Chrissie Hynde oozes attitude. At 57, she still possesses a distinctive and charismatic voice suited so well for rock ‘n roll. Or any of rock’s offshoots: punk, new wave, R&B, balladry, even country, among others.
Hynde’s charisma on stage is in place as well. She’s sexy, sarcastic and devilishly fun to watch as she puts her latest version of The Pretenders through their paces of playing a mix of classic Pretenders material and newer tunes, many from 2008’s Break Up The Concrete.
Her guitar, bass and pedal steel band, with original member Martin Chambers on drums, played a 90-minute set Friday at the Oakdale Theatre in Wallingford, Connecticut that included all those mixed elements of repertoire and rarely let down in execution or energy.
She opened without her trademark Telecaster and sang the title track from last year’s album, a Bo Diddley flavored tune with perfectly orchestrated stage movements and syncopated lighting that accented her vocals at the end of each chorus — dramatic and effective. Then donning her guitar, she and her band went right into Middle Of The Road, an ’80s staple from one of The Pretenders most successful albums Learning To Crawl. Continue reading New Pretenders have old allure
The group that came from the splintering of Buffalo Springfield, with singer/songwriter-guitarist Richie Furay and guitarist-producer Jim Messina from the Springfield joining with pedal steel player Rusty Young, drummer George Grantham and bassist Randy Meisner, produced some of the most pleasing harmonies, hottest picking and well-written songs in the early days of country-rock.
With Woodstock’s 40th anniversary coming up later this month, we came across the 
By Young’s account he drove into the ditch and stayed away from the mainstream. That might be a little overstated. He’s had artistic and commercial successes since during his long and buoyant career and some were planted firmly in the mainstream.
First to Roger McGuinn and David Crosby in The Byrds, then to Gram Parsons in the seminal country-rock band The Flying Burrito Brothers and to Stephen Stills in Manassas. Now he has his own sidekick. Or rather Hillman and Herb Pedersen are sidekicks for each other.
From the moment I walked in I was struck by the sound of a young woman’s voice. She was set up in the cafe playing solo, accompanying herself on a Yamaha electric piano. As I walked around I kept being drawn to the woman’s accomplished classical-leaning playing and her smooth, proficient and captivating vocals.
His voice had changed somewhat but the trademark quality that graced so many of The Band’s signature tunes was intact with a slightly raspier flavor.
Rosanne Cash does that, perhaps as well or better than anybody. At the Infinity Music Hall in Norfolk, Connecticut Tuesday night, Cash mixed songs from Black Cadillac, an album dedicated to her late father Johnny Cash, and a few requests with songs from her upcoming album The List, which will consist of some of the pillars of the great American country songbook.
He rarely plays in the States but Taylor was scheduled to be at four venues in or near Connecticut: Toad’s Place in New Haven, Black-Eyed Sally’s in Hartford, the Iron Horse Music Hall in Northampton, Mass., or if you wanted to drive a little further, Misquamicut Beach in Westerly, R.I.
I caught The Beehive Queen and her remarkable band Rebel Montez Saturday night at Cafe Nine, a tiny club that might hold 200, in New Haven, Connecticut. Chris showed why she is one of the state’s legendary R&B/soul singers as I watched her play the first of two 90-minute sets that included original tunes from each of her five albums and a number of meticulously chosen covers that not only put her vast talents on full display but also carried a sense of blues and soul history.