the Pretenders released its first album in 1980, a fact she confidently demonstrated Saturday at Ovens Auditorium playing tracks by her band and material from her first solo album, "Stockholm."
She may now be 63, but age was never a factor for Hynde. Beneath shaggy black hair that hid her eyes, it was hard even in the early days to tell her age. That hasn't changed. I had to wonder early on when she shed her sequined blazer revealing bare arms, a simple black vest and man's white tie if this is what a lifetime of vegetarianism does for you. As she sauntered to the front of the stage in skinny jeans and Doc Martens during the new song "In A Miracle," she exuded a kind of sex appeal that can't be trumped by skimpy clothes and twerking. Like fellow sexaganarian Lucinda Williams, she's just got it.
Notoriously honest, funny, and outspoken, it shouldn't have been a surprise that Hynde played what she felt like. She hit on a handful of Pretenders' hits, but it was not a hits set. The show flowed almost opposite of most concerts from slower, almost adult-contemporary openers to full-on punk, yet it was so good that first 17 songs whizzed by within the first hour.
She opened with "Don't Lose Faith in Me," a slow bluesy burner from her the last Pretenders album and followed it with a few more methodical mid-tempo numbers, "Biker" (which closed 1999's "Viva el Amor!"), 1994's "977," and "In A Miracle."
Another new song, "Like in the Movies" helped segue from moody to pop to rock. "Talk of the Town" kicked off the latter, raising the tempo and energy and bringing the crowd to its feet. It remained there for "Kid." The surf guitar and girl group feel of "Talk" and "Kid" were well matched with the Wall of Sound spirit of the new solo song "You or No One" which opens "Stockholm."
Guitarist James Walbourne (Son Volt, Pernice Brothers and with Pretenders since 2008) proved a consummate, flashy sideman delivering ripping bluesy solos with animated expressions.
Instead of classic rock staples "Middle of the Road" and "Brass in Pocket" and the monster `90s ballad "I'll Stand By You," she opted for lesser hits "Night in My Veins" and "My City is Gone," obscure album tracks and early tracks "The Phone Call," "Precious," "Pack It Up," and "Tattooed Love Boys" (the latter three played during two encores) aptly plucked from the late `70s/early `80s punk and post-punk new wave period that birthed Pretenders.
The Kinks' "I Go To Sleep" opened the second and final encore. It was a really beautiful rendering that the group first covered on its sophomore album in 1981. For those still expecting "Brass," Hynde threw another curve breaking out her current single "Dark Sunglasses" as the final song of the night.
The crowd - many of them baby boomers like Hynde and the generation that followed - didn't seem to mind the omissions as they grooved and danced like it was 1984. The biggest hits "Don't Get Me Wrong" and "Back on the Chain Gang" enjoyed the biggest response from the crowd, as expected. This was MTV pop music in the early `80s when female rockers like Hynde, Pat Benatar, Debbie Harry, and Stevie Nicks - fully clothed musicians I might add - were our role models. Today's girls and even women her own age can still learn from Hynde's confidence and preservation.
Monday, November 10, 2014
Friday, November 7, 2014
Merlefest 2015 lineup high on roots vets, up and comers, and Carolinians
Merlefest's initial lineup was announced earlier this week with Bela Fleck and his wife Abigail Washburn and reunited bluegrass allstars Hot Rize will open the festival on Thursday, April 23.
Rockin' hill country blues brothers North Mississippi Allstars, bluegrass royalty the Del McCoury Band, SC-bred classic country-rockers the Marshall Tucker Band and husband and wife duo Bruce Robison and Kelly Willis (both established solo artists featured in the above video) head up Friday's bill.
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| North Mississippi Allstars |
Sunday's artists include Doc Watson's grandson and Merle Watson's son Richard Watson, the Nashville Bluegrass Band, Jim Avett, and the David Mayfield Parade.
The festival takes place on the campus of Wilkesboro Community College in North Wilkesboro April 23-26.
The lineup features a strong Carolinian showing in the Kruger Brothers, Jim Lauderdale, Avett, Mipso, Jack Lawrence, Chatham County Line, and Charlotte transplants Time Sawyer.
