|
Pop
Hot Ticket
By GINA VIVINETTO, Times Pop Music Critic
© St. Petersburg Times
published April 17, 2003
Their hearts on their sleeves -- and in their songs
Bright Eyes, the critically acclaimed indie-rock outfit from Omaha, Neb., stars songwriter Connor Oberst, a twentysomething wunderkind whose songwriting has been dazzling critics and fans since he burst on the scene as a prodigious 14-year-old.
In a live setting, Bright Eyes often features a coterie of Oberst's pals, including a string section, backing singers, and folks on all the usual rock 'n' roll accoutrements, with young Oberst singing his sweetly naive, but tough-minded lyrics about wrestling with the cruel, cruel world.
The effect can be painful in that it makes listeners nostalgic for teenage days of idealism and truth-seeking; it makes you remember how disappointing it is to learn that some things -- and some people -- are a sham. Oberst seems like Holden Caulfield with a guitar.
Team Pop reckons that for wiser younger folks, hearing all the unabashedness of last year's beautiful, perplexing Lifted or The Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground, which topped many critics' lists, must be like having your feelings aired for all to see. In other words, Bright Eyes' music, like so much good art, stings a little.
Scottish "post-folk" duo Arab Strap is one of the show's openers, bringing its darkly paranoid songs of love, sketched out in programmed beats and stirring strings.
Bright Eyes performs with Arab Strap and Sorry About Dresden at 8 p.m. Monday at the State Theatre, 687 Central Ave., St. Petersburg. $12-$14. (727) 895-3045.
-- GINA VIVINETTO, Times Pop Music Critic
Songs from the dark side
Fans of Kelly Joe Phelps relish the blues musician's fine acoustic slide guitar playing and intricate songwriting. The Portland, Ore.-based Phelps, 43, was raised on country and folk music, and that sort of storytelling resonates in his tunes, which chronicle the broken lives of men down on their luck and losing in love. Phelps' moody originals, like those of one of his idols, Blind Lemon Jefferson, tackle all sorts of sins, including voodoo, prostitution and just plain ol' bad, bad love.
Since Lead Me On, Phelps' stellar 1995 debut, he's been mostly a solo guy, but this year's tantalizing Slingshot Professionals finds Phelps playing bandleader to a top-notch group of buddies, including guitarist Bill Frisell and bassist Keith Lowe. The album was recorded live in the studio. To avoid high-tech overdubs, Phelps had to hire pal Steve Dawson to play slide guitar so Phelps could concentrate on acoustic guitar. The result is a scrumptious disc of Phelps' freewheeling, though tightly written, tunes, sketched broadly, with a richer sound filled with fiddle, accordion, mandolin and keyboards. Critics are going gaga.
Kelly Joe Phelps performs at 8 p.m. Tuesday at Twilight, 1507 E Seventh Ave., Ybor City. $15. (813) 247-4225.
-- GINA VIVINETTO, Times pop music critic
Back to Weekend
© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111
|
