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Back
in Town
Wayne "The Train" Hancock can't stop touring. Just like the alcoholism that plagued his life over a decade ago, life on the road is an addiction. "I absolutely love being on the road," Hancock says over the phone from Knuckleheads, a honky tonk blues bar in Kansas City, Mo. It's the first night of his three month tour in support of the forthcoming Tulsa LP. In between putting on his pants and hollering at his friends, he ruminates on his incessant gigging. "When am I gonna quit? When I'm dead." It feels like Hancock just rolled through Eugene a week ago. In fact, it very well could have been. But when someone loves performing that much, appearances can be numerous, and people will never tire. "I've been playing there so long, man, that there's people who I used to give CDs to who now have kids of their own," Hancock says of his Eugene fans. For nearly 30 years, Hancock has been writing and performing. As a teenager, his love of country and rockabilly led to his first few gigs at local juke joints. At 18, he won the Wrangler Country Showdown. Before he was able to claim his prize, Hancock, already enrolled with the Marines, got called to duty. His six year stint in the military undoubtedly informed his music as well as his patriotism. But, as he explains, he never talks politics. "Look what happened to the Dixie Chicks," he says with mild jest. After his service was up, Hancock moved to Austin and returned to his music. In 1995, he debuted with Thunderstorms and Neon Signs, produced by the legendary steel guitar player Lloyd Maines (famous for his performances with Joe Ely, Wilco and Richard Buckner). The album was lauded for its sincerity and authenticity, and led to more than 250 supporting gigs. Hancock loathes the term, but one listen and it's nearly impossible not to consider his music "retro"; his reverence for country legends such as Hank Williams and Jimmie Rodgers is uncompromising. Yet, amidst the twang and swagger, Hancock accentuates his tunes with his own unique brand of rollicking swing and hillbilly jazz, which has won him the title "master of hillbilly swing." Five albums later, with his sixth, Tulsa, set to be released in early October, Hancock shows no signs of slowing down. With no official verification, he claims to have logged over one million miles on the road in the last ten years – not so hard to imagine from a man who gigs nearly the whole year. "The road is my home," he says.
Musical
Prayers For a middling sized town in western Oregon, Eugene boasts a disproportional share of musicians from around the world. Thanks principally to the Kutsinhira Center, which sponsors several performing ensembles and facilitates back-and-forth cultural exchanges with Zimbabwe, we're especially lucky to have a strong connection to one of the world's great musical traditions: the Shona people of southern Africa. Two of the most renowned Shona musicians, Cosmas Magaya and Ambuya Beauler Dyoko, have taught and performed frequently in Eugene, and on Sept. 9, they're back to lead a peace ceremony at the Dharmalaya Center at 356 Horn Lane. Magaya and Dyoko play mbira, the metal-keyed instrument that's often, inadequately, called a "thumb piano." Often accompanied by hosho (a gourd rattle) and encased in a gourd resonator, the mbira produces a shimmering shower of interlocking melodic patterns, and its rippling rhythms are irresistible to dancers — Zimbabwean mbiras make some of the world's most joyous music. But to the Shona, music is more than an excuse to groove. It's actually a part of their spiritual practice, connecting them to their ancestral spirits. So these two mbira masters will be leading a rhythmic prayer for peace, including drumming, singing and dancing — by audience as well as performers. Zimbabwe, beset by an increasingly corrupt regime since independence, its economy in shambles, needs all the help it can get, and so does the rest of our riven world. For some, the ceremony may evoke a response from the Makombwe spirits; for others, the music alone will help sustain us in a turbulent time. Another frequent and always welcome Eugene visitor is the unclassifiable ensemble 3 Leg Torso, which plays Jo Federigo's on Sept. 1. Jazz fans form the core of the Portland quintet's audience, but their music embraces tango, klezmer, Roma (gypsy), Latin and classical influences. Accordionist Courtney Von Drehle writes much of the music and occasionally delivers brief stream-of-comedy song intros, while violinist Bela Balogh plays like Stephane Grappelli after a double espresso. Two percussionists enrich the sound with drums, marimba, vibes or xylophone, with upright bass holding it all together. They've toured the U.S., scored film soundtracks, played with symphony orchestras and been profiled on NPR, and word is that the band is finally recording its long-awaited third CD, so chances are you'll be hearing some new material this weekend.