Other notable performers include the Waybacks, Scythian, Sutton, Holt and Coleman, Blue Highway, JohnnySwim, Blind Boy Paxton, Big Sandy and His Fly-Rite Boys, Two Man Gentlemen Band, the Stray Birds, the Ragbirds, Black Lillies, Black Cadillacs, Pete and Joan Wernick (Pete is also in Hot Rize), Whitewater Ramble, and Farmer Jason (aka Jason & the Scorchers' Jason Ringenberg's children's music alter-ego). The full lineup can be found here. Click on artist names to find out which days they'll be playing.
Early bird tickets go on sale Tuesday, November 11. Find out more about Merlefest 2015 here.
Thursday, November 6, 2014
This week's hot concerts
Rachael Yamagata
Having nearly funded her upcoming 2015 album via PledgeMusic (http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/yamagatatightropewalker)
the singer-songwriter celebrates the 10th anniversary of her first
album “Happenstance” and reveals new material reminiscent of Mazzy Star and Cat
Power.
Sturgill Simpson
The former leader of Sunday Valley has drawn widespread acclaim
for his sophomore album, “Metamodern Sounds in Country Music” and its
ode-to-psychedelics first single “Turtles All the Way Down,” but even more is his trippy, dead-on rendering of `70s outlaw country delivered with a deep
Waylon Jennings-style baritone and lyrical depth.
Chrissie Hynde
It may come as a surprise that at 63 the Pretenders frontwoman
is just now getting around to her first solo album, but the resulting
“Stockholm” - recorded with Peter, Bjorn and John’s Bjorn Yttling and featuring
Neil Young and John McEnroe - is a smart, hip modern rock collection worthy of
her past work.
Winger
Twenty-five years since “Seventeen” rocketed up the charts thanks
to a hummable pop-metal hook and good looking frontman, Winger remains an
impressive hard rock act that proves its mettle on the new album, “Better Days
Comin’.” It’s garnered critical praise for its consistency and composition and
charted not far from the last slot it occupied in 1993.
Reverend Horton Heat
Released earlier this year, the simply titled “REV” marks a
return to form after a few stylistic segues for the smoking guitar trio who
carved out a niche in the `90s with ripping psychobilly and an evangelical
frontman that proudly sung of hot rods, hot broads, and other wild and
fantastic rock n’ roll traditions.
Carbon Leaf
A regional fixture sprouted from the same Virginian waters as
Dave Matthews and Pat McGee, this Richmond-based act continues to marry
Celtic-flavored pop with roots rock bite 23 years later. It recently released a
rerecording of its 2004 breakthrough as “Indian Summer Revisited.”
Brief Lives
Before returning with his other band Valient Thorr in December,
intergalactic rock n’ roller (and Lincolnton native) Valient Himself leads the
Richmond-based post hardcore punk quartet who weave Van Halen-esque guitar,
methodical riffing, and math rock on its new limited four-track cassette(!) release
(that’s also available as a Bandcamp download).
Buddy Guy
At age 78 - along with B.B. King - the influential Chicago blues
guitarist and live showman is one of the of the last of the blues giants left
touring. The guitar great’s shows remain one of the more fun live experiences
out there proving age hasn’t slowed him down as a player or mellowed his
charisma.
DJ QBert
The groundbreaking DJ who helped make scratching an artform
released two albums (a double album of sorts) this summer, the otherworldly
“Extraterrestria” and “GalaXXXian” as the long, long-awaited follow-up to
1999’s “Wave Twisters.” He brings the Extraterrestrium: The Guided Space Tour
to town with Jeremy Ellis.
Spongetone rolls alone on new vocal-centered album
In May Spongetones frontman Jamie Hoover had one of his rotator cuffs replaced - a rather debilitating experience for his guitar playing. Instead of sitting on the couch flipping channels, he decided to use the instrument he had left - his voice - to make a new solo album. He recently released that album, "Jamie Two Ever" digitally and as a limited edition CD featuring eight extra covers. The original tracks are available on iTunes and CD Baby. Physical copies are limited to 300 and are for sale through Hoover's website.
Hoover had a second rotator cuff surgery recently, which will keep him off the stage through late December when he'll join fellow Spongetones Steve Stoekel and Pat Walters for an acoustic New Year's Eve performance at Big Ben's Pub where the band members perform semi-regularly.
"Having these two surgeries got me to thinking - well, what do I have left? My voice!," Hoover says. Stoekel - Hoover's regular duo partner - wasn't really interested in making an a cappella album, so he Hoover decided to go it alone. He approached the project as a challenge.
