Each Sunday evening from 7-9pm you’ll find EQXposure on WEQX, featuring two hours of local music from up and coming artists, be sure to tune into WEQX this Sunday night to hear new music from Tori, ShortWave RadioBand and many more!
WEQX has long been the preeminent independent station in the Capital Region of New York, broadcasting from Southern VT to an ever-expanding listening audience. NYS Music brings you a preview of artists to discover each week, just a taste of the talent waiting to be discovered by fans like you.
Tori
Albany singer-songwriter Tori has released her debut album, Half Asleep. It more than lives up to its name, offering chill indie pop perfect for nighttime. Album opener “I Don’t Wanna Talk” functions as the project’s lead single, with a catchy acoustic guitar loop designed for replay value. Another noteworthy track is “Say Hi,” one of Half Asleep’s more energetic moments.
ShortWave RadioBand
Schuylerville trio ShortWave RadioBand have unveiled “Don’t Care,” their debut single. With its proclamation of apathy, it arrives just in time for 2021’s pop-punk revival. While there’s nothing officially announced, the band has plans to follow the song up with an EP.
Perhaps the ability for Awfultune to bare her soul, opening a portal into her everyday unapologetic reflections, has mounted her such an incredible following. She released yet another hit “soda” just this past week. Collecting more than 240 million global streams, it might just surprise you that not only is Layla Eden just 22 years old, but she produces and releases her music independently from her laptop in Upstate New York.
Since graduating from bedroom pop, “soda” whispers with many genres or as Awfultune puts it “Got me in a box and I’m finally breaking out”. Pulling us into a punk groove complimenting her chilling harmonies Awfultune instills us with the confidence to battle any demon in our lives, especially our own. The compelling composition delves into the confidence of breaking free and gaining control.
From 2018 the raconteur, songwriter, storyteller and vocalist has decided to open up to her audience. Eden does not restrain herself in any of her pieces, openly unveiling her narrative of gender re-identification. Her tranquility and peace with finally finding herself often spills into her lyrics like “I’m not shy anymore” and “I don’t hide anymore”.
The song is all about stepping into your power again and embracing where it will take you. The culmination of this journey will transpire with my album coming in the late spring. The album will be a visual representation of where I started and where I’ve finally gotten to, not just in my music, but in my own self
Awfultune
Layla invites us on her journey and has been openly documenting herself through Instagram. In the next year, she will be producing a mini-documentary following her journey. Known for becoming an austere champion of the LGBTQ+ community while advocating for those who’ve simply ever felt alone or estranged from themselves, Awfultune creates anthems to live unapologetically.
Steely Dan Closed their 2021 Absolutely Normal American Tour at the Syracuse Landmark Theater on Tuesday November 23. The fully renovated Landmark has reached its peak performance potential after this year’s final renovations of the seats and the legendary marquee that has been on Salina St since 1928.
Walter Becker and Donald Fagen’s musical concepts they first drafted up together in Brooklyn in 1968 still hits in today’s music world. Donald and Walter received honorary Berklee Degrees, four Grammy Awards and inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001
Steely Dan always brought the highest quality caliber of musicians to work on their catalog in the studio throughout the years. The musicians on the Landmark Theater stage were part of the unbroken chain of greats to contribute their voice on this music. Ana Popovic covered Steely Dan’s Night by Night at Homer Center for the Arts last month.
The band now boasts another all-star lineup: it includes Keith Carlock on drums; “Ready” Freddie Washington on bass; Jim Beard, keyboards; Jon Herington, guitar; Walt Weiskopf and Roger Rosenberg, saxes; Michael Leonhart, trumpet; Jim Pugh, trombone; and vocalists Carolyn Leonhart, Catherine Russell, LaTanya Hall and Cindy Mizelle.
The group just released Northeast Corridor celebrating their first live album since 1995. From the comfortable corridor of Rochester, NY drummer Steve Gadd was able to contribute on the iconic studio recording for the title track off “Aja” in 1977.
