Tag: Dan Smalls Presents

Valerie June, Rachel Davis, Yasmin Williams, and Thao Share Songs in Buffalo

Buffalo was abuzz, the Bills were home for a big Monday night matchup against the visiting Denver Broncos. But there was another bill that held more sway for those gathered inside Asbury Hall. Valerie June, Rachel Davis, Yasmin Williams, and Thao combined forces examining the current and past state of folk through a female lens. It was Monday Night Folk-for-all.

Not oblivious to the world around them, with a nod and a wink, the foursome arrived on stage to the sounds of “The Final Countdown.” It was a last minute audible that would have hit more on the nose had they been able to conjure up their intended walk out music: the Monday Night Football theme song. But it was clear from the get-go they were in a playful mood and having a great time. Coming from a day off in Cleveland, they were rested and raring to go.

The group first got together for a special panel at the Ann Arbor Folk Festival. They enjoyed it so much that they put together this very special little tour which the folk-over-football Buffalonians were lucky enough to witness. Sitting in a row on the stage, they shared their songs in a Nashville-style round.

Valerie June started the show off with her unique blend of soul and folk, with a flashy green dress and her signature head of dreads. She’s colorful through and through and lights up the room with just her presence, but her bright smile, wonderful voice and incredible songs certainly don’t hurt. Rachel Davis followed, flexing her own vocal range going a capella with Sally Rogers’ “Circle of the Sun.” Yasmin Williams went in the opposite direction, playing her instrumental “Cliff Walk” with stunning finger picked and tapped guitar. Thao concluded the first round with “Kindness Be Conceived,” a song from her indie-rock band, Thao and the Get Down Stay Down. She strapped on her electric guitar and was joined with some light percussion and hand claps form the others. Each woman brought their own perspective and sound. It was like four concerts in one. And around and around they went.

As folks songs tend to do, their songs often told stories. But the format of the concert provided the artists to open up with some of the stories behind and around the songs and instruments they played. Davis’ was playing the banjo that her dad used to teach her which he also learned to play on. He ended up gifting it to her when she first left the shores of Lake Michigan for Boston, and the sound of it reminded her of home.

Williams’ unique lap-style and finger tapping guitar style was something she developed from mastering Guitar Hero using a similar technique. The game inspired her to learn guitar for real, but she quickly bored of her lessons and taught herself instead. The results are her precise and uniquely-styled playing. Some of the stories only went back as far as the night before, and apparently Williams used her precision for some bowling hijinks on their night off in Cleveland. [details redacted]

The audience was also regaled with stories of June’s childhood home, so far away from any neighbors that she had a habit of showering naked in the rain. So her “Rain Dance” is not just a song but a part of her childhood. Thao introduced “Temple” with the story behind the lyrics. She took her mother on a trip home to Vietnam and it brought out a side of her she had never seen. The song’s lyrics, written from her mother’s perspective, touched deeper with the backstory in hand.

The group also joined forces to make music magic. In a unexpected twist, they played three minutes of improvisation, June and Davis humming, Williams on mbira, and Thao on her guitar. It was a bold choice that not only worked out brilliantly, but broke up the song-circle perfectly.

The show closed with them once again playing together, more traditionally, on a cover of “Shady Grove,” each lady taking a verse. The audience of course wouldn’t let such a special concert end in regulation, so they cheered them on for a little overtime. Another brilliant cover ensued as they tackled “I Shall Be Released” before bringing back in a little more heartfelt humor with a quick victory lap of “Thank You For Being A Friend.” And the best part of all, for this bill, everyone was a winner.

November 16, 2023
Spiritualized Mesmerized Buffalo

Souls filled the pews and chairs inside Asbury Hall, a cavernous old church in Buffalo, on Tuesday. Dim light from an overcast nighttime sky peaked through stories-tall stained glass windows. A group, called Spiritualized, was in town to bless the enlightened with sounds from the beyond. A three-woman choir, decked out in flowing white blouses, joined in with joyous singing. The attendees clapped, cheered, sang along and raised their arms in praise. But this was no religious gathering. Rather it was a rock concert, and a devilishly good one at that.

Spiritualized, a 30-plus year-old band out of England, was on the second night of a short week-long stint in the US. There was no opener, no stage banter, almost no dead air at all, just over two hours of glorious music. Bandleader Jason Pierce situated himself on the right side of the stage, seated sideways facing his bandmates. And they were fully engaged from the start.

