True Confessions of a Music Junkie

My identity isn’t being shrouded because of shame. It is being hidden because we wouldn’t want bands to know I’m coming, now would we?

Music has always been a big part of my life. It played in the background of my house as a child. I can remember “top to bottom” cleanings on the weekends being performed to the sounds of MTV, singing to Cyndi Lauper and Tears for Fears.

I associate songs to events in my life, to people and to the places I remember hearing them. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve expanded the sounds I listen to. I enjoy soul, rap, rock, country, jazz, blues, pop and techno. My library can either be described as eclectic or as having attention deficit disorder.

I promise not to be so off-topic and verbose in the future, but I felt the need to tout some credentials.

I had the pleasure of traveling to St. Louis this week to see James Morrison play the Duck Room at Blueberry Hill. The Duck Room is downstairs and intimate with limited seating. Chuck Berry plays one Wednesday night a month in the room decorated with golden age music equipment and memorabilia. Music posters, pictures and paintings of Chuck and other artists line the walls.

Jessie Baylin opened the evening with a small set of her songs. Jessie was accompanied by her acoustic guitarist and in one song with the pianist for James Morrison. She was energetic but failed to capture the audience. Her voice was smoky and dark, like a peppier Tori Amos. Lots of milling about and chatter filled the room. A few people could be seen nodding, a couple of people were mouthing words.

The lyrics (that could be heard over the crowd) were truthful, but very young and lacked real depth. The highlight was her bouncy “air guitar dance” and her (in my opinion) cute guitarist. A teaser CD of five songs was available for purchase at the door. The full album is available on iTunes. If you plan on seeing James in Nashville (the closest location to Indiana left on the schedule) go ahead and arrive fashionably late.

Set up for Mr. Morrison’s set took about five minutes, but the intermission was around a half hour. With very little seating, this seemed a little too long for a relatively unknown artist. As a testament to his local popularity (even though he is from UK) the crowd continued to arrive just before he took the stage. He played a set of several of his songs from his album “Undiscovered.”

The crowd knew his songs well, singing along to all of them and occasionally shouting out requests during song breaks. He bantered with the crowd, talking about his humble upbringing and his travels in the U.S. After the show he signed copies of his album for sale at the door for ten bucks. The meet and greet went quickly, even with taking a picture with nearly every person in line. Later this year, James Morrison will have some shows with John Mayer.

If you like artists like John Mayer, Joss Stone, Norah Jones, Corrine Bailey Rae or Mat Kearney, then check out James Morrison.

Ed. Note: Stay tuned for more from Secretly Tuneful...

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