Fagen revealed that the song was inspired by a relative of someone he knew, who married a Korean woman by the name of Aja. He explained that the song was about the “tranquillity that can come of a quiet relationship with a beautiful woman.” When asked to play drums on this song Gadd was instructed “to play like hell”. He certainly did set the tone for any Drummer to take it on a live stage over the years. The song is a jazz fusion masterpiece and completely killed on the Landmark stage.
The Syracuse crowd got a funk composition tale about an old San Francisco audio artist and LSD chemist named Owsley Stanley. Becker and Fagen named him and the track “Kid Charlemagne” off their heavily illustrated Royal Scam Album. The life of Owsley was worth noting musically as he created the Grateful Dead’s infamous “Wall of Sound” for a tour of the world and supplied the Beatles with LSD during their Magical Mystery Tour recording. Nicknamed “Bear” you can still see his art spirit as the legendary “Dancing Bear” of The Grateful Dead brand. Peg…it will come back to you. you see it all in 3-D, its your favorite foreign movie
Reeling in all the years of this musics catalog was celebrated during the encore. Before playing the classic Fagen dedicated the song to the Landmarks newest legend. Not the Ghost of Clarissa who is said to be seen in the balcony but of a naked man who was found living inside the theater’s walls last month. “Did you hear about that? this song goes out to that guy” He thanked all of their legendary crew and stagehand that were part of the tour closing show in Syracuse. How appropriate for Donald to sing ahead of the holiday week… When Black Friday comes I’m gonna dig myself a hole, gonna lay down in it , Til I satisfy my soul.
Walter Becker, Donald Fagen
Donald Fagen has taken on a Ray Charles glow behind his shades in front of the piano still playing off this musical concept he founded in Brooklyn with Becker. Music to be played improvisational and in the moment on any given night. Donald told Variety magazine this year about his old band mate Walter Becker and their work…When Walter and I were together, I think there was something more journalistic.
Steely Dan – Landmark Theater, Syracuse New York – November 23, 2021 (Tour Finale)
Setlist: Phantom Riders, Night by Night, Hey Nineteen, Black Friday, Aja, Kid Charlemagne, FM, Time Out of My Mind, The Goodbye Look, Home at last, Dirty Work, Crusaders, Josie, Peg, Bodhisivattah, Encore: Reelin in the Years, A Man Aint supposed to Cry
Irish Arts Center has announced the opening of their new building with Camille O’Sullivan’s “Where Are We Now?” on December 4, 2021.
Photo by Mac Smith
Irish Arts Center (IAC), which was founded in 1972, is based in New York City and is known for presenting dynamic, inspiring, collaborative experiences of the evolving arts and culture of Ireland and Irish America in an environment of warm Irish hospitality. The new center will be opening its doors to its long-heralded new home, a 21,700 square foot hub for the arts at 726 11th Avenue, with a monumental inaugural season of programming. The season of programming will run from December 4, 2021 to December of 2022.
Irish Arts Center Executive Director Aidan Connolly spoke on the new building saying, “The new Irish Arts Center is a dream realized and a tribute to the broad coalition of people in New York and Ireland who have brought it to life, at a time when we so eagerly need a place to come together with inspiration and hope. But it’s only the beginning. Our opening season is a statement of promise and possibility. We invite artists and audiences of all backgrounds to see themselves in this welcoming new home.”
Photo by Mac Smith
The new building was designed by New York-based architects Davis Brody Bond who is known for his work on the National September 11 Museum and The Ronald O. Perelman Performing Arts Center. Davis Brody Bond designed the building with consultation and support from Ireland’s Office of Public Works, the new Irish Arts Center is an historic collaboration between the people of Ireland and New York, signifying a new era in the cultural life of the global Irish diaspora, and providing an important new canvas for the development and presentation of the performing arts in New York City.
Irish Arts Center has operated for decades within New York’s Off-Off Broadway theatre landscape from the humble three-story tenement at 553 West 51st Street in Hell’s Kitchen originally. As part of the evolution of the neighborhood, in 2006 the organization was given an opportunity to potentially acquire the site of Cybert Tire, on a city-owned property on 11th Avenue, adjacent to Irish Arts Center’s current home. From this, the Irish Arts Center undertook an ambitious transformation into a vital, inclusive multidisciplinary institution deeply integrated into the cultural ecosystems of Ireland and New York.
