Cowboy Junkies, Medeski Martin and Wood, Elton John
by Seth Rogovoy

(WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. Sept . 10, 1998) --

Cowboy Junkies: Minimalist soul

Though not quite a pop album, “Miles From Our Home” (Geffen), the Cowboy Junkies latest recording, is probably the Canadian group’s most expansive and accessible without betraying its unique essence. Building upon the ensemble’s signature sound -- featuring Margo Timmins’s quietly understated, almost conversational vocals atop the rootsy, spare instrumentation provided by Timmins brothers Michael and Peter and childhood friend Alan Anton -- the new album boasts greater stylistic range, with songs hinting at ‘60s psychedelia and ‘70s pop-soul.

“New Dawn Coming” kicks off the album with a burst of minor-key, Jefferson Airplane-style psychedelic rock, with swirling keyboards, pounding jungle rhythms and eerie harmony singing by a multi-tracked Margo Timmins. The title track is a new-wave rock confection, sort of The Cars meet Yo La Tengo, with a buzzing guitar drone and a catchy, melodic chorus. The album continues in this vein, with soul-oriented gems such as “Darkling Days” and “Someone Out There.” Lyricist Michael Timmins is as cryptic as ever, reliant on the suggestive power of haiku-like phrases to paint word portraits rather than telling specific stories.

Cowboy Junkies bookends our area with shows at Pearl Street in Northampton on Sunday, Sept. 13, at 8:30, and at the Troy (N.Y.) Savings Bank Music Hall on Saturday, Sept. 19, at 8. Fellow Canadians Over the Rhine open both shows.

Medeski Martin and Wood’s new groove

Combining organ-trio jazz, deep funk and an anything-goes experimental sensibility, Medeski Martin and Wood have won the ears and loyalty of the new-groove nation. On the group’s latest album, “Combustication” (Blue Note), its sixth, the sometime denizens of New York’s downtown avant-garde temple the Knitting Factory stir up a tasty brew of their accessible brand of jazz-funk, including a gospelized version of Sly Stone’s “Everyday People.” At various junctures the group nods to The Meters, Miles Davis and even Emerson Lake and Palmer, and DJ Logic is on hand to lend some state-of-the-art turntable art to the mix.

All this has endeared MMW to the post-Grateful Dead, Phish-head legions, which may or may not be a good sign. But credit the band with using its newfound popularity to steer fans towards neglected jazz artists such as guitarist John Scofield, with whom they collaborated on the recent “A Go Go” (Verve), and with whom Medeski and Wood will perform, along with James Brown drummer Clyde Stubblefield, at Albany’s Palace Theater on Monday, Sept. 14, and at Mt. Holyoke College’s Chapin Auditorium on Thursday, Sept. 17, at 7, as part of Scofield’s “All Star Groovathon,” which also includes Charlie Hunter and Pound for Pound.

Elton John: The candle never burns out

However you care to look at him -- as the sentimental balladeer for our time, as the caretaker of our heartstrings, or as the beast that refused to die -- there is no denying Elton John’s longevity and perseverance. For nearly 30 years he has loomed as a top hitmaker, with over three dozen Top 40 hits and at least a dozen number ones.

With his longtime lyricist, Bernie Taupin, John has penned such era-defining smash hits as “Your Song,” “Bennie and the Jets” and “Crocodile Rock.” His showman’s flair and mutable character has fit him for a lonely astronaut on “Rocket Man” and a cartoon character on “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” from the soundtrack to “The Lion King.” And, of course, he is the master of the pop eulogy, from the John Lennon tribute, “Empty Garden (Hey Hey Johnny)” to the Marilyn Monroe ode, “Candle in the Wind,” which he resurrected for Princess Diana’s funeral a year ago in a rewritten version which garnered him a Grammy Award and a knighthood, as well as becoming the largest selling single record of all time.

Riding an upsurge in a career that has seen its fair share of ebb and flow, John has been touring virtually non-stop for a couple of years, and brings his latest tour to Albany’s Pepsi Arena next Tuesday, Sept. 15.

Other pop shows coming to the Capitol District this week include teenybopper sensations Hanson at the Pepsi Arena on Friday, Sept. 11, and jam-rock band From Good Homes, inaugurating the new Clifton Park nightclub, Northern Lights, formerly Park West, on Saturday, Sept. 12. Look for Ominous Seapods, Savoy Brown, The Nields, Blue Oyster Cult, Conehead Buddha and Marshall Tucker Band at Northern Lights later this fall.

Critic’s picks

In addition to The Nields, who are at Williams College in Williamstown on Saturday night (see article elsewhere in this issue), there are a host of other great concert opportunities in the greater region in the next week.

In Northampton, Jennifer Kimball, formerly of The Story, previews songs off of her brand-new, major-label solo debut, “Veering from the Wave” (Imaginary Road), at the Iron Horse on Saturday night at 7. Catch the other chapter of The Story, Jonatha Brooke, mid-week next week at the Iron Horse on Wednesday and Thursday nights at 7.

Later in the week, Pearl Street grooves to the sounds of Maceo Parker on Monday, Sept. 14, and the Greyboy All Stars Side Car Project on Tuesday. Both shows are at 8:30.

[This column originally appeared in the Berkshire Eagle on September 10, 1998. Copyright Seth Rogovoy 1998. All rights reserved.]