Another visiting ensemble with roots in jazz, the Brooklyn based Benevento-Russo Duo, returns to the WOW Hall on Sept. 3. Keyboard wizard Marco Benevento studied jazz at the Berklee school but never renounced his rock roots, and he and drummer Joe Russo have won a following among indie rock types who also dig rock-based instrumental groups like Medeski Martin & Wood and the Bad Plus. As with those ensembles, B-R also draws heavily on the jam band circuit — they've toured with Trey Anastasio and Mike Gordon and Phil Lesh & Friends. Along with their striking originals, I've heard them cover Phish, Madonna, Led Zeppelin — and Aaron Copland. Those diverse influences, along with their arsenal of organ, Mellotron, samples, foot bass and occasional guitar, keep the duo from sounding too limited, and anyone who saw them rattle the WOW Hall at a wondrously wild show last summer knows that they're overflowing with musical imagination, capable of skidding from raucous to reflective in the course of a single song and making it sound completely natural. You can read Melissa Bearns' interview with Joe Russo at our online archive: www.eugeneweekly.com/2005/05/19/music.html
Sympathetic
Wanderer Richard Buckner is a road warrior, almost constantly traveling, for a while keeping his stuff but not his heart in San Francisco. He moved to Tucson, then Washington state. Now he has settled in New York, where he's comfortable for the time being.
I had long enjoyed Buckner's music, but not having read much about him, I imagined him as a kind of sad sack, a lonely recluse. His deep, husky voice seemed like it could only belong to someone who went out without a coat on rainy nights or kept the heat off in his apartment on purpose. Having now interviewed him, I must reverse my opinion. He was effusive, answering questions I didn't have to ask, remarking that he was hopped up on coffee. He was pleased I liked his new CD, Meadow, but admitted he was over it himself. "Records are such a weird thing. By the time I get finished, I can't even listen to it for a couple of years because it takes so long, and the fact that someone else likes it after I'm done with it is so pleasing to me!" His music, like a faded curtain, is a strange combination of shades of gray and rust, his voice melancholy but with a lilt on certain lines that makes them achingly beautiful. He's most appreciated by people who like so-called alternative country and folk music, but he doesn't care to involve himself with any scene. "That's the press, and I don't read any of it," he said. "For me, it's more about what you're curious about or what you think will keep you fascinated by your own little hobby." Meadow was recorded by J.D. Foster (Mekons, Graham Parker, Waco Brothers), partly in Buckner's Brooklyn apartment. In a "real" studio, time flies, and so does the dollar. "It's hard to concentrate sometimes," Buckner said. He prefers his own small studio, where the pressure's off. "There's nothing better than being able to get up at three in the morning and work for four or five hours on something when you have inspiration. You're just alone, working out ideas, kind of like meditation or some kind of private moment," he said. Buckner's songs are moments celebrating solitude, and though on Meadow he's moved almost completely away from his acoustic roots, there's nothing flashy or fancy, nothing unnecessary. Buckner moves boldly through his meditative moments, masterfully creating music with both depth and buoyancy.
Music Box Melodies
The delicate compositions of Petracovich (aka Jessica Peters) play like tiny, melodic secrets, whispers wrapped in bells, piano and ambient sounds. The one-woman band's second album, We Are Wyoming, is a collection of songs that hover in a particular space between ethereal and poppy, bordering on catchy but likely to stick in your head for their atmosphere as much as their melodies. Peters calls her musical project Petracovich (an old family name) as a nod to her music-loving great-grandfather, who, at the turn of the century, would listen to the New York Opera on his radio, dressed in a suit out of respect for the music. The image seems to inspire the content of Peters' songs as well as her musical moniker: Titles like "Summer Trees," "Paper Cup" and "Swallows on 8th Street" come across like musical still-lifes of a lone moment in time. On "What If I Came to Get You?" Peters' voice comes to the fore for a jaunty, snare-decorated track that wouldn't be out of place on an Aimee Mann record. Like Mann's, Peters' voice is both breathy and perfectly controlled, sinking into some songs and resting clearly atop others, like the moody, affecting "All I Have to Say." The trilling, 29-second "Fantasy Impromptu" (borrowed from Chopin) creates a lamplit mood for the following "The Ultrasound," during which Peters' drawn-out vocals dance with a piano that sounds as if it were recorded from a room away. Peters plays live with two keyboards, bells, a laptop, her voice and often the accompaniment of a cellist, weaving dreamy, precision-crafted songs. Get in the mood at 9:30 pm Saturday, Sept. 2 at Sam Bond's. 21+ show. $5. — Molly Templeton