Back in 2020, when construction was in the works COVID-19 struck and construction of the long-awaited landmark’s new facility was forced to pause with the rest of the world. Luckily with the support of its board, staff, and project team, government partners, and community of stakeholders, Irish Arts Center rose to the tumultuous moment of the pandemic, and its ensuing shutdown of construction and the arts in New York, with grace and grit. The Center’s staff, teachers, and artists quickly adapted its approximately 40 classes-per-season and multidisciplinary program to an online format like many other institutions.
Online classes and programs provided modes of engagement and joy from home, and commissioned a groundbreaking series of new works—Grásta: Grace in Uncertainty—to be experienced virtually, reaching more than 400,000 people in 49 states and 123 countries. The building was able to resume construction in July of 2020 and the building was completed within its $60MM budget, ensuring the successful opening of a magnificent new cultural amenity for New Yorkers, as the cultural soul of Ireland and New York is restored and enlivened with the receding of the pandemic.
The premiere event for the inaugural season is Camille O’Sullivan’s “Where Are We Now?” Which will be running December 4, 2021-December 31, 2021. The building will be officially opening on December 8. Camille O’Sullivan captures the madness of our world, and the redemption in our coming together again, with an unforgettable musical and emotional journey to mark this extraordinary moment.
Backed by a world-class ensemble of musicians, including longtime collaborator Feargal Murray on piano, Camille’s rhapsodic interpretations of an eclectic assembly of songs from iconic New York and Irish songwriters asks—as we turn the page on a new chapter—Where Are We Now?
For more information on the Irish Arts Center and it’s upcoming season visit its website here.
Syracuse, New York is a comfortable corridor of the state to spend the holidays. Dewitt native Jon Fishman told his satellite radio audience during “The Errant Path”s 63rd episode about featured artist Yma Sumac. Before Yma’s airplay Fishman said “we’re gonna do a couple of her songs back to back through out the show. Like a Rock Block of Yma Sumac music. When I would listen to 95X as a kid they would have these great rock blocks. That’s what your gonna get”
Like Lou Reed who did more than just hear a New York station and play some Rock & Roll… Reed was also a host at a Syracuse University radio station that dropped him because he was “just too weird and cutting edge”. In similar fashion Fishman’s show is also educational. He informed that Yma Sumac could possibly have the widest vocal range of all time. The Peruvian Soprano could span four and a half octaves. Fishman is accurate in picturing her work inside a Quintin Tarantino movie.
The errant path has a buzz. It has an Airheads quality to it. It’s even had interviews with Funkadelic’s Bootsy Collins and Steve Cropper of Stax Records. Fishman also has intuition for the trails different paths under the moon. On his August 18 “Errant Path” episode, Fishman closed the show for all of us on tour sleeping under strange skies with “Moonlight Mile” by the Stones. He then commented ”For me the sound and feel of Charlie Watts will never get old. I just love that guys drumming. It stands up no matter what’s before it or after.” This episode was out in orbit a week prior to Charlie Watts giving up his ghost. After his first tour with The Rolling Stones drummer Steve Jordan told Rolling Stone that “Moonlight Mile” was played a lot during rehearsals and that he is still lobbying to play that live if there are more shows in the future.
Fishman gave a great B side nod to The Band the night before Thanksgiving that holds “The Last Waltz” in mind for all out on the town. From their 1999 Tangled up in Blues album with a young Derek Trucks playing rip snorting slide guitar on Bob Dylan’s “One Too Many Mornings.”
Jon Fishman said that Thanksgiving and Valentines Day are his two favorite holidays. “What two things are better than love and being Grateful?” “Halloween is a good one too because it’s fun. That’s also important”
Fishman’s goal during each Errant path episode is to hopefully provide all three. He paid tribute to his own musical journey on air and live from the great Bob Marley’s words… we come to conquer all of the evil in the world using nothing but music. Fishman said “I think that’s pretty much the best intent that you can have from a musical perspective”
Bob Marley told the Landmark Theater in Syracuse in 1978 “Reggae Music is like the news, it’s the peoples music. Herb is the healing of the nation right?” Fish attended a King Crimson Show at the Landmark during his years in Syracuse. On October 5 2001, Jon Fishman had Merl Saunders and his Funky Friends, Col. Bruce Hampton and the Code Talkers, and Sand Bear play the Landmark as a tribute to his mother, philanthropist and longtime Syracuse artist MimiFishman.
