Karrin Allyson – Silver Lining – Songs of Bonnie Raitt
Karrin Allyson is innately cool. Confident vocal ease wraps appealing attitude. Loose-limbed movement is infectiously appealing. The artist’s alto slip/slides or sails out like a Frisbee – no stress, no unnecessary something-to-prove volume even when open-throated. Material by and made popular by Bonnie Raitt is shared with apparent pleasure.
“Valley of Pain” (Bonnie Raitt) has the purposeful drag of a New Orleans marching band. Alas, Allyson’s own band drowns her out. Lyrics are all but lost but for inflection. We watch her step, shift, sway, rotate arms, and bounce thinking if only… “Something to Talk About” (Shirley Eikhard) is also terrific fun to watch, but lyrics that come through do so because they’re familiar.
Raitt’s “Cry On My Shoulder” finds Allyson at sinuous piano, her vocal smoky. Back-up is more subdued. One can’t help but fantaticize about a set featuring just piano and guitar. “Just Passin’ Through,” an Allyson original, arrives with brush percussion. It’s a bobbing-along song, a pleasant journey. “Angel From Montgomery” (Bonnie Raitt) elicits notes held or rolled to great effect. Rod Fleeman’s guitar is grand.
An effective two-step Hillbilly “Hear Me Lord” replete with tambourine, offers gospel lyrics parroted on cue by our audience. The Honky-tonk “Have a Heart” follows. Chris Caswell’s synthesizer cuts its own path. We’re with the group on both tunes. “Love Me Like a Man’ (Bonnie Raitt) is a hard-beat blues. Allyson gets inside. It is, however, a wall of sound. Randy Newman’s “Guilty (for the rest of my life”) emerges slow and low with molasses vocal.
It’s distracting to see the talented artist read so many lyrics. Were sound balance better, the audience wouldn’t leave feeling we’d missed half the show.
Opening Photo Courtesy of Karrin Allyson
Karrin Allyson – Silver Lining – Songs of Bonnie Raitt
Chris Caswell (keyboards), Jay Young (electric bass), Jerome Jennings (drums) Rod Fleeman (guitar)
Birdland
315 West 44th Street
