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by Seth Rogovoy
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., May 17, 1996 -- Since I recently bemoaned the preliminary offerings at area venues this summer, I thought it only fair to share with promoters one man's secret wish list of performers he would like to see. Hence the list that follows. All of these artists are touring this summer.
First on my list has to be Bob Dylan. Ever since his appearance at Woodstock '94, Dylan's concerts have drawn unequivocally rave reviews. A recent show in Springfield saw him singing magnificently and mixing up obscure tunes ("Tears of Rage," "Wheel's On Fire") with old favorites ("Tangled Up In Blue," "Maggie's Farm"), all in bright-sounding arrangements. But it is Dylan's newfound stage presence and sense of purpose -- light years away from what some judged to be a disappointing show last time he played Tanglewood -- that local audiences need to see firsthand.
Other well-known rock acts many of us would like to see include Lou Reed, Steely Dan, Randy Newman, Bob Seger, Sting and John Hiatt.
Area venues need to foster newer performers, too. Among the best younger artists are Soul Coughing -- whose lead singer, M. Doughty, went to Simon's Rock College in Great Barrington -- the Wallflowers, led by Dylan's son Jakob, the Dave Matthews Band, Presidents of the United States and Luscious Jackson. Not to mention Tori Amos, Joan Osborne, K.D. Lang, Cowboy Junkies and, what the heck, Alanis Morisette and Hootie and the Blowfish.
England has always produced great rock 'n' roll bands, but we haven't seen the likes of Jethro Tull, The Who and The Kinks since the demise of the Music Inn and rock acts at Tanglewood. Tull is back on the road this summer paired with Emerson, Lake and Palmer, but there's a new British Invasion happening, led by bands such as Oasis, Blur and Pulp. Our region is named after one in England, so it's only right that we show our hospitality and invite some of these bands to the American Berkshires. English stalwarts such as Elvis Costello, Squeeze and Richard Thompson will also be touring this summer.
Folk fans are lucky to be able to catch the best of the new-folk artists at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival every summer. A few who won't be there but who are worth checking out are Bill Morrissey, Dar Williams, Fred Eaglesmith (see below), Brooks Williams, Patty Griffin and The Chieftains.
Country fans are probably the most underserved population in the Berkshires. They will get the chance to see Willie Nelson at the Night Shift in North Adams on Sept. 11, but in the meantime, how about someone bringing any or all of Nelson's bandmates from the Highwaymen -- Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson? Merle Haggard is making the rounds again, as are perennial touring acts such as Michelle Shocked, Lucinda Williams, Emmylou Harris, Travis Tritt, Dwight Yoakam and Vince Gill. There's also a new-wave of country-rock acts, including Son Volt, Steve Earle and the Mavericks.
It has been years since Toots and the Maytals gave one of the best shows ever at the old Berkshire Performing Arts Center, and it's high time they were brought back for an encore. Soul legend Al Green is back out on the hustings, playing his first "secular" or non-gospel performances since the 1970s.
With rare exceptions, jazz is always crowded into one long weekend of Tanglewood's Labor Day Jazz Festival. How about some other performers -- perhaps Leon Parker, Cassandra Wilson, Angela Bofill, Terence Blanchard, James Carter, Roy Hargrove, David Murray, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Chick Corea, Dianne Reeves, Wayne Shorter, Henry Threadgill, Charlie Haden, Sonny Rollins, John Zorn or Wallace Roney -- spread throughout the summer months?
There are plenty of world music artists hitting the road this summer, including Hugh Masekela, Boukman Esperyans, Burning Spear, Johnny Clegg, Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens and Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Itzhak Perlman, no stranger to the Berkshires, is headlining a klezmer festival, featuring a lineup that reads like a who's who of klezmer: the Klezmer Conservatory Band, the Klezmatics, Brave Old World and the Andy Statman Klezmer Orchestra. That show would be a guaranteed sellout at Tanglewood any day of the week.
And if there must be oldies shows, how about Tom Jones, The Monkees, The Temptations, The Four Tops, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Wilson Pickett, Barry White or the Everly Brothers? Or the incredible package tour called the "'70s Music Explosion," featuring the Village People, K.C. and the Sunshine Band, Gloria Gaynor, Kool and the Gang, Laura Branigan, Vicki Sue Robinson, the Tramps and Deney Terio?
Fred Eaglesmith's new album, "Drive-In Movie" (Vertical), sounds like the serious result of one of those wacky games writers play with each other. Someone must have dared Eaglesmith to write an entire album's worth of songs wherein motor vehicles are the central element or key metaphor of every song, for trains, cars and diesel engines abound in these 10 new, rootsy, folk-, country- and acoustic-rock songs. Some are about engines themselves, but most are about the engines that drive men mad. Whether he's writing about love, sex or heartbreak, Eaglesmith keeps finding new and imaginative ways to use that most American of symbols to illuminate emotional turbulence.
There's nothing unique about using cars in pop songs, but on "Drive-In Movie" Eaglesmith has turned the mundane into a new art form. The emotional realism of his weary vocals, sort of a cross between Bruce Springsteen and Randy Newman, and the economy of his line combine to propel Eaglesmith to the front line of contemporary singer-songwriters, alongside the likes of John Hiatt and Bill Morrissey, both of whom he also resembles. This heretofore unknown Canadian warms up the crowd at the Iron Horse in Northampton tonight at 7 for Robert Earl Keen -- no songwriting slouch himself.
(This column originally appeared in the Berkshire Eagle on May 17, 1996. Copyright Seth Rogovoy 1996. All rights reserved.)
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