"Most, but not all cuts are a cappella," he explains. "At times I just banged on pickle buckets and trash cans for drum sounds. Sometimes (I created percussion) just with my mouth."
The album isn't entirely vocal though. It includes a couple of older full band cuts and the last two new songs feature a full band since those were recorded after Hoover healed from the first surgery.
"I figure rule No. 1, no rules!" he adds.
Check out more on "Jamie Two Ever" here and watch the video Cool King Chris created for the track "The Jim Joanne Massacre." Hoover calls the song his version of "My Girl, Bill."
"I got an email from an old friend," he explains. "Due to the large pink signature on it, somehow I decided he'd had a sex change."
The song took flight from there. His friend had not, by the way, but sometimes a suggestion is all it takes to get the creative ball rolling.
"Boy, what an imagination I have."
Wednesday, November 5, 2014
Nick Cave, Bjork films in Charlotte this week
Two films with music ties receive one night engagements in Charlotte this week. "Bjork: Biophilia Live" plays tonight at The Epicentre's Studio Movie Grill. "20,000 Days on Earth" starring Nick Cave is at Neighborhood Theatre in NoDa Thursday with 7 and 10 p.m. screenings.
Directed by Nick Fenton and Peter Strickland, "Bjork: Biophilia Live" is a documentary concert film centered around the Icelandic musician's eighth studio album, "Biophilia," The groundbreaking 2011 album and multimedia experience explores the intersection of music, nature, and technology through the album and a series of apps (the iPad app is the first app that's now part of the Museum of Modern Art's permanent collection). To bring "Biophilia" to life on stage Bjork employed an all female Icelandic choir, a set of nature films, and custom instruments created especially for the project, including a Tesla coil. The film screens at 7:30 p.m. tonight. Tickets are available here. View the visually stunning trailer at http://www.biophiliathefilm.com/
The equally acclaimed "20,000 Days on Earth," which won World Cinema Documentary awards in directing and editing for first time feature-length filmmakers Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard, follows singer-songwriter Cave through a fictional 24 hours. Originally filmed for promotional purposes, the footage Forsyth and Pollard shot was deemed so compelling the project was extended into a feature film that explores Cave's creative process through his past, his interactions with friends Kylie Minogue, collaborator Warren Ellis, actor Ray Winstone, Bad Seed band member Blixa Bargeld, and psychoanalyst Darian Leader.
The trailer for the film (above) doesn't look or feel like a typical music documentary or an episode of "Behind the Music," but a beautifully shot movie that blurs the lines between fiction and reality.
Tickets for the Neighborhood Theatre screenings are $10 to $15. They're available here.
Friday, October 31, 2014
Fundraising sale for children's cancer with a local music link
A few years ago I was contacted about a benefit concert at Snug Harbor for the daughter of Charlotte musician, Candice Tucker, singer for the band the Situationals. At just two-years-old Candice's daughter Cora was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a form of cancer that affects the nerve cells most often in children five and under.
I was particularly struck by Cora's story because she is only a month older than my oldest son. I am always pleased to get updates on Cora's progress (I feel the same about Bob Crawford of the Avett Brothers' daughter Hallie, who has battled cancer for most of her young life).
Thankfully Cora has been cancer-free for two years now, but every November Candice and her friends and family throw a massive yard sale to raise money for children's cancer research through Cora Cadets, their CureSearch cancer walk team.
This year the annual yard sale takes place Sunday, November 2 at Tucker's home, 7026 Brookgreen Terrace in Matthews. Candice reports that they've received a ton of donations for the sale including furniture, electronics, sports equipment, baby gear, toys, clothes of all sizes, books and linens. My car is actually packed and heading there now if you're up for some unworn orange flats, an unopened chocolate candy maker (weird Christmas present, mom), goth curtains or a silver changing table.
All proceeds will be donated to CureSearch where 99 cents of every dollar goes toward pediatric cancer research. If you can't make the sale, you can make a monetary donation here.
I was particularly struck by Cora's story because she is only a month older than my oldest son. I am always pleased to get updates on Cora's progress (I feel the same about Bob Crawford of the Avett Brothers' daughter Hallie, who has battled cancer for most of her young life).
Thankfully Cora has been cancer-free for two years now, but every November Candice and her friends and family throw a massive yard sale to raise money for children's cancer research through Cora Cadets, their CureSearch cancer walk team.