A spacey noise drifted gently into weightlessness, building repetitively to a crescendo and fizzling back down again in a near ten-minute “Hey Jane” that set the scene for the rest of the evening. Against a starfield backdrop, and with a mirrorball continually sending dots of light orbiting across the stone walls, we were set to explore, not the heavens, but the cosmos. And what more appropriate guide then Pierce, who is also known as J. Spaceman.

“She Kissed Me (It Felt Like a Hit)” blasted into high gear with frantic drumming, manic bass and wailing guitars. That slammed head first into the gorgeous slide guitar and organ swells of “Shine a Light,” which built up to an exultant chorus from the backup singers. Praise be! “I’m Coming Home Again” immediately followed, peeling back layers of rock exposing a quiet and gorgeous interplay of guitar, piano and bass.

With little to no pause between songs, the journey continued on through the night. The band would push, pull and stretch the tempo, between songs and within, creating time vortexes. Strobing lights hitting the mirrorball appeared to slow down time altogether as a hyper synth drone sizzled to silence to close out an intense wall of noise in “The A Song.” “Let It Bleed” was another highlight, as it traveled a slow build to ultimate exaltation, choir and all.

The journey, which made stops along their full catalog, closed out as it began, “Sail On Through” slowly drifting off into space. Spiritualized slowly disengaged from their stations, faced the audience for the first time, and clapped and cheered for us as we for them. Maybe it was a religious experience after all.

Setlist: Hey Jane, She Kissed Me (It Felt Like a Hit), Shine a Light, I’m Coming Home Again, A Perfect Miracle, Always Together With You, I’m Your Man, The Morning After, Here It Comes (The Road) Let’s Go, Best Thing You Never Had (The D Song), Let It Bleed (For Iggy), The A Song (Laid In Your Arms), Damaged, Soul On Fire, Sail On Through E: So Long You Pretty Thing, Come Together

November 11, 2023
Deer Tick Keeps It Weird at Lincoln Hill Farms

A week in advance of the release of their new album, Rhode Island folk-rock stalwarts Deer Tick visited Lincoln Hill Farms in Canandaigua. It was a bit of a weird week in Western New York as smoke from Canadian wildfires filled the air, forcing people indoors and into masks once again. The air cleared enough to safely stage the show, and the show would go on.

But still, for Deer Tick, “it was a weird time to be alive,” according to guitarist and singer John McCauley. Not this era, decade, week, or day, but specifically the current time, 7:47pm. A hard curfew of 9pm, ensured the sun would be out for pretty much the whole show. It was an early set for the band more attuned to the late night bar crowd, even if they’ve outgrown their bar band days.

Weird as it was, Deer Tick stuffed their early-evening time with songs spanning their career, from some of their earliest tunes. like “Easy” and “Twenty Miles,” all the way up to their as-yet released material. It all flowed together seamlessly. The old tunes felt as fresh as ever, while the new ones had a well-worn quality like they had been there all along.

The new record, Emotional Contracts, was actually recorded not all that far away, in the similarly named Cassadaga, NY at Tarbox Road Studios. Kinda weird?

In their own weird way, they worked in some tributes to some of the rockers that helped paved their way. “Me and My Man” got a little bit of ZZ Top’s “La Grange” added at the front, which prompted McCauley to suggest they do that for all of their songs. So on the ensuing, “The Bump,” his band mates jokingly obliged with teases of Tom Petty’s “Running Down a Dream,” and The Beatles’ “Day Tripper.” When MCCauley’s monitor needed a battery change, the rest of the band settled into a nice little groove while waiting. This sounded like Santana and Rob Thomas’ hit “Smooth” to McCauley so he of course started singing what he could remember from that. Then on the tail end of “The Dream’s in the Ditch,” McCauley tacked on Santo and Johnny’s “Tear Drop,” with their signature languid slide guitar sound. They weren’t over a more traditional cover either, throwing in a rollicking rendition of Little Feat’s “Rocket in my Pocket” mid-set that featured searing solos from both McCauley and guitarist Ian O’Neill. Even the banter included tributes, with Cheap Trick’s famous line, “This is the first song off our new album!” appropriately introducing the new tune, “If I Try to Leave.”

