A benefit concert for the American Music Association and The Blues Foundation with performances by John Prine, Lucinda Wiliams, Bob Weir, Slash and Larkin Poe was a great sampler of the ways in which this music remains a living treasure.
One of the things I most enjoy about benefit concerts (beyond the whole save-the-world ethos), and music award shows (beyond the awards themselves) is seeing a wide spectrum of artists, each doing 3-5 songs. It’s sort the musical equivalent of a smorgasbord – enough to hear a favorite artist or song and discover someone worth exploring more and short enough to move from those who hold no appeal.
Which is why I so enjoyed ‘Across the Great Divide,” a recent benefit concert for both the Americana Music Association and The Blues Foundations that took place recently at the Theater at the Ace Hotel and featured John Prine, Lucinda Williams, Lee-Ann Womack and Bob Weir (whose trio had played the night before at the same theater, and which I also posted about) along with Joe Louis Walker, Slash, Shemekia Copeland, and Tal Wikenfeld.
Bob Weir, Joe Louis Walker, Lucinda Williams, Slash, tal Wikenfeld at « Across The Great Divide » benefit concert Tom Teicholz
Comedian Marc Maron was the evening’s MC – and musical performer (he actually played on a couple of numbers with the band and Slash). The House band was from Conan O’Brien’s show led by Conan music director and ace guitarist Jimmy Vivino.
The evening’s performances were all about American Roots Music’s debt to the blues. Most of the artists performed covers of American classics as well as their own songs. So, for example, Bob Weir played “In the Midnight Hour” along with ‘Cassidy’ and ‘Truckin.’ Lee-Ann Womack did a beautiful version of “Trouble in Mind.”
John Prine had a frog in his throat which marred the vocal quality of his solo acoustic performances but it was more than made up for by the power of his songwriting – ‘Angel from Montgomery’ being a prime example – there are few greater American songwriters than Prine.
Lucinda Williams might come close as an equally important representative of Americana and she delivered strong performances particularly on her own song, “Joy.”
However, for me, it was the performers I’d never seen or heard of before who blew me away.
Larkin Poe are the Lovell sisters, and they are amazing, one sings lead vocals and plays guitar the other plays steel guitar, and they rock out. They came out of the gate strong with a driving thromping version of Leadbelly’s ‘Black Betty’ that blew the room away. It is a rare thing to see performers that I’d never heard of before who are so accomplished and so comfortable on stage with such great charisma and musical power. You read it here: Larkin Poe are your next favorite performers.
Then there was Tash Neal, a guitar wizard, formerly of the London Souls who performed a version of Crosby Stills Nash and Youngs “Ohio” that seemed as powerful and relevant today as it did when it was released in 1970. The crowd was on their feats, giving him a standing ovation for his powerful guitar power-shredding. I would see him anytime, such great energy and great guitar playing.
Doyle Bramhall II reminded me of early Clapton barnstorming through some John Mayall classics and even a Bob Dylan cover (hard to beat Mike Bloomfield but it was worth the try). Shemekia Copeland did a strong version of her song, “Ain’t got time for the Hate.”
The evening had begun with The Band’s “Across the Great Divide” and ended with an all-star jam version of The Band’s classic, “The Weight.” It was a night that was about the music, that rich vein of American song and musical heritage that thanks to these artists, charities like the Americana music Association and the Blues Foundation, and concerts such as this, remains a living art.
I am an award-winning journalist and producer who has created print, video and online media content for Intel, The Museum of Tolerance and The Milken Family Foundation; and my work has appeared on The Huffington Post, Newsweek.com, The NY Times Magazine, Interview Magazine,…
Tom Teicholz is an award-winning journalist based in Santa Monica, CA and co-host of « The Buried Lede: Beyond the Bylines, » a podcast about journalism
