Plenty of musicians in this town have taken on some lofty tribute projects, from re-creating Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” as a live musical or covering the Rolling Stone’s classic album “Exile on Main Street” to paying homage to artists and bands like Tom Waits, the Pretenders, David Bowie and the soft-rock genre known as Yacht Rock.
Tonight, fabled singer/songwriter Alejandro Escovedo will perform at the newly revived music venue 1911 Main Restaurant and Lounge (formerly Bar Natasha).
Escovedo, who plays a mix of acoustic/roots, folk and rock, has performed in Kansas City several times over the last few years, including a sold-out show at RecordBar in August 2010.
Tonight, however, instead of his own band he will perform with local musicians calling themselves the Cody Wyoming Deal: Cody Wyoming and Christopher Meck on guitars; Erik Voeks on bass; Mike Stover on guitar, steel guitar and other instruments; Paul Andrews on drums; and Abigail Henderson, Lauren Krum and Katie Gilchrist on backup vocals. Wyoming and Voeks will also sing backup.
All are deeply involved in the local music scene in an array of bands and projects, including Atlantic Fadeout, Dead Voices and the Grisly Hand.
They’ve all also had roles in the local tribute- and cover-band scene. Wyoming and Meck were both integral to the “Exile” and “The Wall” projects. This one, they both said, comes with a different responsibility: The guy who wrote the songs will be on stage with them.
“It is a big deal, high-profile show, and I am a little nervous,” Wyoming said. “I have to approach it like it’s a rock show like any other: Show up, be professional and all that. We’ve all been through the whole slew of things that can go wrong, on the technical side: Stuff gets fixed and the show must go on. Not much there that scares me anymore.”
Meck and Wyoming said they were familiar with Escovedo’s vast catalog before taking on this job, but the process of learning his material so intimately has shed light on a few things.
“I’ve learned that he’s very, very smart,” Meck said. “I suspected as much, but there are little things that he does that have huge impact and you don’t really notice until you have to learn it.”
Wyoming: “I don’t know that anything has particularly been revealed to me because I’ve been a big fan for a long time. But it has certainly brought into focus the fact that the guy is, simply put, one of the best there is.
“Chris is right ... there are tons of little subtleties, in his writing and his arrangements, that maybe you don’t know are there at first. But you’d sure miss them if they weren’t. And it has reminded me of what a kick-ass rhythm guitar player he is.”
The band is rehearsing from a list of songs that Escovedo and the band agreed to. Without him around to direct things, Wyoming said, the band has tried to keep things as they are on the recordings, as much as is possible.
“I think we’re staying faithful to the basic arrangements and the vibe,” he said. “But we are different musicians than the guys on those records. And we bring ourselves and our own playing styles to the table.”
Some adjustments are necessary, Meck said, because of the instrumental composition of the band.
“We don’t have strings but we do have an abundance of guitar players,” Meck said, “so there’s a lot of things that are different out of necessity. Hopefully, Alejandro will like what we’re doing.”
At a recent rehearsal at Midwestern Musical Co., the band worked through some of Escovedo’s best known songs: “Rosalie,” “Pissed Off 2 A.M.,” “Don’t Need You,” “Real Animal.” The vibe feels perfect for what Escovedo is likely going to require. Then again, everyone is aware that he might toss an unexpected curveball or two.
Meck joked: “I’m expecting about a dozen curveballs, a few sliders in on the hands and then a fastball at my face.”
Wyoming said everyone is as prepared as they can be for an audible or two.
“We’re all pretty good on our feet,” he said. “And as long he doesn’t try to whip out, like, some Emerson, Lake and Palmer tunes on us, we’ll probably be alright. Then again, Stover and Voeks could probably hack that.
“Now that I’ve said that, he’s gonna get here and want to play ‘Tarkus’ in its entirety.”
Tonight: Alejandro Escovedo & the Cody Wyoming Deal perform tonight at 1911 Main Restaurant and Lounge, 1911 Main St. The Dead Voices open at 10 p.m. Admission is $20. For more information, call the club at 816-931-0200 or Midwestern Musical Co., which is presenting the show, at 816-931-6962.
| Timothy Finn, The Star
What a cool gig for a musician. Reminds me of the days when Chuck Berry would roll into town, hop out of his Cadillac and walk out onstage with a local group backing him up...most likely having never met the guys before and in some cases walking off stage before the last song of the gig was even over, back into his Caddy and off down the road. Rock 'n roll.
Posted by: J.G. | November 10, 2011 at 11:48 AM
And paid in cash only.
Posted by: pellboy | November 10, 2011 at 12:06 PM
...saw Bruce Springsteen talking about it one time... Chuck was late... and they did not have time to practice... and they were all nervous.. and then,s in the nick of time Chuck walks in, goe to the back room(for his cash) comes out... and heads for the stage... with Bruce nervously following asking "but.. uh... what?... what songs are we going to play???...
and Chuck replies... "We gonna play some Chuck Berry songs, 1 2 3 GO!!!!"
I think that is on "Hail Hail Rock N Roll", one of the best RNR films ever.
Posted by: Leonard | November 10, 2011 at 12:13 PM