The latest single, “Once in a Lifetime” was titled like a cover, but it was all original, getting down with Chris Ryan’s groovy bass line. As much fun as the band was having with their little asides, their original material ruled the day, or the early-evening rather. Drummer Dennis Ryan penned the new “Running From Love,” which came to him in a dream. The soul-inflected tune built and built, culminating in a fiery solo from McCauley on his orange guitar, with his matching orange pick, which he also thought was “weird.”

The set closed on “Mange,” tossing the previous 80 minutes together into a rock assault. A long intro set the scene, a grooving bass laid the groundwork, and a big “whoop” set the fuse. Then the band went all in with raging guitars, a big drum solo, and a drifting feedback jam. They put it all out there for a big rock show finish.

But of course there was more. They came back for a two-song encore that pushed right up to that 9pm curfew. The night closed with “the last song on our new album,” the slow oozing rocker “The Real Thing” that surely left everyone in attendance hotly anticipating their first listen to Emotional Contracts.

If you missed out, don’t fret, the band will be back in the area with a show at the Homer Center for the Arts on November 12.

Setlist: Forgiving Ties, If I Try to Leave, Me and My Man, The Bump > Easy, Rocket in My Pocket (Little Feat), If She Could See Me Now, Twenty Miles, Running From Love, Hope is Big > Tripping Up the Stairs (Traditional), Once in a Lifetime, Clownin’ Around, The Dream’s in the Ditch > Tear Drop (Santo & Johnny), Mange
Encore: Jumpstarting, The Real Thing

June 11, 2023
In Focus: Noah Kahan Dazzles Sold-Out Audience at Beak and Skiff

A picturesque late spring afternoon yielded way to a beautiful evening of music at Beak and Skiff, in Lafayette on Saturday, as Noah Kahan brought his Stick Season tour to the apple orchard. With the tour lauded as one of the summer’s hottest tickets, the event sold-out well in advance of the show.

Kahan, a native of Strafford, Vermont, is known for his blending of folk-rock and pop music. His first full length studio album, Busyhead, was released in 2019. But it was during the Covid pandemic when Kahan’s popularity began to really soar. He first released the Cape Elizabeth EP in April of 2020. Following its release, and during the height of the pandemic, Kahan would retreat home to Vermont and write his most successful album to date, Northern Attitude (2022). The album, which leans heavily on themes of mental illness, struggling with substance abuse, feeling homesick, and childhood nostalgia, has earned Kahan much critical acclaim and a devoted fan base all across the age spectrum.

The evening kicked off with a set by Richy Mitch & The Coal Miners. The folk-rock band from Montana was joining Kahan for a special, one-off concert. The four-piece band delighted early arriving concert goers with a forty five minute set of folk-rock jams.

During the stage change-over between sets, excitement in the concert field was at a high. Fans packed the area in front of the stage, and shouted the singer’s name. Each crew member received a small roar from the crowd as they made their way across the stage, placing set-lists and water bottles. Finally the house lights dimmed, and the band took to the stage. After a brief instrumental piece, Noah Kahan took to the stage with a mandolin and launched into the crowd favorite “All My Love”. The audience exploded with excitement, and sang along to every word. Impressively, the singing did not stop after the first song. The majority of the crowd sang along, every word, to every song. Kahan kept the energy running for the first portion of the set, playing tracks “Everywhere, Everything,” and “She Calls Me Back”.

As the setlist moved on, Kahan would touch on heavier subject matters. Kahan, a staunch advocate of mental health awareness, would sing openly about his own struggles with mental illness on many songs. He sang in loving memory for a friend who passed too soon, on “Carlo’s Song”. During this song the concert field would glow in a sea of green (for mental health awareness) as fans held lights up from their cellphones. Noah Kahan would sing of substance abuse and finding sobriety on the track “Orange Juice.” Perhaps the most power full moment of the night would be when Kahan returned for an encore. He would open the three song encore with “The View Between Villages”, a reflective and nostalgic track written about an emotional return to Kahan’s childhood home town many years later. The song would build with emotion until its epic climax, and the audience did not miss a beat, singing along to every word. Kahan would finish the night with crowd favorites “Stick Season” and “Mess”.

If you missed out on this performance, you are in luck. Kahan has already scheduled a return visit to Syracuse, at the Lakeview Amphitheater on September 1.