Mimi Fishman Art, Eggplant Diner Syracuse
Jon & Merl treated the crowd to an improvisational jazz jam that launched in to a Latin flavored rendition of “Fire on The Mountain”. Like Woodstock’s Levon, Cuse’s Fish led the whole cast through “The Weight” and “Turn on your Love Light” with Colonel Bruce Hampton. Steely Dan just closed theirAbsolutely Normal Tour at Landmark on Tuesday night. David Byrne brought his American Utopia to Landmark in September 2018. Ringo Starr had his All Star Band to Landmark in 2000. The Rolling Stones spent Thanksgiving in Syracuse in 1981 performing two shows at the Dome over the holidays.
Artists such as Alan Evans from Buffalo, Steve Gadd from Rochester and Jon Fishman from Syracuse are part of a rock block of Upstate New York drummers. They link off that unbroken chain of groove that keeps inspiring the young cats. Fish definitely locked in to the rhythm of the saints on his nine piece kit trailing off Cyro Baptista’s bells and whistles at Radio City on October 3 4 2021. Remember at Dinosaur BBQ when he told the table that his groove on Phish’s Fee was influenced by Sade’s Smooth Operator? Don’t doubt me. Enjoy Phish’s Dinner and a Movie for left over Clifford Ball footage all weekend. Fish & Phish return live to Madison Square Garden December 29 through New Years Day. Fish gets down with New Orleans cats George Porter Jr and legendary percussionist Cyril Neville on some Dead tunes in March 2022 in Maine.
Coming fresh off the heels of a Halloween show at Stephen Talk House in the Hamptons, Samantha Fish brought her band to Homer Center for the Arts in Homer, New York on November 3. They laid down some voodoo, bulletproof blues to the 150 year old brick Baptist venue with the center stage having taken on a Jimi Hendrix “Electric Church” vibe this season.
This past Summer Fish performed a festival with Eric Gales who just played the Center in October. Alongside Gales and fellow blues disciples Robert Cray, Ana Popovic, and Kingfish who played the night before her at the Electric Church this season. Fish covered new material from her 12th official album release Faster. She spoke to NYS music about her journey of playing New York State over the years. This tour included stops in Brooklyn, Amagansett, Buffalo, Homer, and Albany.
Samantha Fish spoke with Matthew Romano of NYS Music about her thoughts on performing across New York State:
I remember we did the Dinosaur BBQ circuit for a while. It was always fun, the food was so killer, and the room so intimate. It took on a Groundhog day like vibe after a while there because it always so great. We got the run of the gamut from Buffalo down to these towns like Homer all the way to New York City.
My memories of playing Manhattan always stick out. I remember how special it was playing The Cutting Room for the first time. A different energy around those days, with that pressure of getting through the city and to the gig on time. Ya know that New York expectation after the ticket to the show is bought…OK I have to win Ya’ll over now but it keeps you on your toes. I love playing New York.
We have great people out this way. Its more or less about the people…they travel from all over to see us. This is my third time playing here at Homer Center for the Arts. What I love about this venue is that it is a listening room. The audience gets quiet at the right times and really can feel the music the way we do. A place like this tonight is a warm welcome from start to finish.
The eighteen-song set featured Samantha killing the slide on the legendary cigar box guitar. A similar style model Paul McCartney slid on “Cut Me Some Slack” at Madison Square Garden with Nirvana on December 12, 2012. “Bulletproof” off her Kill or Be Kind record kicked some 12 bar blues to close the show out…You got me trained to sit on a stage Not show my rage for you You got my love, it’s not enough I need to prove it to you.
