Bess Rogers, Lelia Broussard, & Jack Rabbits of the Yucatan Live @ Rockwood Music Hall

So...a couple weeks ago, I went to check out Jenny Owen Youngs & Emily Wells at City Winery (you may have read something about that somewhere). Anyhoo...after the show, I had the chance to chat with Jenny and found out about this little something going on at Rockwood Music Hall, and how Bess Rogers would be playing, and how she is so awesome, and so I should go. So I went! Bess was supposed to go on at 9pm, but I got there a little early and caught the end of the preceding act. The AS-IS Ensemble...sounds like: some of the best jazz you've ever heard. seriously, cruise by their myspace and show them some love. It will be time well-spent.

Moving on. Rockwood Music Hall...is really like a smallish music room. It's a really nice room though. Actually, there are two rooms. One main room with the big, full bar where the stage is; and another room of equal size with a big screen t.v. so you can watch the music you're listening to if you didn't get there early enough to be in the other room. Also, the acoustics are stellar. If you can find a reason to go, please by all means, go.

So, Bess Rogers! Before this evening, I only had a peripheral knowledge of Bess Rogers and her musical oeuvre, as it were. I had seen her play with Jenny Owen Youngs once or twice, and thought that she was a guitarist who also happened to do back-up vocals. Nice girl. Cool hair. But wait! There's more! What I didn't realize was that she is a talented artist-singer-songwriter in her own right. I love it when people are full of good surprises. I did do a little homework on her myspace beforehand, so I was familiar with a couple of the songs she played (Bulldozer & I Don't Worry). Between songs she chatted with the band (Chris Kuffner on guitar, Dan Romer on keys, Allie Moss on backing vocals and gorgeous harmonies, and not one, but two drummers - Elliott Jacobson and Adam Christgau). She even told the story of her shiny new ukulele. Apparently, she got to go to the factory where they make them and pick it out when it was just a little "ukulele fetus" - a slab of wood; and they made her a ukulele from scratch! Then pause just long enough to launch into the next song. Everything To Lose, for instance.

The banter was fun and all, but Bess' voice was the real main attraction. She definitely gets my award for sweetest vocals of the evening. Bess' sound is something I didn't quite expect. She rocks , yes it's true, but when she sings her tone is so clear and so pure. It's like a bell ringing. And with assists on the tightly woven harmonies from Allie Moss and Chris Kuffner, it was the icing on the cake. She did also treat us to some tasty little nuggets of as-yet unrecorded goodness (she's releasing something new in the springtime...I've only heard two songs and I'm excited! It's that good). Hey look! Here's one now! Check it out:

Bess Rogers performing When You Lose @ Rockwood Music Hall

I also had the good fortune to catch up with Bess after the set...and by "catch up", I mean I hunted her down to get a copy of her latest EP. Aaaaaaaaannnnnd, she gave me a free sticker!

Next up was Lelia Broussard, whom I'd not only never heard, but never even heard of until I just happened to turn up at this show. Well, let's just say I'm glad I finally got caught up. My general first impression of Lelia Broussard is that she is all little and cute and plays guitar. If adorable British crooner Adele and alt. country/alt. rocker Bonnie Raitt had a baby, it would probably sound something like Leila Broussard. Yes, she plays a mean guitar. Yes, she rocks pretty frickin' hard. But this belies the fact that her voice has this guttural rip to it, and her vocal transitions from the very low to the very high are sublime and something that everyone should experience at least once in his/her lifetime. She was backed up by the ubiquitous Chris Kuffner on guitar, Elliott Jacobson on drums, and Dan Romer on keys. She even got Bess Romer back up on stage for a minute to help out with harmonies on one song...have a look-see:

Lelia Broussard performing Shoot For The Moon @ Rockwood Music Hall

She also has a wicked sense of humor as evidenced in her song Hipster Bitch - apparently, we share similar sentiments about hipsters and Williamsburg...Who knew? You can see some of that right here...

Last to take the stage was Jackrabbits Of The Yucatan. Now, if you paid attention in school, you'd know that in Elizabethan England (Shakespeare's time), Jackrabbits Of The Yucatan was often used as a colorful euphemism for Jenny Owen Youngs. Jenny was also supported on stage by Chris Kuffner on bass, Dan Romer on keys, and Elliott Jacobson & Adam Christgau on drums. What I love about this is that, even though each singer-songwriter-asskicker performing has her own voice and her own style, they all get together and support eachother like one big musical family. And everyone sounds awesome and leaves you with a unique impression. From an artistic/creative standpoint, it's kinda beautiful. Awww....hugs, everybody! But, I digress...As she was performing under an assumed name, it was only fitting that she perform covers...of some of her own classic hits. And for this, Jenny takes the award for best surprise of the evening. She opened with Nighty Night with an assist from Dan Romer breakin' it down on accordion (y'all know how I feel about accordians...and the men who play them). She did a mellowed out version of Secrets, a bossa nova version of Voice On Tape, and Clean Break got broken down. She also did some more standard-ish versions of some of my favorites. What Beats Within being one. Check it out:

Jenny Owen Youngs performing What Beats Within @ Rockwood Music Hall

I was also able to get some sweet cell phone video of Jenny & Co. performing Dissolve. It's one of my favorite tracks to see and hear her do live, and it was made all the awesomer with Dan Romer rounding out the sound on piano. Hope you like it, too!

Jenny Owen Youngs performing Dissolve @ Rockwood Music Hall.

Perhaps the biggest surprise was Jenny's cover of Toadies' Possum Kingdom. Un-f*cking-believable! Rocked it! For this reason, Jenny also takes home the award for best Rock Hair of the evening. It jumps up and down. It swishes all around. It punctuates guitar licks. It is the stuff that rock legends and shampoo commercials are made of. And she didn't stop there. She did Transmitter Failure (which I always love), and ended her set with Start+Stop...which, I suppose, is a good place to stop. So, she did. Raucous applause all around. Aaannnnnd.....scene. See you at the next show!

p.s. for more videos from this show (and others) go check out my youtube channel here.

Jenny Owen Youngs & Emily Wells Live @ City Winery NYC

She saw you, Levi...and she knows you Whooed.

I found out about this show via Jenny Owen Youngs' Tumblr blog as she was invited, eleventh-hour-style, to join Emily Wells performing at City Winery. Now, I'd never been to City Winery before, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. Lemme fill you in so that, if you should happen to go there at some point (say, for instance, to see Beth Orton perform on 17th January), you will know what to expect. City Winery is, in fact a winery - well, they sell wine anyway. Unlike, say, The Knitting Factory which may have at some point been a knitting factory, but is currently not a factory of any kind. More than that, it is a winery/restaurant with a biggish stage on the back wall. It is beautifully lit, well-appointed, and has lots of tables and chairs that are not moved or rearranged in any way when there is a performance on the afore mentioned biggish stage. Seating is "cozy", so get to know your neighbors because if the place is packed with Jenny Owens Youngs and/or Emily Wells fans (as it just so happened to be on this particular evening), you will all be pretty much sitting in eachother's laps for the duration of the evening. Cozy. The wine is lovely. The food is nothing to write home about, but the accoustics are tremendous; so sit back with your wine and enjoy the show!

After some dramatic red velvet curtain parting, Jenny & Co. took to the stage and promptly commenced to tune their instruments...because, as Jenny told us, "...I care about you and I want the very best for you..." Soon thereafter, she kicked off the evening with If I Didn't Know. She seemed to be still finding her footing a bit with Led To The Sea, but finally hit her stride with the crowd pleaser, Drinking Song. Jenny then asked if there were any babies in the audience. After a few claps and shouts from the crowd, she concluded that there weren't any babies in the audience because, "...babies don't have the ability to clap like that." She seemed mostly concerned about babies in attendance because she thought that she might "...swear a lot accidentally...and then later, on purpose." Nice to know that Jenny's lookin' out for our best interests. Warm fuzzies. Thanks Jenny! All this while switching from electric to acoustic guitar ("Whoa! This is a totally different guitar! That's some Houdini-ass sh*t...") This little exchange was followed by Nighty Night (which, by the way, babies would have loved had there been any in the audience). Secrets was up next and was so kick-ass that i was a little saddened that my cozy seating situation wasn't a standing room only situation. It's definitely a get on your feet and sing along kind of a song. There was much singing along in the room, at any rate. See for yourself!

Jenny Owen Youngs performing Secrets live at City Winery NYC

Next up was no more words...and really, when you listen to the lyrics "I'm in the business of loving you 'til you choke," do you really need more words to describe Jenny's awesome lyrical genius? The answer to that is "No". You're welcome. Check it out.

Jenny Owen Youngs performing No More Words live at City Winery NYC

The highlight of the Jenny's set (well, one of many) was an as yet unheard rendition of Clean Break. Spec-f*cking-tacular!!! It was bigger and louder and ballsier than I've ever heard it performed before. Fun breaks, big guitar flourishes, well-timed drum solos, and fat bass slaps...This version needs to be mp3'd and put up on iTunes immediately! Jenny, can you hear me?!?! This new version of awesomeness from her current release, Transmitter Failure, could only be followed by the debut album awesomeness of F*ck Was I. So, um, that's what Jenny followed it with. Next up was the super fun of Last Person...if you've not yet seen the superfun official music video, you can check it out here. What makes this song so much fun live (well, everything with Jenny involved is fun live...) was that Jenny was joined only by drummer Elliott Jacobson and bassist Chris Kuffner, so when the chorus came around, it was pretty frickin' sweeeet that a big chunk of audience joined in to fill out the call-and-response parts. Hugs, everybody. That was nice.

