Covers Night
Last night I went to see Covers Night at Club Passim along with Rhode and Pickin' Baines Johnston. The act was packed with the star power of Jake Armerding, Zachariah Hickman, Mark Erelli, and Lori McKenna. For the last several years this group of artists has delighted the patrons of Passim with an annual show of covers of music from a myriad of genres and time periods. The musicians themselves come out of the bluegrass/folk/country tradition, and incorporate these flavors in their own renditions. Armerding, Erelli, and McKenna took turns singing lead vocals on their choice songs while Hickman provided upright bass, pump organ, backup vocals, witty one liners and inspired yelps throughout.
The show was fantastic. Not only was the music excellent, but it was an entertaining couple hours with the performers cracking jokes, playing off each other, and demonstrating a comfort with each other that made for a fun show.
Regular readers know that I've been a fan of Armerding and Hickman for the last couple years. I think I saw Erelli play at one of many shows at the Cantab - probably with those two. Very talented, great voice.
McKenna was a complete unknown to me, but she's a Commonwealth native with several folk albums who's toured with Faith Hill and Tim McGraw, among others. Erelli toured with her as well. She was incredible - a tiny woman who has some shockingly serious pipes. Beautiful, powerful voice that worked wonderfully on her selections. She has a wistful sound. One of the best female voices I've heard, up there with the likes of Krauss.
The set list, from what I remember:
- "Hard to Say I'm Sorry" by Chicago (Armerding)
- "Black Market Baby" by Tom Waits (awesome version sung by Erelli)
- "Deep Red Bells" by Neko Case (cool tune; haunting - Erelli)
- "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" by Gordon Lightfoot* (Armerding did the late Canuck proud. This one was probably the highlight of the evening. For my table, anyway.)
- "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" by Cyndi Lauper (Cheesy pop sung elegantly by McKenna with humorous backup vocals from the gents)
- "Take a Bow" by Rihanna (McKenna)
- "White Horse" by Taylor Swift (McKenna - brought a maturity and respectability to youthful pop)
- "Purple Rain" by Prince (Incredible performance from Erelli on this. Got the whole crowd singing along.)
- "Orange Juice Blues" by Bob Dylan & Richard Manuel (Erelli)
- "Greenbacks" by Ray Charles (awesome uptempo number by Erelli)
- "He's a Tramp" by Peggy Lee (eclectic, smoky number from Armerding)
- "More Than Words" by Extreme (the duo of Armerding and Erelli performed this in amusing, uncomfortable homoerotic fashion while Hickman and McKenna mock danced in the arm-length, no-hip contact middle school style offstage)
- "Carol of the Bells" by Leontovych (Armerding, Erelli, Hickman)
- "Ode to Billie Joe" by Bobbie Gentry (amazing rendition by McKenna)
- "All Apologies" by Nirvana (perhaps the oddest selection from McKenna but it worked as a closing piece)
What am I forgetting here? Erin? Scojo?
*
JERRY: Hey. How's the new place?!
GEORGE: Gone. (Moves over to a chair in the living room. Kramer takes the carton of food to the table, and begins eating) The tenant association made me give itto this guy because he was an Andrea Doria survivor..
ELAINE: Andrea Doria? Isn't that the one they did the song about?
JERRY: (Correcting her) Edmund Fitzgerald.
ELIANE: I love Edmund Fitzgerald's voice.
JERRY: (Gives Elaine a look) No, Gordon Lightfoot was the singer. Edmund Fitzgerald was the ship.
GEORGE: (Talking about his would-be apartment) You could fit 15 people in that bathroom..
ELAINE: I think Gordon Lightfoot was the boat.
JERRY: (Sarcastic) Yeah, and it was rammed by the Cat Stevens.
KRAMER: (Like a teacher) The Andrea Doria collided with the Stockholm in dense fog 21 miles off the coast of Nantucket. (Makes a clicking sound with his tongue)
5 comments:
Yeah, awesome show. You left off Armerding's other midwest-influenced cover, "Hard to Say I'm Sorry."
Ah yes, how could I have forgotten that! Nice.
There was the awesome "Carol of the Bells" with the most impressive stand up bass solo I've ever seen and McKenna's "Ode to Billie Joe" (originally by Bobbie Gentry).
Armerding also did the really nice song about traveling across the country. Unfortunately, I hadn't heard the song before google searches for the snippets of lyrics I remember ("to michigan and back again") aren't helpful.
@errhode: Yes! I knew I was forgetting some other stuff. I loved that "Ode to Billie Joe" song.
Are you referring to the first song Armerding did? When he said, "Who in the audience doesn't know blah-blah?"
Yeah, that one... I don't remember the name of blah-blah either.
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