Fish invited Jonathon Long out for the encore for a spin of a 1937 delta blues song “Shake Em on Down” by Bukka White. The same year this song was released the cigar box guitar had a resurgence and was heavily played in the jug band and delta blues scene circuit. A much needed source of entertainment in trying times. In true jug band fashion fashion Long used the Homer stage mic as a slide to accent Fish’s guitar to help close the evening out. If you caught a glimpse of the Center’s stained glass windows fogged up at the end of the night you know why. Catch Fish before she heads across the pond to Europe in 2022.
Samantha Fish – Homer Center for the Arts, Homer, NY – November 3rd 2021
Setlist: Loud, All Ice No Whiskey, Twisted Ambition, Chills and Fever, Forever Together, Highway, Hypnotic, Better Be Lonely, Kill or Be Kind, Watch it Die, Solo acoustic X2, Go Home, Bitch on the Run, So Called Lover, Faster, Dreamgirl, Bulletproof
Fresh off the heels of another legendary Halloween performance in Vegas and two iconic shows in Hampton, Phish rolled into Albany for the second to last stop on their legendary Fall 1998 tour. It sees the band at the height of its powers, mixing in new, fresh material to go alongside a bevvy of cover songs that have been unearthed this year. With a rare one-night only appearance in Albany, Phish lets it all hang out in a show that often gets overlooked, but certainly shouldn’t be.
Tonight’s festivities begin with the signature guitar intro to “Punch You In The Eye,” which receives a giant roar of approval from the Pepsi Center. Page McConnell shines early with some stellar runs on both the electric keys and grand piano as the Gamehendge-adjacent number revs up an already rabid arena even further. At its conclusion, another familiar guitar riff emerges. This time it’s the bluesy intro to “My Soul,” a cover song Phish first started injecting into their live shows the year before. McConnell again dazzles with a ferocious piano solo before handing off to Trey Anastasio who returns the favor in kind and then some on guitar. Phish then eases off the gas pedal a bit with another new number, “Roggae,” one of the tracks from The Story Of The Ghost which was released just last month.
The musical setting then shifts back to Gamehendge with “AC/DC Bag.” Anastasio again takes the reigns on a patiently developing jam that gets plenty of noticeable assistance from Mike Gordon on bass and drives the crowd into a certified frenzy by the end. McConnell has a little fun on piano as well, stretching out the ending until Phish changes lanes once more and jumps into the increasingly rare “Lifeboy.”
Afterwards, Jon Fishman’s familiar hi-hat drumming signals the introduction to “David Bowie,” which is stretched out and teased beautifully before being cleared for launch. Phish then absolutely obliterates the song’s composed section, playing at a near manic pace, before embarking on a jam that serves as one of the show’s true highlights. It’s patiently crafted, with Anastasio and McConnell parrying back and forth early and often. As the jam continues to build in intensity, Phish does the same with the ending, stretching it out for all its worth to complete a 19-minute journey that blows the roof off the Albany arena.
Few would complain if the first set ended right there, but instead the band throws out one more change of pace pairing. Trey jumps on acoustic guitar for only the sixth ever “Sleep,” a song first debuted earlier this tour, and “Driver,” both songs that would be included on the band’s forthcoming 2000 release Farmhouse. To cap things off, Phish throws in a cover of Led Zepelin’s “Good Times, Bad Times,” with another incendiary guitar solo from Anastasio escorting the Albany faithful to set break.
After a little spacey ambiance, another familiar Fishman drum beat starts up set two. This time it’s “Also Sprach Zarathustra,” aka the theme to Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. Again, Phish takes their time in slowly building up the song’s introduction, going well past five minutes before the first signature guitar lick rings out. The jam that ensues is flavored by some tremendous Mike Gordon bass play before coming to a rousing finish. “Golgi Apparatus” serves as another throwback song to the days of yore and goes off without a hitch before they get into another jam vehicle, this time a cover of The Who’s “Drowned.”
As another whirlwind musical excursion slowly comes to an end, Anastasio quietly starts the beginning of “Prince Caspian” and the rest of the band quickly follows along. After another stout feedback-heavy guitar solo, the music comes to a crawl and then “Piper” emerges, with it’s now “classic” slow build which fits in perfectly with the show tonight. The slow build yields another manic jam, with McConnell furiously pounding away on the baby grand piano. With the Albany crowd once again supercharged, Phish then drops a “You Enjoy Myself” on them in what’s already a full second set of music.
