Dan Zanes and Friends
at Hilbert Circle Theatre
4 stars
While the audience was dotted with young kids brought to the show by parents, the music of Dan Zanes performed at the Hilbert Circle Theater on Sunday was children’s music in name only.
In truth, Zanes, the former singer and songwriter for the 80’s Boston roots/rock band The Del Fuegos, makes music for anyone who will listen. It’s organic, homegrown folk and rock and whatever else you want to call music that is made by five people playing guitars, violin, mandolin, upright bass, drums, and other various instruments.
His 17-song, 70-minute set highlighted his ten solo children’s albums, including a healthy helping from the 2007 Grammy Award winning (for Best Musical Album for Children) record called Catch That Train!
From the time he led the band down the aisle to the stage singing “Lead the Way” and until he exited the same way, one thing was obvious: Zanes is a former rocker who has made a twist to his music to make it more accessible to a different audience. He still leaps and kicks and strikes rock star poses. He shimmies and dances and leads the crowd in singalongs. At one point early in the show he mentioned the theater was “a great place for a concert, if you want to sit and have a concert”, or the audience could choose to have a wild dance party. Cheers from the audience led them to move and dance and come closer to the stage.
The opening “Let’s Shake” and “The Fine Friends are Here” from Catch That Train! recalled the guitar sound of his old rock band, while successfully getting the party started.
Zanes, dressed in a black jacket with orange stripes, and orange shirt and brown corduroy pants, dipped into his new album, Little Nut Tree, while also pulling out some older favorites from the catalogue, including the upbeat “Jump Up” from 2001’s Family Dance.
The rocker, who I first saw when the Del Fuegos were the first of three bands on a Tom Petty bill in Detroit in the late 80’s, still has rock and roll energy. He also has an endearing habit of clicking his heels together à la Dorothy when he is particularly into the music.
After the sixth song, Zanes told a story of his appearance in Indianapolis three years ago when he began working with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Youth Orchestra for the first time. That experience led him to start the same tradition in other cities. He brought out the kids in the orchestra again to accompany him. They remained on stage for the rest of the show, lending depth and beauty to his performance.
A later show highlight included a performance of “Pay Me My Money Down.” The tune can also be found on Bruce Springsteen’s Seeger Sessions album from a few years ago.
The set closed with more music from House Party Time, a joyous version of “Go Down Emmanuel Road,” and a gorgeous performance of “Sweet Rosyanne.”
Del Fuegos
Santacular Christmas Song Countdown – #16 – Rusty Bladen
You will notice, if you are a longtime reader, I throw in a fair amount of unsubstantiated opinion on my way to passing along facts. In reality, if you have read the blog posts over the past year, you already know – via these little nuggets of insight that roll out of my brain, into my fingers and onto the computer – what I like. And trust me, this has everything to do with the song at #16.
If you listed the six (I needed six – five wasn’t enough) musical sounds/songs/albums/artists that are the influences behind this here Rockforward site, it would read like this:
1. The trio of Mellencamp albums in the mid 80’s – “Uh-Huh”, “Scarecrow” and “The Lonseome Jubilee”. Anyone who is 35+ that likes the music we do should recognize how much these albums – especially “Scarecrow” – influenced tons of Americana and roots-rock bands and fans.
2. Tom Petty. Anything Tom Petty.
3. Those late 80’s bands that came on the heels of Petty and Mellencamp (including Gear Daddies, Uncle Tupelo, BoDeans, Del Fuegos, Georgia Satellites, Jason & The Scorchers, Lone Justice, and regional/Indiana artists like Larry Crane, Duke Tomatoe, The Hammerheads, and Henry Lee Summer. That is some and there are more ) Alt-country before they called it that. Heartland rock at the time.
4. Springsteen – for the majesty of the rock and roll, the brilliance of the lyrics, and the passion of the live show. And for the lineage to bar band rock and R&B (like the outstanding J. Geils Band)
5. Power Pop. I think Cheap Trick is woefully underappreciated. Rick Springfield’s “Working Class Dog ” album should be considered great power pop/rock. The Cars debut album is one of the best records in the rock music era. Matthew Sweet’s “Girlfriend ” record was killer. I saw the Romantics live at a bar in 1989 and they were loud, into the performance, and rocked hard, fast and righteously.
6. The current crop of bands that carry on the sounds: Bottle Rockets, Todd Snider, James McMurtry, Cross Canadian Ragweed, and Will Hoge among many more…
So that’s where I come from. And it leads to #16 on our countdown of 20 Christmas roots-rock songs. Indiana’s Rusty Bladen has been working for the past 20 years in the bars, clubs and parties throughout the state. I’ve known him that long, first meeting him when I was a radio jock down at WORX in Madison, Indiana – I was just out of college and had a Sunday night radio show and eventually did mornings for a couple years. He was just starting his solo career after a few years in cover bands. He now plays mainly solo live shows that are always high energy. His sound hits all of the influences I already cited. His writing is blue collar.
About a year ago, he released “Feels Like Christmas”, a holiday album of 11 classic Christmas songs and one original – the title cut. That’s the one we have here. Mellencamp drummer Dane Clark produced the effort, and made it all sound really good. A great country rock/heartland/Americana record. The record is simply my favorite Christmas album of all time. Overstatement? Nah. Listen to the album.
Here’s the song, with it’s fun, quaint, and homegrown video.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2BFQCKHAdE]