In
retrospect, everything turned out well, but Dewey Bunnell was
skeptical when America was presented with an opportunity to record
its first album for a major label in more than 20 years.
"I had my hesitations in the beginning," Bunnell said in a phone interview last week, "'cause it had been so long, and we had suffered disappointments with the previous projects of all-new material in the '90s. ... Nothing much happened with those, so I was very guarded going into this."
If
you casually watch the Charlie Hunter Trio on stage, something might
nag at you. It sounds like there's a bassist, but ... there's no
bassist. Just Hunter and his guitar, drummer Simon Lott, and
keyboardist Erik Deutsch playing jazz fusion with the direct appeal
of rock music.
If
you've ever heard William Elliott Whitmore's singing - or read
reviews of his work, which typically note that he has the weathered
pipes of someone at least twice his age - you might snicker at this
statement from the singer-songwriter: "I always wished I could sing
like Frank Sinatra, or Morrissey, or fucking Dean Martin - those
real crooner guys," he said in a phone interview this week.
Reel
Big Fish's new record, Monkeys
for Nothin' & the Chimps for Free,
features "Another F.U. Song," which begins "Hey kids! It's
time to use the 'F' word!" and includes, among its tamer
phrases, "with a big rusty pole or a splintery post." You can
guess the context in which those words are sung.
It's a safe bet that most everyone is familiar with the heavily made-up shock rocker Alice Cooper, who brings his latest stage project, "The Psycho-Drama Tour," to Davenport's Adler Theatre on August 23.
When
was the last time a Quad Cities venue featured a performance that
included a jazz band with a dancer? I have lived in the Quad Cities
for 30 years and have never heard of anything like that happening
here.
If
Chris Isaak traded in his rockabilly shtick for some country duds,
the result would probably sound a lot like Justin Morrissey's new
CD, A War of Wills.
In
his biography, Bettendorf native Tim Stopulos lists influences that
range from Beethoven to Maroon 5, a bit of youthful overreaching that
you might expect from a 23-year-old.
The
Holmes Brothers have always had an eclectic style. Wendell, the
guitar player and raspy-voiced singer, once told me that so many
hours touring in the van acquainted them with all kinds of music. I
can just hear them, all three singing along to whatever they happen
upon on the radio, trying it out later live and then in the studio
with their own gospel spin.