This year the annual yard sale takes place Sunday, November 2 at Tucker's home, 7026 Brookgreen Terrace in Matthews. Candice reports that they've received a ton of donations for the sale including furniture, electronics, sports equipment, baby gear, toys, clothes of all sizes, books and linens. My car is actually packed and heading there now if you're up for some unworn orange flats, an unopened chocolate candy maker (weird Christmas present, mom), goth curtains or a silver changing table.
All proceeds will be donated to CureSearch where 99 cents of every dollar goes toward pediatric cancer research. If you can't make the sale, you can make a monetary donation here.
Thursday, October 30, 2014
This week's hot concerts
Coolio/Tone Loc
Friday
7 p.m., Fountain Plaza at NC Music Factory, 1000 NC Music Factory Blvd.,
$25/$40 VIP, www.ncmusicfactory.com
At its annual Music, Monsters, & Mayhem the Music Factory
celebrates Halloween with the `90’s biggest hip-hop/pop crossovers Tone Loc and
Coolio (who, through his acting, has flirted with the horror genre). Prices
include admission into many surrounding venues. Best costume wins $2,000, plus
other goodies.
Deniro Farrar & Denzel Curry
If it’s new school hip-hop you’re looking for Deniro Farrar (born and raised in Charlottes) straddles edgy streetwise rap and enlightenment on “The
Rebirth EP,” which is garnering national attention from MTV, Spin, and
Pitchfork.com. He ends his successful first national co-headlining tour with a
Halloween homecoming show.
Slick Rick
Plaza-Midwood hosts even older school hip-hop at the 8th
Annual Haunted Harbor which features an unlikely
pairing of colorful characters - influential `80s rapper Slick Rick the Ruler
and neighborhood fixtures singer-songwriter Benji Hughes and over-the-top metal
manglers the Poontanglers with DJ Justin Aswell.
Annual Halloween Fiasco/Dia De Los Muertos Fiasco
Each year the Milestone celebrates Halloween by having local
bands masquerade, musically, as artists of yesteryear. This year they’ve added
a second show Saturday. Friday’s tributes include INXS, Shania Twain, Beck, and
the Bangles. Saturday it’s Prince, Nirvana, the Cars, Jimmy Buffet, Jesus
Lizard, the Plasmastics, and the Pogues.
Ray Lamontagne
Saturday 7:30 p.m., Ovens Auditorium, 2700 E.
Independence Blvd., $59.48-$85.81, www.ticketmaster.com
Fans that have longed for the acclaimed singer-songwriter, whose
music hovers around the classic style of Tim Buckley and Nick Drake, to put
Charlotte on his tour schedule. They finally get their wish following the
release of his Dan Auerbach-produced fifth album, “Supernova,” which hit No. 1
on the Rock charts. With the Belle Brigade.
The Lone Bellow
The Georgia-bred, NYC-led roots combo preps the follow-up to its
breakthrough self-titled 2013 album for a 2015 release. They’ll preview new
material from the Aaron Dessner-produced record (the National’s guitarist),
which promises to build on its gospel and soul rooted blend of country and
folk-rock.
Drive-By Truckers
Eleven albums, a revolving door of members (the latest of note
being award winner Jason Isbell), and a near 30 year partnership between chief
songwriters Mike Cooley and Patterson Hood, the Athens staple has made, in its
latest album “English Oceans,” what even Hood calls its best since 2003’s
“Decoration Day.” The group ends its tour here.
Ian Hunter (and the Rant Band) /Wreckless Eric & Amy Rigby
Wednesday 8 p.m., Neighborhood Theatre, 511 E. 35th
St., $25-$35, www.neighborhoodtheatre.com
The influential Mott the Hoople frontman and prolific solo artist
- he sang “All the Young Dudes” and penned classic rock staples “Cleveland
Rocks” and “Once Bitten Twice Shy” - heads up a bill that includes the married
underground duo behind 1977’s oft-covered “Whole Wide World” (him) and 1996’s acclaimed
“Diary of a Mod Housewife” (her).
Robin Trower
Hunter’s junior by six years, fellow Brit Trower, is an equally
influential English guitarist and sometime singer, who cut his musical teeth
with Procol Harum before 1974’s solo smash “Bridge of Sighs,” which remains in
daily rotation at classic rock radio. He’s also a guitar hero whose work once
rivaled Hendrix’s.
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