Concert Review: The LSD Tour at Starlight Theatre

As my tardy date chatted with attendants at the northwest gate of Starlight Theatre while waiting for me to deliver her ticket on Thursday, a couple members of the venue’s staff confessed that they were stunned that about 4,500 people purchased tickets to hear Dwight Yoakam play for less than an hour.

They didn’t understand that the LSD Tour was far more than the sum of its parts.  While Yoakam is the only bonafide hitmaker in the package, Lucinda Williams and Steve Earle are arguably even more culturally significant.  I’ve heard each artist perform multiple times during the past 32 years, but the rare chance to hear them on one evening was too good to pass up (especially when good seats could be secured for the bargain price of $35 at the box office on the day of the show.) 

After a convincing outing by King Leg that a pal and I characterized as sounding like Morrissey covering Roy Orbison, Earle and the Dukes played about 45 minutes of crusty country-rock.  The hard-core troubadour was as irascible as ever.  While he touched on classic original material like “Guitar Town,” “Copperhead Road” and “Transcendental Blues,” a grungy cover of “Hey Joe” provided my favorite moments.

Williams’ appearance was bittersweet.  She’s never been a dynamic performer, but Thursday’s outing was far more awkward than usual.  Sensing that it was the last time I’d see the storied songwriter, I pulled for Williams to overcome her struggles.  A series of perfect guitar solos by Nashville cat Stuart Mathis and the repurposing of “Foolishness” into a potent political rant pushed the set over the top.

Yoakam- along with Marty Stuart the most convincing country traditionalist alive- is the rare performer who can thrill audiences with an uninterrupted string of hits.  That’s probably why he apologized for playing two new songs.  He needn’t have make excuses for “Pretty Horses” and “Then Here Came Monday.”  They were as good as his old favorites.

A chintzy stage set didn’t do any of the musicians justice.  Not only did the ostensibly psychedelic video projections resemble ‘90s-era computer screensavers, the backdrop and lighting rigs were far too small for the Starlight Theatre stage.  Then again, perhaps no stage is capable of containing the outsize talents of Yoakam, Williams and Earle.


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I wrote profiles of Nikki Lane and Spoon in advance of their appearances at the Middle of the Map festival.

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I recount my experience at a battle of jazz big bands at Plastic Sax.

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I write weekly music previews for The Kansas City Star.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Album Review: Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit- The Nashville Sound

By evoking peak-era Bruce Springsteen & the E-Street Band during Ink’s Middle of the Map Festival at the Uptown Theater in May, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit’s concert at the Uptown Theater momentarily restored my faith in the viability of traditional rock and roll.  The best songs on the setlist- “If We Were Vampires” and “Hope the High Road”- acted as previews of the forthcoming The Nashville Sound.  It’s a drag, consequently, that those songs are far and away the album’s best tracks.  I’ll probably listen to “If We Were Vampires and “Hope the High Road” for the remainder of my life, but I’m just not down with the rest of The Nashville Sound.


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I wrote a feature about Oleta Adams for KCUR.

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I reviewed Ann Wilson’s concert at the Uptown Theater.

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I reviewed George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic’s appearance at the Boulevardia festival.

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Willie Nelson was rained out on Saturday, but I reviewed opening sets by Dwight Yoakam and Robert Earl Keen.

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Concerts by John Legend and Portugal. The Man were my shows of the week for The Kansas City Star and Ink magazine.

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I named My Brothers & Sisters the KCUR Band of the Week.

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I take note of Gerald Spaits latest release at Plastic Sax.

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My weekly music previews for The Kansas City Star are here and here.

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Prodigy of Mobb Deep has died.

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Ben Goldberg School’s The Humanities is RIYL Henry Threadgill, the combination of clarinet and accordion, Don Byron.

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I had a spiritual epiphany while listening to the opening selection of Ahmad Jamal’s excellent new Marseille. Here’s a music video for the fourth track.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Zydeco Boogaloo

Black Top 1024.  That’s how my customers and I identified Buckwheat Zydeco’s 100% Fortified Zydeco when they reordered the album.  The title was one of several releases by the exceptional ambassador of Louisiana music that were in my catalog during my tenure as a music industry sales rep.  No strain of indigenous American music is more discordant or just plain weird than zydeco.  Stanley Dural, the bandleader behind Buckwheat Zydeco who died last week, made the music accessible.  Without his genial refinements, the language barrier, scratch of washboards and cacophonous accordions associated with zydeco might have continued to keep the form a safe distance from the mainstream. 


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I reviewed Chance the Rapper’s concert.

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I write weekly music previews for The Kansas City Star and Ink magazine.

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I praised Heidi Lynne Gluck on KCUR last week.

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I address a pet peeve at the Kansas City jazz blog Plastic Sax.

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I highlighted the music offerings at the Plaza Art Fair for The Kansas City Star and Ink magazine.

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I reviewed a concert by Steve Martin, Martin Short and the Steep Canyon Rangers.

