It doesn’t happen very often, a veteran singer-songwriter hooking up with a veteran band to form a new, um, solo band. But over the past couple of weeks, not one but two veteran singer-songwriters have hooked up with two veteran bands.
I have no idea whether the new outfits are going to be band bands or just vehicles for the main dude’s songs. But I’m of the mind that, while the backing musos will be instrumental in shaping the music, they’re gonna be respectful of the main dude’s vision, mainly because the two main dudes have visions – well, that too, but what I mean is, each has an artistic vision. Before he moved back a couple of weeks ago, Daniel Katsük had been doing his DayGlo folk-Americana in Colorado. When he came home, all he had, basically, was his reputation, though of course that proved more than enough. Sally Majestic, the extremely technically talented Cowtown rock trio, has been experiencing a resurgence of sorts – the time seems right for both Katsük and Sally to hit and hit hard. The other main dude, Americana singer-songwriter Carey Wolff, has teamed up with the thinking man’s cover band, Velvet Love Box, a development I discovered recently somewhat by accident downtown at Malone’s Pub, where Wolff occasionally tends bar. (Apologies, Carey, for my rampant jackassery last week.) VLB frontman Neil Schnell said that VLB and Wolff might do some songwriting together. In any event, they will make their debut of sorts Friday at Moon Bar (2911 West Berry St., 817-926-9600), opening for Chatterton, a roots-rock project helmed by another veteran singer-songwriter, Kevin Aldridge, who, incidentally, also travels with killer musos in his back pocket. … I wouldn’t characterize myself as a major classical music buff. I dig some experimental stuff along the lines of Philip Glass and John Adams (great music to study to), and I think some of Aaron Copland’s pastoral suites are excellent balms for when you’re stuck in traffic and wanna strangle, well, pretty much every other driver on the road. But big, brash symphonies? Eh, they’re OK, I guess, at least if you hear them in person, but I can think of about 10 or 12 other types of music, including Slovenian polka and Gregorian chant, that I’d elect to dial up on my iPod before Brahms, Beethoven, and their buddies. However, I do love Fort Worth (represent!), and I’m always quick to point out when we get some love from national media. In case you missed it, the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra performed last Saturday at Carnegie Hall in New York City and reportedly, y’know, turned that mutha out. The New York Times was effusive in its praise. In a review auspiciously titled “Texas Ensemble Plants Flag in New York” (Jan. 28), senior classical music critic Anthony Tommasini wrote that FWSO conductor Miguel Harth-Bedoya’s players “lived up to expectations, especially with their assured, rich-hued and impassioned account of Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony.” WRR Classical 101.1-FM broadcast the performance live, and people who listened to the performance, either on 101 or in Midtown Manhattan, are invited to share their experiences on the radio station’s web site: www.wrr101.com.
Contact HearSay at hearsay@fwweekly.com.