The closing sequence for this show is straight out of 1998 and not one to be duplicated anytime soon. As “YEM” and its customarily eerie vocal jam concludes, instead of taking a bow, Phish bursts into “Been Caught Stealing,” the Jane’s Addiction song that made its debut earlier in year during the “Summer of Covers.” Until a certified bust out at Walnut Creek in 2011, this was the last one played. A rip roaring “Llama” then closes out the second set in fine fashion. For the encore, Phish breaks out yet another cover selection, this time its The Beatles’ “Something,” penned by George Harrison and covered by Phish only on this Fall 1998 tour. To date, it’s the last time it’s ever been performed. “Guyute,” another pick from the recently released Ghost, follows this before an a capella “Free Bird,” as only Phish can do, closes out yet another sterling Albany gig.
Listen to show at PhishTracks or see complete audio recording below.
Phish Pepsi Center – Albany, NY 11/25/98
Set 1: Punch You In The Eye > My Soul, Roggae, AC/DC Bag > Lifeboy, David Bowie, Sleep, Driver, Good Times Bad Times
Set 2: Also Sprach Zarathustra > Golgi Apparatus, Drowned->Prince Caspian > Piper, You Enjoy Myself, Been Caught Stealing > Llama
Tucked away in the quaint Massachusetts town of Great Barrington stands an old church. The site would be unremarkable had it not been for the events that unfolded there beginning Thanksgiving 1965. At that time, the church belonged to Alice and Ray Brock, who invited some friends over for the holiday. Amongst the guests was their former student, Arlo Guthrie.
What started as a benevolent offer to take out the trash led to an incredulous turn of events, which ultimately resulted in Guthrie being deemed ineligible for the Vietnam War draft. Guthrie captured the story in the 20-minute long satirical folk song “Alice’s Restaurant Masacree.” The saga struck a chord with the anti-war counterculture, propelling Guthrie into the spotlight and solidifying his path as a career musician.
Arlo Guthrie “Back By Popular Demand” Tour – photo by Mickey Deneher
Within two years, Guthrie had recorded the song as Side A of his debut album, closed out the Newport Folk Festival, and played Carnegie Hall.
“My life went from being your average small club circuit performer to someone playing theaters and stadiums almost overnight,” Guthrie told NYS Music. “At least it seemed that way to me, although it probably took a couple of years.”
The song also inspired a feature-length movie, back in a day when few musicians were afforded such an opportunity. “Alice’s Restaurant” starred Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Officer Obie, and the judge playing themselves, with Alice Brock in a cameo role. Even though the story was partially fictionalized, it was filmed in and around the places where the actual events took place.
“Arthur Penn (who had just finished filming Bonnie & Clyde) heard the record when it came out in 1967,” recalled Guthrie. “He also happened to live in Stockbridge, where the events took place. He thought it would be a great idea to make it into a movie. And he did.”
photo by Mickey Deneher
Fifty years later, the church still stands. Guthrie purchased the property in 1991 and turned it into a community center. There’s been plenty of work to do on the historic building, which has been standing nearly two hundred years.
“Not only have we been steadily restoring it, but we actually re-consecrated it as a church (ours is an inter-faith church and an educational organization). So we continue to have services as one would expect.”
In addition to spiritual services, visitors of the The Guthrie Center at Old Trinity Church can also partake in cultural events and contribute to humanitarian efforts.
About these events, Guthrie said, “Some are seasonal, and others run all year long. Our Troubadour music series runs throughout the summer. There are a number of special yearly events – an annual walk-a-thon that helps people and families dealing with Huntington’s Disease, an annual Thanksgiving Dinner That Can’t Be Beat (we have free lunches once a week all year long, but Thanksgiving is special).”
photo by Mickey Deneher
In addition to restoring and contributing to the operations at the church, Guthrie continues to perform. His father, Woody Guthrie, always dreamed of having a family band to take on tour. Arlo Guthrie was able to bring this dream to fruition. His children, Abe and Sarah Lee Guthrie, and several other family members have become professional musicians. The Guthrie family is halfway through their Re: Generation Tour. Guthrie and several members of the family will be sharing the stage at Carnegie Hall on Saturday, November 25 for the annual Thanksgiving concert. This year commemorates fifty years since Guthrie’s Carnegie debut.
