Friday night was Michelle Malone at The Flying Monkey, a funky little arts venue, in an old cotton mill. The setting was fantastic, but the music completely blew our minds. I’ve seen a lot of live music – a LOT of live music – but I’ve never seen anything like this girl. She can burn up a guitar & sings the blues like she was born doing it.
She’s heading out on tour. I think she’s starting in LA next week & will be working her way up the coast, then back through Salt Lake City, Denver, etc. If you are at all into Sheryl Crowe, the Black Crowes, Bonnie Raitt, or bluesy-rock in general, I highly recommend checking her out. I almost hate to use the cliche, but there’s no better way to say it…. The girl ROCKS!
Tonight we saw Diana Degarmo, Natasha Borzilova, Linda Davis & Michael Peterson at the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville. I’m not a fan of American Idol, so I had no idea what to expect from Diana. She WAILS in all the right places & her lyrics have both heart (lots) & guts (in smaller doses). The crowd went crazy after every song.
After the show, her manager looked over at me & said, “You’ve got to hear her when she really belts it out, like in her show in L.A.” I can’t believe it gets better, but he swears it does in her Back To Bacharach & David show at the Music Box in L.A.
Natasha Borzilova used to be the lead singer for the Russian-influenced band Bering Strait. Her voice is soft & lilting, and she clearly has the soul of a poet, but she can also groove. She somehow managed to make breaking up funny in her song, “Real Fight.” She finished up the night with a beautiful Russian folk song, sung in the original language. The crowd was riveted.
Linda Davis is a sought-after session singer and seasoned performer. Linda’s daughter, Hillary Scott, sings with the up & coming band, Lady Antebellum. Linda is such a sweet person, and she has that powerful, made for Nashville voice that so many try to imitate. She did a smoking version of her song, “That’s Just Love,” made famous by Bonnie Raitt – a HUGE crowd pleaser.
Michael Peterson was more typical of singer-songwriter genre. Most of his songs are soft-spoken & insightful, but he can raise the roof when he wants to. His song, “I Don’t Care” was one of my favorites all night, another funny break up song.
The session musicians that sat in were fabulous. Nashville has some of the best session musicians around. They were able to pick up a lot of these songs on the spot & make it sound like they’d been rehearsing them all week.
That’s the weekend so far…
Tomorrow we’re going to listen to a friend’s band play a little outdoor venue that’s just up the road from our house. It’ll be the first time we’ve gone to see them, so we’re looking forward to it.