June 6, 2023
Five Can’t-Miss Shows in Rochester Area This June

In Rochester, there are nine days in June that are, for many, the richest nine days of live music on the calendar, named the Rochester International Jazz Fest. But we’ll get to that in a separate post. There’s plenty of other live music to go around this month, so let’s get right to it!

June 8, Deer Tick at Lincoln Hill Farms

It’s summer, outdoor shows are king, and most of the outdoor venues are not in Rochester proper. So excuse us if we jump a little bit outside Monroe County here. Lincoln Hill Farms is a great little spot in Canandaigua, and with Dan Small Presents picking up the booking duties their calendar is filling out nicely. One show that has caught our particular attention is this little rock band that could from Providence, Deer Tick. They haven’t played these parts in a bit. Combining superb songwriting with reckless barroom energy, they’ll show you a great time. Rafay Rashid will open the show.

The music will start at 630pm and tickets are $30.

June 10, Surprise Chef at Photo City Music Hall

Australia is exporting some fantastic music these days, across most any genre you can think of. Surprise Chef, a quintet out of Melbourne, is churning out some seriously good instrumental soul-funk like you’d expect from deep in Brooklyn or deep in the South. Catch their twist on things in their Rochester debut. Alanna Royale will open the show.

Music gets started around 8pm and tickets are $15.

June 11, The Wood Brothers at Perinton Center Park Amphitheater

If you’ve seen live music at the Perinton Amphitheater before it was likely of the free community concert variety. But this year Rochester Events is trying it out as a big show venue, starting with Collective Soul on June 1. A week and a half later Rochester faves The Wood Brothers will grace the stage. Ever since a couple of raucous barn burners at the aforementioned Rochester International Jazz Fest some Junes ago, they’ve made Rochester a regular stop. Needless to say, many barns have been burned. They are returning again with another excellent new album in tow. Shovels and Rope open up this time around.

Show starts at 7pm and tickets are $39.50.

June 26, David Murray and Kahlil El’Zabar at Bop Shop Records

Jazz Fest is not the only time of year to catch world-class jazz in Rochester. And even during Jazz Fest, it isn’t the only place to catch world-class jazz. Case in point, Bop Shop Records, one of the best places to catch adventurous music all year round, is bringing back the great Kahlil El’Zabar, who has appeared there so many times, he must be dubbed the Rusted Root of the Bop Shop (iykyk). This time around he is joined by the legendary tenor saxophonist, and his friend of over 40 years, David Murray. Together they are called the Golden Seas Duo and this is a golden opportunity to have your mind blown.

Show will get started at 8pm and tickets are $25/$30 dos.

June 30, Budos Band at Photo City Music Hall

Tying this whole post up in a neat little bow, here is another instrumental soul band at Photo City Music Hall, another Jazz Fest alumnus, and another great jazz show butting up against Jazz Fest. Budos Band will probably start up late enough to come check it out after your Jazz Fest fun though, so we’d suggest partaking in both. Budos Band is on the supreme Daptone Records label and is one of the best things on the label. Heavy, funky, soulful, and as with everything else on this list, not to be missed! Sisters of Your Sunshine Vapor get the show started.

Doors open at 7pm and tickets are $26.

May 31, 2023
In Focus: Regina Spektor Captivates Sold-Out Ithaca Crowd

Regina Spektor made her long awaited return to Ithaca on Wednesday, March 1, playing to a sold-out crowd at the State Theater. The much-anticipated performance was Spektor’s first in Ithaca since 2016 and was the first stop on her spring solo tour. The show, originally scheduled for October 2022, had been postponed after Spektor contracted Covid-19.

As the clock approached 8:30, excitement in the theater became palpable, with the sold-out crowd eagerly awaiting Spektor’s arrival. Moments later, the house lights dimmed, and Spektor strutted to the front of the stage. She greeted the crowd with an excited wave and a curtsy before launching into the a-cappella track “Ain’t No Cover.” Spektor immediately had a captive hold of her audience.

