The Turning Stone showroom once again welcomed Wynonna and her band The Big Noise in a remarkable performance. Touring right before Christmas, she stopped December 21st just in time to share some Christmas tunes and personal stories of music, family, and friends with fans.
Upon arriving to the show, one automatically felt at home, as her stage was set up as though it was her Christmas living room. Wynonna is best known not only as a solo artist with numerous singles and duets, but also from her career with her mother during the 80’s as of half of the award winning duo The Judds. Her voice has a presence that makes itself known, as one of the strongest voices in country music. However her choices in music this evening represented more of her roots in the Appalachian Mountain blue grass music she grew up with. Her outgoing and comical personality shone through as she spoke to the audience of her relationships with her children, her family, and all of those she holds so dear putting them immediately at ease. Her one on conversations with members of the audience further incorporated them as part of the show and not just observers.
As she performed the most unique and perfect choices for the season, she narrated why she choose the numbers and the personal stories each number represented. In one such narration, she spoke of a conversation with a lovely lady named Priscilla who invited her to sing with her husband in a duet on his Christmas album. The well known number, digitally mastered, was the amazing rendition of “Santa Claus is Back in Town” featuring Wynonna and Elvis Presley.
Wynonna also shared her personal fears and sadness while telling the audience about the most horrific day as she witnessed her husband, Catcus Moser’s motorcycle crashed into an oncoming vehicle right in front of her. She shared her fear of not knowing if he would survive, and spoke of his prognosis once he had stabilized. Doctors told them that they would not be able to save his leg and he probably wouldn’t be able to play again. Despite what they said, Cactus stood and joined her from behind the drums. The crowd rose to a standing ovation as he showed off his new prostectic leg. You could see that he was an individual who wrote his own story in life, and he wasn’t going to allow anyone to dictate what he could or could not accomplish. Not only did he accompany her on drums, but they performed what I have to say was my favorite number of the night when they sang “Baby It’s Cold Outside”. Their musical moment shared an insight into their personal relationship as they sang and laughed as though no one else was in the room. To say it was special doesn’t quite cover the glimpse we saw at the love and friendship they share. Truly one of the best renditions ever, and an inspirational moment to all.
Wynonna is truly a country legend. With more than 20 number one singles, and numerous awards and nominations in the business one doesn’t doubt this. However, what truly rises her above the others is her strength and perseverance to remain forever true to herself and her craft. Through numerous ups and downs in her career and her life, her honesty shines through to those she performs for whether its through the lyrics of her music or the banter on stage with her bandmates and her audience. Wynonna clearly makes a big noise and take center stage for those who are lucky enough to see her show.
The Upstate New York band is a four man crew consisting of brothers Christian and Dave Parker on rhythm and lead guitar, Conner Pelkey playing bass, and Michael “Scruffy” Scriminger on drums. Dave Parker is the lead singer and songwriter of the group and his brother Christian says “Waydown Wailers wouldn’t have the same effect without my brother’s great ability to take a song and give it life.” The album was producer by Aaron Hurwitz, better known as Professor Louie of Professor Louie and the Crowmatix, veterans of Woodstock Records.
When The Chronicles took the stage at 10:30, they opened with the Stevie Wonder instrumental “Contusion”, then invited Mike Thomas, lead singer of Albany’s Funk Evolution, to join the band as the featured vocalist this evening. Channeling Stevie Wonder for the next hour, Thomas was a firebrand, raging through the uptempo “Sir Duke”, the soulful “Livin for the City”, nailing “Boogie on Reggae Woman” and mastering the wordplay of “Do I Do”. Throughout, the horn section, led by Bryan Brundige and Jeff Nania, blared in and out of each Stevie tune, adding a layer to the songs that no jamband can equal. Tyrone Hartzog sat in to sing “Bad Bad Bad” and revved up the crowd for the final songs of the night, all originals from The Chronicles. The music was spot on from all in the band and got the year of music at Red Square started on the right notes.
Catch The Chronicles January 16th when they will pay tribute to John Coltrane, January 23rd with a full show of songs by Earth Wind and Fire (with opener Cedric Burnside) and January 30th with a tribute to the music of J. Dilla.
