Music Reviews Reviews of the musical variety, concerts, CDs, DVDs. Boston Folk Festival Date: Sunday, September 14, 2003 Venue: UMass Boston; sponsored by WUMB Beautiful sunny day for an outdoor concert. This is the third Boston Folk Festival I've attended. The festival actually went from Friday night, Saturday and Sunday. I only saw the Sunday portion. One performer I missed on Saturday was Tom Rush. Oh well. You need to get there a little early to get good seating, which I did. First up at 11:00 a.m. on the main stage was "The Mercy Brothers": Michael Dinallo on guitar, along with the vocals of Barrence Whitfield. Not too familiar with these guys, although I had at least heard of Barrence Whitfield as he has been around for a while in the Boston music scene. Basically, a good set if you like the blues. Next up was Richard Shindell, the primary reason for going on Sunday. I like his songwriting, especially his "road" songs. Richard has recently moved to Brazil to live there with his wife and he played some new tunes, some of which have a South American feel as well as new road song about taxi driving. He played solo, and yes, he played one of my favorites, "Somewhere Near Paterson." Catie Curtis: wasn't that familiar with her stuff before the concert, but I liked her. Nice set Catie did. She was backed with drums and guitar. Hope to get some of her CDs soon. Don White: never heard of this guy before, but wish I had. Don White is funny! He played at the Coffeehouse Stage, sort of a big room with the coffeehouse feel to it. He told stories, mostly having to do with raising children and the family life and then played a related song. He was joined on-stage by his son for the last tune. I will be looking for Don to play in the area. Paul Brady: Paul is an Irish singer-song writer. I'd never heard of him until recently when my wife bought his recent CD, Paul Brady Songbook. The PBS of Ireland did a documentary of sorts on Paul, his history in music. He's been performing since the 60s and is very well-known "over there". His performance was enjoyable. Paul played solo on acoustic guitar. Not familiar with of his tunes, but the set was relaxing, sitting there in the late-afternoon sun. We recently picked up the DVD of the Paul Brady Songbook. Review will come of that. Emmylou Harris: I've never really been a big fan of Emmylou's. I did follow her back in the Gram Parsons days, but not in the last 10-15 years. I was expecting her to come out with a backing band, but she only had one guy, Buddy Miller, accompany her. I was expecting more the of honky-tonk Emmylou but got the folk-roots version. Oh well. Still, an enjoyable set. All in all, it was a very enjoyable afternoon. I'll be back next September.
Diana Krall Live in Paris DVD Recorded live at the Paris Olympia, December 2, 2001 Songs: Love Being Here, All or Nothing, Let's Fall In Love, The Look of Love, Maybe You'll Be There, Deed I Do, Devil May Care, Cry Me a River, Under My Skin, East of the Sun, I Get Along, Pick Yourself Up, S'Wonderful, Love Letters, I Don't Know Enough About You, Do It Again, A Case of You This is one sweet concert. Diana is accompanied by Anthony Wilson on guitar, Jeff Hamilton on drums, John Clayton on bass and also by the Paris Symphony Orchestra. She really shines when performing the old standards like, "Let's Fall in Love", "Devil May Care" and "East of the Sun". Although I'm not a big fan of her "schmaltzier" numbers like "The Look of Love", they are still very well done and the orchestral arrangements are just superb. The musicians performed very well. I was pleasantly surprised at Diana's work at the piano. Not having seen her perform live before, I was impressed at her skills. Not just a pretty face! Her final encore is a tribute to her home nation of Canada, Joni Mitchell's "A Case of You". Diana performs this solo on the piano. Very nice. Also on the DVD are two music videos: "The Look of Love" and "Let's Face the Music and Dance" and some rehearsal footage featuring "Do It Again," "The Look of Love," and "Love Letters"
Boston Folk Festival Date: September 2004 Venue: UMass Boston; sponsored by WUMB Another beautiful Sunday in September for an outdoor folk concert. This is the fourth Boston Folk Festival I've attended. The festival took place Friday night, Saturday and Sunday and I only saw the Sunday portion. I'm writing this review a few months after the fact, so some of the details are hazy. I'll give the highlights. My main draws this year were Sam Bush, David Bromberg and Lucy Kaplansky, none of whom I'd ever seen. Lucy was terrific and played a range of tunes from her repertoire. She introduced her husband and daughter at one point as Lucy told the story of her daughter's adoption from China which had some basis for "The Red Thread". David Bromberg has been playing acoustic blues since the 70s and is well-known for his renditions for blues standards and his own creations, some very humorous. It was great to finally get to see David play with his band. Over the years, I'd completely forgotten about him, but was very pleased when I was reintroduced to his music when I started doing this internet radio as a hobby and started to collect acoustic music. Sam Bush, as many of you know, has his roots in the New Grass Revival, a "progressive" acoustic bluegrass band formed in the 70s. He's a master of the mandolin and in fact has such mastery of this instrument that he's created a few mutations: one is a Mandocaster, a cross between a mandolin and a telecaster and another; another, name unknown, is a cross between a National Steel Guitar and mandolin. In any case, his set was terrific. Byron House on bass & Brad Davis on guitar. They played a few tunes from his recent CDs and older classics: Howlin at the Moon, You're Gonna Miss Me When I'm Gone, Mahavishnu Mountain Boys, Eight More Miles To Louisville are a few I remember. I missed Saturday, but wished I could have seen Tom Paxton and Dar Williams. Hopefully some other time. All in all it was a great day and I'm looking forward to 2005.