Jenny slowed things down a bit next with Voice On Tape, where she switched it up a little and played the accompanying bass while Chris worked it out on guitar and backing vocal. ("Oh my God! Did we just trade instruments? I didn't even notice...ha!"...oh, Jenny!) Transmitter Failure, my personal favorite off the album of the same name, came next and definitely did not disappoint. Jenny really let loose and again I wished we were in a standing sort of venue instead of a seating-with-eating sort of venue (though Jenny threw out an "Enjoy the veal, everybody!" once or twice to some well-received laughter). Jenny closed out her set with the closing track from the album, Start + Stop. The song kicked ass. Jenny thoroughly kicked ass and a good time was had by all.

By this time, we were all well-prepared for Emily Wells to work her magic (Jenny Owen Youngs warned us that we may not be prepared for how hard we would be rocked, and how melted off our faces would be..."So that'll be fun..."). Emily began by...well, by having a bunch of guys move her table of magical musical delights and other things that plug in to the front of the stage. But right after that, Emily began with an a capella version of Patti LaBelle's If You Love Me...which was great for me because I grew up on that stuff, but I got the feeling that nobody else really got it. The lingering awkwardness in the air was immediately dissipated, however, when Emily busted out her violin and started McGyvering together sound loops to create her Symphony No. 1 In The Barrel Of A Gun (to raucous applause and great joy at the front table, I might add). For those already familiar with Emily's music, this was exactly what we had been waiting for. For the uninitiated, however, it was a new experience altogether. I loved looking around and watching the faces of people who either hadn't heard Emily before or hadn't seen her perform the music live as they realised they were watching her build each symphony one instrument at a time ("Oh shit! Is that a kid's toy microphone?!"). Equally as impressive as the sheer number of instruments and gadgets laid out on her table was that, apart from being just novel, some were simply unidentifiable. There are musical geniuses, and then there are musical geniuses. And then there is Emily Wells. Emily is on some other sh*t. Period.

But moving along...Symphony No. 1 was followed with Symphony No. 4 (America's Mercy War). Next up was something I was very excited about and a few people had no idea was coming. Emily Wells does a cover of Juicy by the late, great Notorious B.I.G. that is unlike anything you've ever heard. Admittedly, pretty much everything Emily does is unlike anything you've ever, but this is even more different than all of that...which says quite a bit, I think. She even dedicated the song to Lil' Kim...See for yourself!

Emily Wells performing Juicy (cover) live at City Winery in NYC

Symphony No. 6 (Fair Thee Well & The Requiem Mix) came up next. Fans in the crowd immediately recognised the beat and Emily encouraged them to get up and shake their asses...which they did. Good times! Next she started McGyvering for Symphony No. 9 & The Sunshine...apart from a small technical snafu, it was pretty awesome.

Emily Wells performing Symphony No. 9 & The Sunshine live at City Winery NYC

The high point of Emily's set came a few songs later, however, when she performed a new song: Give Ya Everything. Described by Emily as "...probably the closest I've ever gotten to writing a gospel song - I think my mom likes it 'cause I talk about God a little." It was a bit of a departure from the songs on her current album and very warmly received. With an artist like Emily, and a live show like the one she puts on, it's very rare that you get to see her really let loose. I mean, how could she when there are innumerable music cues to attend to and pressing the wrong button at the wrong time could derail an entire evening, not to mention a single song. But Give Ya Everything was that rare moment of her live show where it actually seemed she'd forgotten about the audience for a second and was just doing whatever felt right at the time. It was a breathtaking, put ya hands up, and say Amen kinda moment. The evening came to an end with Take It Easy New York, and an audience wishing that both Jenny and Emily would play just a little bit longer.

Luckily, neither performer was too shy to hang out post-show and rub elbows with us common folk. Jenny was nice enough to chit-chat for a minute and take pics with both yours truly and my new friend Levi. Shweeeet! And just as we were getting ready to leave, I managed to catch Emily's attention, and she was also nice enough to pose for a photo. So here are those...uh hem, I've edited myself out of the photos because, despite being the only one who wasn't drinking that night, I somehow managed to be sleepy-eyed and drunk-looking in every single one. Whatever! See you at the next show!