{"id":695,"date":"2017-10-09T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-10-09T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.nysmusic.com\/2017\/2017\/10\/09\/amy-helm-pays-tribute-to-petty-in-rochester\/"},"modified":"2017-10-09T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2017-10-09T00:00:00","slug":"amy-helm-pays-tribute-to-petty-in-rochester","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.nysmusic.com\/2017\/2017\/10\/09\/amy-helm-pays-tribute-to-petty-in-rochester\/","title":{"rendered":"Amy Helm Pays Tribute to Petty in Rochester"},"content":{"rendered":"

Friday October 6 at Funk n Waffles Music Hall in Rochester started with one voice and one guitar, as Woodstock’s Connor Kennedy took the stage to warm up the stage for Amy Helm<\/a>. He would end the night, as part of Helm’s band, on a two-neck guitar.\u00a0Three and four-part harmonies would be the centerpiece of Helm’s set, which culminated with\u00a0five songs by Tom Petty songs as a part of a six-song encore. One two three four five six… though Amy Helm and band put on a show that was anything but paint-by-numbers.\"\"<\/p>\n

\"AmyKennedy<\/a> highlighted his emotive country-ready voice in a short set of fresh original folk tunes. He was appropriately decked out in denim head to toe, though he admitted a “clerical error” in not wearing his Nick Tahoe’s tee. During “Down by the Water” a voice emerged from the audience, in perfect harmony. Amy Helm<\/a>, enjoying the set from the crowd, decided to sing along, beautifully “sitting in” without taking the stage. His set ended with him seated at the Rhodes, to play the title track off of his excellent just-released album, Somewhere<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Helm’s set started with a small hiccup, as Kennedy had some guitar amplification issues. The rest of the band soldiered on, extending the beginning of “Didn’t It Rain” into a funky little jam, complete with improvised vocals. They funked, but didn’t waffle. As soon as the guitar was ready, the band immediately clicked into the song proper, as if it was part of the plan all along. The rest of the set went on without a hitch, mixing and matching genres like soul, R&B, roots, country, funk and blues. “Rescue Me” took on a southern rock feel and “Cotton and the Cane,” a new song co-written with Mary Gauthier,\u00a0 showed more twang, but the band’s incredible harmonies were present throughout. They mixed in two great ones from the late great Alan Toussaint, “Yes We Can Can” and “Freedom for the Stallion,” both times Helm remarked how relevant the lyrics still were in our current time. The set closed with a searing rendition of Bob Dylan’s “Meet Me in the Morning,” which opened with some thumping bass from Ted Pecchio, closed with a rollicking solo from Sean Dickson on drums, and was pure fire in between.<\/p>\n