Another holiday tradition is for radio stations across the nation to play “Alice’s Restaurant” on Thanksgiving Day. Although Guthrie has stated in interviews that he doesn’t listen to the song on Thanksgiving, he does gather with friends and family to give thanks.
“I am especially grateful for the friends I’ve walked this earth with,” said Guthrie. “Many are now gone, and some remain. I’m grateful to have met them all especially my wife, Jackie who left us in 2012. There’s new friends to make and places yet to visit. If I’m around long enough I’ll do that too.”
Joanne Shenandoah, a native of the Oneida Indian Nation who became a world-renowned singer and peace activist, has died at age 63, as reported by the Native American Music Awards & Association (NAMA).
Shenandoah passed away late in the evening of Monday, November 22nd at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona, following complications of abdominal bleeding and suffering a cardiac arrest. She was surrounded by her husband, Doug George-Kanentiio and daughter Leah.
A member of the Wolf Clan of the Oneida Nation, of the Haudenosaunee Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy, Shenandoah was the most critically acclaimed and honored Native American singer since her debut recording in 1989. She went on to record a total of 15 albums with numerous more collaborations, won numerous awards, including 14 Native American Music Awards, the most ever awarded to a singular artist, and a GRAMMY for her contribution on Sacred Ground: A Tribute to Mother Earth. Among her NAMA awards are Best Children’s Recording, Best Traditional Recording, Best Music Video, Best Producer, as well as multiple awards for Best Female Artist, New Age Recording, Best Compilation, Artist of the Year, and Best Compilation.
Shenandoah also earned two Grammy nominations for her albums, Covenant and Peacemaker’s Journey, an Emmy nomination for the PBS special “Native America,” was inducted into the Syracuse Area Hall of Fame, and received an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Syracuse University in 2002. Shenandoah was also an original board member of the Hiawatha Institute for Indigenous Knowledge, which operates in partnership with Syracuse University.
Just this year, Joanne released her last full length recording entitled, Oh Shenandoah, a 12 track recording featuring a collection of country infused songs along with a poignant dedication to Missing Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW), “Missing You.” Joanne, with her daughter Leah and sister Diane, delivered an emotive and moving live performance with “Missing You” at her final appearance at the 19th Annual Native American Music Awards.
Over her five decade plus career, whether performing solo or with her musical trio featuring her daughter Leah and sister Diane, Joanne has graced the stages at The White House, Carnegie Hall, Presidential Inaugurations, Madison Square Garden, The Smithsonian, Woodstock ’94 and participated in the celebration of the canonization of Kateri Tekakwitha, the first Roman Catholic Native American saint in Rome, Italy. As a humanitarian and peace advocate, Joanne met and performed for such noted leaders such as his Holiness the Dali Lama, and Nelson Mandela.
Joanne’s beautiful embellishing voice, strong Iroquois traditions, unequivocal elegance and courteous grace made her a prominent role model and highly respected musical Matriarch among Native American communities as well as the mainstream music community at large. She sang with deep roots from her ancestors and flawlessly incorporated her oral traditions into contemporary Folk, Country and Americana formats. She captured the hearts of audiences all over the world and always took time to encourage and inspire younger musicians in her travels. Joanne Shenandoah made an incredible impact on this earth and has paved paths for so many.
Joanne leaves behind her husband Doug, daughter Leah, grandson Kieren Ryder, sisters Diane and Vicky and numerous nieces and nephews.
At first listen, you might classify the forward-moving, walking-pace energy of “Living for the City” within the same hustle-and-bustle, working-man category occupied by “Takin’ Care of Business,” and songs of the like. But take a deeper dive and you’ll find that the content of Stevie Wonder’s 1973 single paints a far deeper portrait of life in New York City—one that is still intensely relevant in conversations today regarding race, income, and opportunity.
