Hattie, MJ Kroll & Tracey Johnson. Now the story...Last night I was asked to fill in at a benefit, the Rainbow Families Toy Drive. Of course I agreed, you know me, anything for the kiddies (ha!). Anyway, Boom hosted the event so I walked into music, dance videos and some fabulous Christmas decorations. We started a bit late but I was able to sing my short set to an attentive and joyful crowd, followed by MJ Kroll, Hattie then Tracey. MJ has this Joni Mitchell thing going on; her songs are stories, the suck you in, carry you along and 3 minutes later you find yourself at the end of a beautiful fairy-tale. Her songs are real and earthy; presented with heart and more often than not, a smile. I was rather taken with her narrative : )Hattie was next. Fun, fun, fun! It's so refreshing to see an artist with intensity. She's leathal when she gets going. Her voice is powerful but she only unleashes it occasionally. During her set I was leaning forward on the couch to catch every single word; Hattie wasn't quiet, I simply wasn't going to miss a moment of the music. She covered Sinead O'Connor and "Killing Me Softly" (can't remember who wrote that one). The songs flowed from one to the next and we ended up trading CD's after the show to listen a bit more this morning.
Tracey was the energy for the evening. She's well loved by the audience and had to turn down requests due to time constraints and the fact that she wanted all of us to come up and sing some x-mas carols for the crowd. She's not afraid of emoting and her vocals energy can knock you over. Her delivery is hysterical and I walked away knowing that we all had fun.
I'm feeling a sense of discovery with these women. When I left the Robert Randolph show at the Cedar this winter I was blown away; a new variety of music exploded right before my very eyes. After playing and listening last night, I feel that same unearthing. The fantastic part about all of this, is that it's my music! This is what I do! We play, we love, we hurt and we present it to anyone who will listen with just voice and guitar. Our weapons are few, but strong and honest. For me, I was enlivened, rejuvenated. To clarify, our styles and personalities are glaringly different, but our hearts seem to be aligned with the desire and dedication to perform.
I could go on and on and on about it, but I'll just finish off with the fact that I will see these women again, we have plans to play again sometime in the near future and had I known what I was in for last night - I would have paid for the pleasure.
