Opener: Willy Mason
Venue: Crocodile Cafe - Seattle, WA
Date: 1/27/06
The Crocodile Café isn’t just any old music club. Every NW artist from Eddie Vedder to Elliot Smith has played here, and the bar is notorious for being one of the smokiest, loudest places in town.
Tonight, however, the post-smoking-ban Croc is full of hipsters, folks who listen to The Mountain (103.7 FM), and more notably, a decidedly female crowd. There are gals in their 20s who’ve dragged along their unsuspecting best friend. There are 40-something ladies with their boyfriends, and others who left their husbands at home and headed out with their girlfriends.
Next to me, one of these women stands, shifting from foot to foot in lieu of the opportunity to find an actual seat. We’re tightly packed here against the stage. Heading for the bathroom or the bar would require some serious dedication and perseverance.
It’s hard to believe that on our way here, we wondered if there would be any sort of draw at all. KT Tunstall is hardly a household name here in the States. Back in the UK, where she makes her home, she’s released a couple of CDs, and has become somewhat of a cult favorite.
To hear her on a recording, you may think she sounds like any number of solo female folk- rocker acoustic gals. But seeing her live is a whole different animal, or so I’m told. When we actually arrive at the club to see a line stretching around the corner and up the next block, we’re both pleasantly surprised.
I ask the woman next to me where she heard of KT Tunstall. She says, “I’ve never heard of her before. But my friend’s a huge fan.” This echoes the same sentiment as the gals who were standing behind us in line - one of whom had heard Tunstall on the radio. She was intrigued by the fact that KT’s a solo woman using looping to create her own backup band. Since she couldn’t find a CD to buy online, our line-mate dragged her friend to the show.
This is how a singer/songwriter gets known.
Finally, after an hour of standing like tightly packed sardines, the opening act hits the stage.
His name is Willy Mason. With the first three lyrics in his opening tune, I’m already captivated. One song reminds me of the late Dave Carter; the next brings to mind folk-blues master Taj Mahal. The whole while, I can’t stop thinking about the young Bob Dylan, whose earnest lyrics held such incredible foresight. I hope that Mason’s tour with Tunstall proves fruitful for him. So many incredible songwriters never get to make careers.
Tonight, Mason sings songs about his mother (who just quit her tax-related job to start a blues label in North Carolina), and empathic songs about hope and change.
He only plays for thirty minutes, and I’m disappointed when he leaves.
But, after some time, Tunstall hits the stage, along with her percussionist, whom she introduces as “Lucky Luke.” She grabs her oh-so-sweet Gibson acoustic and starts the night off fiercely. For the next hour, we’re behind Seattle’s worst dancer, who never stops boogying her little heart out.
Tunstall, however, is good. She’s got live looping down to a science. Some acts can make you suffer through a 24-bar intro as they get all their loops recorded into the special looping machine. Tunstall records each loop in two bars or less, while Lucky Luke backs her up on drums, cymbals, tambourine, shakers, and even the wooden box on which he sits.
Most of her songs remind me of something I’ve heard in the background on The Gilmore Girls, but it’s clear that Tunstall is more a live performer than anything. Her ability to command the loops and her rhythm guitar is impressive.
At times, I’m reminded a little of PJ Harvey’s acoustic work, while other times Tunstall is something else altogether. Her songs sing of longing, the weather, and long distance relationships, which, she says “are total shite. Very stupid.”
Having heard her song on WFUV, my impression was that her work was some new brand of acoustic folk, blended with formulaic pop, and maybe a touch of the blues. But now, watching her work her way through this hour-long set, I realize Tunstall is less definable.
By the end of the set (which she caps off with her cover of the Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back”), it’s clear that it doesn’t matter what kind of music Tunstall is playing, because it’s not necessary to define it. If anything, it makes Tunstall a uniquely impressive musical force.
Listen/Download KT Tunstall
