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Concert Mon Mar 26 2007
Neko Case Closing For Sonny Smith Wednesday at Park West ;)
Neko Case is coming to town. Seen that...done that, right? Well she's always pretty spectacular live. For this show she has a Californian singer-songwriter named Sonny Smith opening up, he's reason enough to head out to Park West this Wednesday. It seems his record label, Belle Sound, was started solely to get Sonny Smith's new cd Fruitvale out to a larger market. The label is somehow related to the great Chuck Prophet (I think he "owns" it since the label's previous releases were Green On Red collectibles). Chuck Prophet:
"The characters in Sonny's songs are so real, don't be surprised if they crawl out of your speakers and bum your last smoke off you. I wouldn't wish running a label on my worst enemy. Sonny is so good I had no choice."
Sonny's previous albums have been concept records (a series of one act plays, another about broken love). The new one is also a loose concept record with all the songs based on the Fruitvale neighborhood found within the city of Oakland. "Curtis On The Corner" is a microcosom of the entire album writ small. In just one song you get plenty of imagery about the neighborhood of Fruitvale ("2 bird cages on a windowsill", "a singing butcher at the grocery store", "a pitbull singing to a police siren", and "a dead bottle-rocket on my front porch"). And you also get a sense of the folk troubodour sound found throughout, as if a kind of roughed-up Paul Simon (circa "Me and Julio Down By The Schoolyard") married a woozy and now strangely urban Townes Van Zandt. Guests on the record include Leroy Bach (Wilco), Dave Hilliard (David Byrne), Mathew Luz (Azita) and three of the most fabulous Chicago female singers ever - Nora O'Connor, Edith Frost and Kelly Hogan.
On Wednesday the 28th Sonny Smith opens up for Neko Case at Park West get there early and no talking during the opener!
[mp3]: Curtis On The Corner - Sonny Smith
[mp3]: Hold On, Hold On - Neko Case