Following the opening number, Spektor took her familiar seat in front of her piano and continued her diverse musical journey. A classically trained pianist at heart, Spektor has been performing on the piano since the age of six. Tracks like “Folding Chair” and “Better” took new life while being stripped to their piano-laden foundation. She delighted the audience with the quirky “Reginasaurus” (while her guitar was being tuned for “That Time,”), sang in three languages on “Apres Moi”, and showed off her storytelling abilities with the cryptic and political “Ballad of a Politician”. Despite the emotional nature of her music, Spektor kept the mood light between songs, telling comical stories of failed rehearsal attempts prior to the evening’s show.

With the evening winding to a close, Spektor delighted the crowd with “Fidelity,” a standout track from her 2006 album Begin To Hope. The audience joined in, singing along on the catchy chorus. Following the song, Spektor left the stage briefly, to a standing ovation. She returned moments later, and obliged the audience with a previous request; by performing the emotional ballad “Samson”. The audience, in complete silence, hung on her every word until the end.

It is a rare feat in this day and age to see an audience so fully immersed in a live performance, but Regina Spektor clearly held a captive spell over the theater. A glance around the room was not met with the glow of cellphones, but rather audience members hanging on Spektor’s every note. It is a true testament to her talents as a songwriter and performer.

March 3, 2023
Angel Olsen and Erin Rae Warm Hearts at Asbury Hall in Chilly Buffalo

On a frigid Buffalo February, fabulous female folkies fed off frantic fans for fantastic fun. F yeah! Angel Olsen and the Big Band were in town at Babeville’s Asbury Hall, and they had Erin Rae along to open the show.

Rae, a Nashville-based singer/songwriter, was back in Buffalo for only the second time, waiting about 10 years for her return. Her last visit was a house show in front of just 7 people. Asbury Hall, an old converted church with seemingly endless height, and an attentive full house, was quite the jump up. One woman, one guitar and a ton of space to fill with a lot of ears and minds to reach. But Rae was able to command the crowd like they were just a handful in a living room. Maybe it was the spirit of her great grandmother who won woman of the year in Buffalo some 50-odd years ago lifting her up, but more likely it was Rae’s stellar skills put into practice.

And there was more to celebrate then just a long-awaited return to Buffalo. It was the one-year anniversary of her latest album, Lighten Up. She of course played liberally from it, opening with “Cosmic Sigh,” working a nice bit of mouth trumpeting in “Candy & Curry,” and closing up with “Lighten Up and Try.” She also tucked a couple older ones in, like “Can’t Cut Loose” and the enchanting “June Bug” from Putting on Airs.

Headliner Angel Olsen was also coming through with a nearly year-old album, having put out Big Time back in June. An album called “Big Time” warrants a big band, and Olsen had it covered with a seven-piece that included violin, cello, bass, drums, guitar, keys and herself on vocals, guitars ,and keys.

The story behind this latest release is Olsen’s turn toward classic country. Olsen delivered on that in spades, showing range on acoustic and electric guitars, her voice soaring and punctuated, soft and gentle, whatever it need be to drive home songs like “Dream Thing” and “Ghost On.” During both “Right Now” and “Go Home” the energy swelled and crashed multiple times like incoming waves, Olsen steered her crew deftly through voice and guitar.

The makeup of the band allowed for a flexible sound, and they flexed that muscle powering through some older material. They showed a poppier edge on “Shut Up and Kiss Me,” immediately flipped into grunge on “Give It Up,” then teetered into new wave on “All Mirrors.” Later in set, “Lark” provided fireworks. The fiddle, cello and bass opened in a humming drone, which led into more undulating ebbs and flows which strengthened with each passing chorus, until a final explosion left the same starting drone in its wake.

Olsen felt comfortable toying with her audience. She promised a premiere of a new song she wrote earlier that day, only to reveal it as a joke. Then she offered to play a request only to rebuff them all and play what she wanted instead. Though it may have only endeared her even more to the crowd. And really, what wasn’t to love?

After the final frame finished, fans filed from the festive fling, feeling fabulous. F yeah indeed.

Setlists

Erin Rae: Cosmic Sigh, Gonna Be Strange, California Belongs to You, Can’t Cut Loose, June Bug, Candy & Curry, Bad Mind, True Love’s Face, Modern Woman, Lighten Up and Try

Angel Olsen: Dream Thing, Big Time, Ghost On, Right Now, Shut Up and Kiss Me, Give It Up, All Mirrors, Go Home, Through the Fires, Lark, Sister, Those Were the Days, All the Good Time, Chance E: Without You (Harry Nilsson)

February 7, 2023