Love and Cookies Bands with couples in them make me nervous. There are certainly success stories where the alchemy of love and music infuses albums with a magical energy that carries listeners along an intimate journey beyond even the artistic process of bandmates. Timbuk3 is my favorite example of a husband-wife act who wrote and harmonized about love and boredom with the same degree of wit and level of musical intensity. But my skeptical side is always somewhat wary of lovers who make music. It just seems like the potential is high for mistaking the grooviness they see in each other for actual grooviness the world will undoubtedly want to hear. Casper and the Cookies was potentially a very worrying example as the female vocalist, Kay Stanton, was a recent addition to the established Athens power-pop band after falling in love with its founder, Jason NeSmith. Who knows how fellow members Jay Hicks and Davy Gibbs feel about backing up the chronicles of courtship between Stanton and NeSmith in their new album, The Optimists Club, but the result is lyrically entertaining enough to overcome a few cringe-inducing moments inevitable in such a love-heavy project. The Optimists Club feels like an opera about love in the city (New York, in this case). Each song is distinct but captures a story or moment that dovetails with the other tracks in a way that compels you to really listen to the whole album rather than skip around to the catchiest tunes. Casper and the Cookies are known — by those who know them — for their creativity and unconventional musical styling, and this album delivers in both areas. If the wit and energy of The Optimists Club is any indication of how interesting their live show might be, fans of unapologetically quirky pop should find their way to this show. Casper and the Cookies play with DoublePlusGood and The Ingredients at 10 pm Saturday, Sept. 2 at the Downtown Lounge. 21+ show. $5. — Adrienne van der Valk
A Little Bit Country … When your father is Waylon Jennings, one of the original outlaws of country, it would seem to limit your ability to carve out a musical terrain of your own. What greater rebellion against outlaw values could a son make than falling into a life of dull conformity?
Not willing to go that far, Shooter Jennings took his rebellion to the wild frontier of Los Angeles, where he carved out a rock 'n' roll career with his band Stargunn. They did well for several years, but in 2003 Jennings grew tired of the phoniness of the L.A. scene and decided to get back to his country roots. Unfortunately, his opinion of the country scene wasn't much better, an attitude best expressed in the title of his debut album Put the 'O' Back in Country. Mixing country with elements of Lynyrd Skynyrd, honky-tonk and Guns 'n' Roses, Jennings set out to bring an authentic sound back to a country scene he saw as being dominated by cowboy poseurs. His latest CD, Electric Rodeo, continues that mission with several hard rocking tunes mixed with some nice ballads and tempered by a wry sense of humor. Shooter Jennings and I Can Lick Any Sonofabitch in the House play at 8 pm Tuesday, Sept. 5 at the WOW Hall. $13 adv., $15 dos. — John Ginn
Spy-Movie Sultry Ambient, sultry and electronic, Bitter:Sweet's seductive mid-tempo blend of Portishead with a splash of Suzanne Vega seems almost more suited to a New York City cocktail lounge too cool for you and me than Cozmic Pizza. This undeniable swankiness is confirmed by the appearance of two Bitter:Sweet tracks in the film The Devil Wears Prada as well as on the HBO mega-hit "Entourage." Yet Cozmic Pizza is exactly where Shana Halligan and Kiran Shahani will be bringing their experimental pop sound when the band stops in Eugene. The Los Angeles duo's debut album, The Mating Game, is a highly programmed combination of slow, samba-like beats with sweeps of jazz-laden melodies, scratches and even the occasional harmonica. Halligan's sweet, moody vocals drift over it all like a late-summer breeze. URB magazine called the album "delicious!" and the group has garnered comparisons to Bebel Gilberto, Beth Orton, Zero 7, Serge Gainsbourg and Everything But the Girl. Bitter:Sweet replicate their sultry-but-edgy electronica on stage with an array of live musicians that can include a harpist, a percussionist, a keyboard player, a guitarist, a bass guitarist, a DJ and a cellist. So go get a pizza and imagine yourself sipping an apple martini on a velvet couch in your favorite spy movie. Bitter:Sweet plays at 9 pm Tuesday, Sept. 5 at Cozmic Pizza. $10. — Martha Calhoon
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