The Reverend Tor Band, Kathy Mattea, Anam, National Music Foundation's anti-music policy, Radio Beat
by Seth Rogovoy

(WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., June 25, 1998)
The very rocking reverend

The Reverend Tor Band, the Berkshires' answer to the Allman Brothers Band, has just released a new CD -- its best one yet -- and will be celebrating its good fortune this Friday night, June 26, with a CD- release concert at LaCocina in Pittsfield.

"Whatever It Takes" includes a dozen original tunes -- funky, neo- hippie rockers distinguished by leader Tor Krautter's soulful, gritty vocals and the twin-guitar leads of Krautter and former Lord Hill guitarist Jason Webster, who also adds vocal harmonies. Bassist Dan Esko and drummer Derrick Rodgers handle the rhythmic chores on the CD.

Dave Vittone contributes some colorful, vintage-sounding keyboard drones to "Barefoot Betty," a Grateful Dead-style shuffle, and some psychedelic noodling to "The Black Mile." Pete Adams, formerly of Dooley Austin, lends his wailing pedal-steel guitar to the ballad "The Gaze."

The CD also includes a very funky version of "Snakes and Bones" by former Berkshire songwriter Bil Krauss. Through the miracle of digital technology, Krauss actually added backup vocals to the track without leaving his home in South Carolina.

After Friday night's gig, the group is New York City-bound, where it will perform at the famed nightclub The Bitter End in Greenwich Village on Saturday night. The new disk was produced, engineered, mixed and mastered by Frank Kennedy at Derek Studios in Dalton. For more information, check the group's website at www.revtor.com or write to Smelly Dog Productions, 99 Valleyview Rd., Stephentown, NY 12168.

Kathy Mattea's angelic country-pop

A pop album wrapped in country clothing, Kathy Mattea's "Love Travels" (Mercury) is typical of the artist's work: a collection drawn from the work of some of the best contemporary singer-songwriters in the folk and country genres. Included here are songs by the likes of Gillian Welch, Cheryl Wheeler, David Rawlings, Jim Lauderdale, Janis Ian, Don Henry and Tom Kimmel, who will be performing in downtown North Adams's Music on Main Street series at the Manic Stage on July 22.

The songs on "Love Travels" are tied together by their spiritual orientation -- angels and crossroads abound -- but are musically eclectic, with gospel, Latin, pop, Celtic and country touches mixing and matching throughout.

Grammy-winner Mattea, whose biggest hits include Nanci Griffith's "Love at the Five and Dime" and Julie Gold's "From a Distance," will close a weekend of activities at LaFesta's JuneFest '98 at Noel Field Athletic Complex on State Street in North Adams, when she performs a special acoustic program at 8. For more information, call 663-3782.

Foundation takes anti-music stance

"Pennington clarifies Foundation's concert agenda," read an Eagle headline on June 5, 1998. But far from "clarifying" her organization's agenda, comments by National Music Foundation president Gloria Pennington raised serious, troublesome doubts about the foundation's position on the preservation and perpetuation of American music.

Regarding programming at the National Music Center, Pennington was quoted as saying, "If it was outrageous or wild, I wouldn't do it." Perhaps Pennington might want to ask foundation chairman Dick Clark or founder Joey Dee about the initial reception their music first received back in the '50s. Rock 'n' roll -- which Pennington oddly said was not American music (what is more American than rock 'n' roll music?) -- was first greeted as outrageous, wild noise meant to seduce and corrupt the youth of America.

Now, of course, Dick Clark is the poster boy of a squeaky-clean establishment willing to overlook his early involvement in the music- business payola scandals, and the foundation trots out Joey Dee every chance it gets to please the white-shoe set with what is today regarded as a tame, innocent, nostalgic pleasure. But if the foundation refuses to embrace what today is deemed "wild" or "outrageous," then how will the Joey Dees of tomorrow get their due?

And what in the world did Pennington mean by the seemingly ignorant non-sequitur, "We're not going to have a reggae concert." Why not? What's wrong with this Jamaican-based, spiritual dance music imbued with positive messages of peace and love? I don't even want to begin to speculate what biases might have triggered that comment.

Anam's vibrant Celtic mix

The 350-odd concertgoers who packed the Clark Art Institute's auditorium in Williamstown in March to hear Anam, the pan-Celtic quartet that none of them had ever seen or heard previously -- up until that point the band had never performed in the U.S. nor had it released an album stateside -- did not leave disappointed. The ensemble proved incredibly entertaining, combining virtuoso Celtic roots music with touches of jazz and world-beat influences in a manner that maintained the integrity of the source material. It didn't hurt that group leaders and vocalists Brian O'hEadra and Aimee Leonard had plenty of stage presence to spare -- and that's no blarney.

With the group's American debut, "Riptide" (Green Linnet), just released earlier this month, Anam is poised to ride to the top of the Celtic music wave. Catch them live on Saturday night in Altamont, N.Y., as part of the weekend-long Old Songs Festival, which begins on Friday, June 26, and runs through Sunday, June 28. Members of Anam will be hosting Celtic music workshops throughout the day on Saturday and Sunday. Other performers include Gordon Bok, Bob Franke, Cindy Kallet, John Kirk and Trish Miller, and Klezmer band Freylykh Freylykh. For more info call (518) 765-2815 or visit www.crisny.org/not-for-profit/oldsongs/.

Radio Beat

Another in our occasional tallies of the most-played CDs on our private, imaginary radio station.

• 1. Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson, "VH1 Storytellers" (American)
• 2. Anam, "Riptide" (Green Linnet)
• 3. Charlie Hunter and Pound for Pound, "Return of the Candyman" (Blue Note)
• 4. Robbie Robertson, "Contact from the Underworld of Redboy" (Capitol)
• 5. Bonnie Raitt, "Fundamental" (Capitol)
• 6. Lou Reed, "Perfect Night: Live in London" (Reprise)
• 7. Robby Baier, "Soul Tube" (Soul Tube)
• 8. Finley Quaye, "Maverick a Strike" (550 Music)
• 9. Bill Laswell, "Panthalassa: The Music of Miles Davis 1969-1974"
• 10. Various Artists, "Godzilla: The Album" (Epic/Sony Music Soundtrax)