“Living for the City” came as a single from 1973’s Innervisions, an album that’s considered one of Wonder’s best displays of virtuosity—composing and playing every main instrument on a majority of the tracks. Innervisions followed 1972’s Talking Book (which included the likes of “Superstition”) and featured diverse styles and themes, along with classics like “Higher Ground.” Though perhaps none of the songs on Innervisions are as surgically insightful or keep a finger closer on the pulse of society than “Living for the City.”
The song reflects “a snapshot of a certain part of the reality of life,” as Wonder explained to Barney Hoskyns in a 2005 interview for Uncut. Particularly—reality as a black American. The lyrics tell the story of siblings growing up in Mississippi with parents who supply plenty of affection, but can’t fully shield the children from the harsh realities of life. All the while, there’s a dream of an easier, more financially stable life in the big city.
His father works some days for fourteen hours And you can bet, he barely makes a dollar His mother goes to scrub the floors for many And you’d best believe, she hardly gets a penny Living just enough, just enough for the city
As a young child—a child of color in this case—one can only imagine the harrowing, and sobering, experience of watching your parents toil away day after day just to stay poor. Wonder paints this vignette detailing each sibling’s experience, from the girl having to walk far to school repeating the same outfit each day, and the boy growing up smart but with little prospects for a higher pay job, because “where he lives they don’t use colored people.”
Enter “The City.” Living in the city is the answer. The Big Apple is a place where anyone can take a bite and enjoy the opportunity available—or so they thought. “Living in the City” is an ambitious song, and sets the tone for the entire album—mostly due to a spoken word portion in the full record version that shows us what happens when the boy decides to follow his dream to the big city.
In this section, having just gotten to the city and being ready to put his smarts to good use, he’s preyed upon by a criminal who sets him up. He’s given 10 years in jail, with no sympathy from the justice system or the police. Re-reading the lyrics of this section is no easy task. It’s difficult to realize that, in many ways, we are having the same conversation as a society today as Wonder penned nearly 50 years ago.
Afterward, the once-hopeful country boy is seen as a product of the “big city” justice system, spending his days “walking the streets of New York City” and “almost dead from breathing in air pollution.” The question becomes: was he better off staying poor and not coming to the city at all? It’s not a question that’s answered in the content of the song, but it’s certainly one that is posed to the audience. Wonder makes an even bigger statement with the last verse:
I hope you hear inside my voice of sorrow And that it motivates you to make a better tomorrow This place is cruel, nowhere could be much colder If we don’t change, the world will soon be over Living just enough, stop giving just enough for the city
It’s a plea to change the circumstances that affected the characters of the song; the circumstances that make the song more fact than fiction. Here, Wonder addresses the systemic nature of discrimination as he addresses the world, not only the individuals. It’s a tale that’s, unfortunately, as old as time. But, if there’s any consolation, it’s that messages of motivation go further today and affect more people than they ever have. Perhaps, if revisited sometime in the near future, Stevie might be inspired to write a slightly different ending to the song.
“Living for the City” Lyrics
A boy is born in hard time Mississippi Surrounded by four walls that ain’t so pretty His parents give him love and affection To keep him strong moving in the right direction Living just enough, just enough for the city…ee ha!
His father works some days for fourteen hours And you can bet he barely makes a dollar His mother goes to scrub the floor for many And you’d best believe she hardly gets a penny Living just enough, just enough for the city
His sister’s black but she is sho ’nuff pretty Her skirt is short but Lord her legs are sturdy To walk to school she’s got to get up early Her clothes are old but never are they dirty Living just enough, just enough for the city
Her brother’s smart he’s got more sense than many His patience’s long but soon he won’t have any To find a job is like a haystack needle Cause where he lives they don’t use colored people Living just enough, just enough for the city. Living just enough… For the city…ooh,ooh
His hair is long, his feet are hard and gritty He spends his life walking the streets of New York City He’s almost dead from breathing in air pollution He tried to vote but to him there’s no solution Living just enough, just enough for the city…yeah, yeah, yeah!
I hope you hear inside my voice of sorrow And that it motivates you to make a better tomorrow This place is cruel no where could be much colder If we don’t change the world will soon be over Living just enough, just enough for the city!