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Jerry Corbetta of Sugarloaf has died.  (Tip via BGO.)

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Shawty Lo has died.

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Jean Shepherd has died.

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Pádraig Duggan of Clannad has died.  (Tip via BGO.)

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John D. Loudermilk has died.  (Tip via BGO.)

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The music video for Shirley Collins’ ”Death and the Lady” is almost more than I can bear.

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The heir to John Coltrane and Jimi Hendrix may be hiding in plain sight.  His name is John Scofield. On his excellently titled Country For Old Men, Scofield interprets classics like “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry.”

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I loved the 2000 album dwightyoakamacoustic.net.  The country artist’s Swimmin’ Pools, Movie Stars… may be just as good.

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Willie Nelson is on a roll.  For the Good Times: A Tribute to Ray Price is perfect.

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Rose Out the Concrete, Rich the Factor’s third album in as many months, isn’t as good as Smile or Whale Mafi.  Here’s the Kansas City legend’s ”In the Kitchen”.

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I won't pretend to understand Yermande, an astounding recording by Mark Ernestus' Ndagga Rhythm Force.  But it's wonderful.  (Tip via Big Steve.)

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Album Review: BJ the Chicago Kid- In My Mind

Some of the people who share my enthusiasm for Frank Ocean whine about the absence of a follow-up to his 2012 masterpiece Channel Orange.  I have better things to do.  Appreciating good-to-great albums by male R&B artists including Avant, Babyface, Bilal, D’Angelo, D.R.A.M., José James, Jodeci, R. Kelly, Miguel and the Weeknd has kept me busy during the past three years.  Add BJ the Chicago Kid to that list.  In My Mind doesn't achieve the heights of Channel Orange, but even the album's weakest tracks are enjoyable Keith Sweat, Prince and D’Angelo knockoffs.  Frank should feel free to take his time.  I’ll be in ”Church”.


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I reviewed Dwight Yoakam’s sold-out concert at the Uptown Theater.

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I featured Fullbloods on KCUR’s Local Listen.

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I wrote an extended concert preview about Wavves.

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The album release show for Be/Non’s Mystic Sunrise/Sunset Magic at the Scottish Rite Temple was mind-blowing. 

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Much of Your Friend’s Gumption resembles the vacillating sounds I heard when I suffered from night terrors as a child.

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There’s nothing I don’t like about the song and the video for Josh Hoyer & Soul Colossal’s ”Parts of Man”.  RIYL: Lee Fields, not-so-silly love songs, Percy Sledge.

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Ed Motta’s delightfully odd Perpetual Gateways is RIYL: Steely Dan, LA session cats of the 1980s, Gregory Porter.

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I embraced GoGo Penguin’s 2014 album, but the British group’s debut on Blue Note Records is overly chilly.  Here’s ”Res”.

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Cian Nugent’s Night Fiction is RIYL: Sandy Bull, spacing out, the Autumn Defense.

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Rogue Waves,  five remixes of a single Miguel song, is incredibly impressive.

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Wolfmother’s Victorious is big, dumb rawk, and Leslie West help me, I like it.  RIYL: Mountain, 1972, Billy Squier.

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Brian McKnight’s sappy Better makes me happy.

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We Like It Like That, a new documentary about Latin boogaloo, looks like my kind of movie.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Album Review: Charlie Hunter- Let the Bells Ring On

The elusive audience for jazz is hiding in plain view in 2015.  Millions are appreciating Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly.  Hundreds of thousands more are dancing at concerts by the likes of Umphrey’s McGee.  Charlie Hunter must wonder what he has to do to get a single percentage of those people to pay attention to his funky new album Let the Bells Ring On.  It’s a jam album for jazz fans and jazz album for jam band aficionados.  It’s also begging for a hip-hop remix.  The populist sound of guitarist Hunter, trombonist Curtis Fowlkes and drummer Bobby Previte on ”These People?” is indicative of the album’s generous vibe.


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I reviewed Dwight Yoakam’s concert in the Power & Light District.

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I reviewed Samantha Fish’s Wild Heart for KCUR.

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I contributed a Local Listen segment about the Philistines to KCUR.

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Buddy Emmons has died.

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Lynn Anderson has died.

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Vic Firth has died.

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Wayne Carson has died.

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I listened to the reissue of In Through the Out Door over the weekend.  I didn’t comprehend until now that the Led Zeppelin album is an extended goof on Elvis.

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I like the sound and feel of Ashes & Dust, Warren Haynes’ collaboration with Railroad Earth.  Too bad about the dodgy songs.

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I just discovered Mathias Eick.  Here’s a live performanc of ”Hem”.  RIYL: European jazz, ECM, fiddle plucking.

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Until I listened to the compilation Come and Get It: The Best of Apple Records a few days ago, I’d never heard Brute Force’s ”King of Fuh”.  I wish I’d known about the novelty song when I was young enough to appreciate it.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)