| JT Nero and Allison Russell |
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| Saturday, February 18, 2012 |
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JT NERO and ALLISON RUSSELL
Sat. Feb. 18
Seven Steps Up
116 S. Jackson St.
Spring Lake, MI
(616) 678-3618
www.sevenstepsup.com
$18 adv/$22 door
8:00pm
"The hottest pairing in roots music." (Irish World)
JT Nero is a strange and distinct songwriter - he lists Mark Twain and Sam Cooke among his biggest influences. He is a poet of the everyday and the absurd, the lonely, the hopeful and the semi-hopeful. He's got a fractured country soul croon, full of doo-wop ghosts and old time religion.
Whether touring with his muse and frequent collaborator, Allison Russell (Po' Girl), or backed by the scintillating Chicago rock n' soul outfit, the Clouds, Nero has emerged as one of the compelling new voices in American music. With the Clouds he's a rock n' roll preacher -- on his own, he digs deeper into darker, often fantastical nuances of his work.
You might cry in your beer listening to Nero's Mountains/Forests - which features Russell and members of the Clouds - but you may not know exactly why you're crying. There's recognizable lonely hearts -- but they float through dreamscapes populated by elephant kings, electric sea horses, sentimental gang bangers and dying honeybees. The instruments are largely of the back porch variety - plugged in axes were traded for acoustics, banjo, accordion - and the album was made in 4 days, in a cabin in Door County, Wisconsin.
There's not much Allison Russell can't sing, which is no surprise to many loyal Po' Girl fans. She's got a bit of the speakeasy chanteuse in her, a bit of old R&B, but with a delicacy and clarity of phrasing that Ma Carter or Loretta Lynn would surely approve of. She plays banjo, ukulele, guitar, and clarinet. She's also a top shelf whistler. She writes gorgeous, unpredictable songs, and makes other people's tunes - often Nero's - her own with startling ease.
As a duo, Nero and Russell's gifts dovetail easily. Their harmony singing - not too perfect, not at all saccharine, set against a sparsely plucked backdrop - is a fine thing. After the Mountains/Forests tour, they will be in the studio, recording their first proper duo record, Birds of Chicago, Volume 1, due mid-2012. In the meantime, they will be, per usual, on the road - you won't have work too hard to get to a show - they'll find you.
"Slinky, vulnerable and reverent of the Memphis soul of yore."
(Local Acts on Verge of Breaking Big-Time - Chicago Tribune)
"The combination of JT's sweetly fractured blue eyed soul voice and that of Allison Russell is a thing of sheer beauty, completely joyful for your ears to behold. This is more or less perfect Americana. 10 out of 10." (Americana UK-"Mountains/Forests" review)
"The hottest pairing in roots music. The result of mixing Nero's fractured country soul voice and Russell's silver and gold tones is pure honey to the eardrums. Accompanied by only a guitar and banjo, it's chillingly good. With a full band in toe, it's a full tilt revival!" (The Irish World-"Mountains/Forests" review)
"10 beautiful songs about the state of the world played with a distractingly simple quality and two perfectly aligned voices. The music seems to cross from Roots Americana into the most delicious Soul & R&B seamlessly and the lyrics stand listening to time and again. This might be one of the top ten Americana albums of 2011 or even top 5." (Music News-UK-"Mountains/Forests review) |
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Venue : Seven Steps Up |
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