Results tagged “Local Music” from Hollywood Babble On

As you might have seen or heard, the southern rock band The Black Crowes are playing at Club Nokia downtown on Saturday night at 8pm. What you may not know is who is playing before them.

Truth & Salvage Co. has been opening for the Crowes for the majority of their tour, which has stretched out throughout the summer and Fall. T&S Co. has been playing clubs - in various incarnations - in Los Angeles for years now and has finally gotten their big break - signing with the label of Chris Robinson, lead singer of the Crowes and opening for his band.

Like the Crowes, Truth and Salvage play a style of music generally called 'Americana,' which in essence is a blend of bluegrass, rock, southern rock and a touch of country. They also look the part, with most of the guys wearing beards and jeans and sometimes Southern-style hats.

The band consists of six players, four of whom are singer-songwriters who write and/or sing lead on specific songs. The six include Scott Kinnebrew (guitar and vocals), Tim Jones (guitar and vocals), William 'Smitty' Smith (drums and vocals), Walker Young (keyboards and vocals), Adam Grace (keyboards) and Joe Edel (bass) and they got their starts as parts of larger groups in Los Angeles, even though most of them are from other parts of the country. (Three are from North Carolina, one Mississippi and one is from Indianapolis/Kentucky). On any given song, you can hear Kinnebrew, Jones, Young or Smitty (from behind the drums) singing lead for the entire song and several of the other three singing harmonies, many times in three parts to accompany the lead singer.

Much of their dues-paying time came with playing at The Hotel Cafe and Crane's (both in Hollywood), among other places, as the larger group or as solo acts. Jones led a mega-sized group called "The Denim Family Band" that had several of the current members of T&S Co. including Young, Grace, Kinnebrew and Smitty, as well as another singer-songwriter, George Stanford, who played bass in the group, but split off and made his own solo album.

After each of the members played and met each other at The Hotel Cafe, they thought it would a good mix if all of them joined forces and they formed another group. Their manager, who also manages The Black Crowes, introduced the two bands when he realized it might be a good fit.

Prior to going on tour, Truth and Salvage played to large crowds in and around Hollywood as well as in Iraq for the troops there. While on the Crowes tour, they have crisscrossed the country playing again to big crowds in large clubs and theaters, all of whom have taken a liking to the relatively unknown group.

According to Jones, the Crowes fans like them.

We've been getting a great response from them (the Crowes fans). One fan said 'I had never heard of you until I saw you and you're great.'"

During the trip, they also played with Levon Helm of The Band - a group to whom T&S Co. is frequently compared - as well as at The Stone Pony in Asbury Park, New Jersey. After the Stone Pony show, the band came face to face with some guy named Bruce Springsteen, who watched the show.

Meeting eyes with Springsteen was one of the highlights of the tour, according to Jones, one of more animated members of the band. As was, at least for him, playing at the Grand Ole' Opry, in front of his Dad and grandfather, who gave him his first guitar as a young boy. After they played, Jones asked his elderly grandfather how the show was and one of his answers was 'It was loud.'

Jones said about the Grand Ole Opry show "I was really proud of the band on that night."

Playing in those venues and with the Black Crowes and Helm has been a experience of a lifetime, according to Jones.

"To listen to a band and go see a band that I like, every night, is more than a dream come true," said Jones.

After they play at Noka, the bands continue on their tour, playing in Las Vegas, Reno and then at the Fillmore in San Francisco for five nights - as well as a couple of nights on their own in the same city.

The whole tour end for them in early-December and then they'll do another short tour after Christmas, playing in San Diego at the Belly-Up on January 14th, The Troubadour in Hollywood on the 15th and perhaps in San Luis Obispo after. After that, they'll finish up mixing their album and release in it in April.

You can still get tickets for the Nokia show, but if you miss them there, check them out at the Troubadour. They're great fun to watch and make fantastic music. You'll like these guys as soon as you hear one song, whether it be "Call Back" or "Hail, Hail, Hail".

In the meantime, you can hear their music in a variety of places. They have an EP on iTunes here that you can buy, as well as a myspace page and on facebook and on their own website here.

Their full-length album comes out in April.

If you'd like to venture out to Hollywood on a Thursday night and see something really cool and interesting, go over to The Steve Allen Theater at 8pm and check out ResBox, a monthly event featuring the best in experimental and improvisational music.

Musician and filmmaker Hans Fjellestad spearheaded the ResBox project in Hollywood after founding a similar group in San Diego called Trummerflora. The latter group started small in a tiny area of San Diego in the late 1990's and has grown into a very large collective of experimental and improvisational musicians and performance artists who still perform around San Diego and now Los Angeles - as well as New York City and around the world.
You can find their works here and you can also find CD's on the site as well as iTunes. (I highly recommend the Christmas CD "...and the Reindeer You Rode in on (from 1999 on Accretion Records)" - which consists of experimental interpretations of Christmas songs.

Fjellestad is playing in a two-person group tonight called "ICE CREAM" which also includes Amit Itelman and the evening also will feature performances by Steve Roden, Yann Novak and VJ Fader. Tonight is the last of the ResBox monthly series.

You can find more of Fjellestad's musical work here and here. He has made several documentary films (several about music) that includes A Frontier Life (2002) and Moog (2004), about the life and work of synthsizer maker Robert Moog. Expect three more films in the very future from Fjellestad.

The Steve Allen Theater is located at 4773 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90027

If you can make some time tonight, head on over to The Hotel Cafe in Hollywood and hear Lindsay Ray play. She's a fantastic singer/songwriter from Maine - which is also home to another good singer - Ray LaMontagne.

Ray's show tonight is also a CD release party - celebrating her new record The Picture Perfect - which is available on iTunes and her own website where you can hear some of her tunes before you go.

Ray calls her style 'quirky-pop' and a few of her songs have been featured in television shows such as Knight Rider and on The Style Network, E! Channel and the Lifetime TV Movie "Sorority Wars"

The show starts at 9pm and the tickets are $10 advance or $12 at the door. You can get advanced tickets at the Hotel Cafe site. The first 50 people through the door get a free EP.

The Hotel Cafe's address is 1623 1/2 N. Cahuenga Blvd (between Hollywood and Sunset).

Not only is The Hotel Cafe a great music venue, but look for several outstanding artists and bands playing during the month of October. Here are a few:

Schuyler Fisk - October 1 (tomorrow)
George Stanford - October 2nd (Friday)
Lelia Broussard - October 6th (Tuesday)
Andy Clockwise - October 9th (Friday)
Keaton Simons - October 16th (Friday)
(Simons has a song featured in several trailers for the Starz Network television series Crash.)
Brian Wright - Every Friday all month, except for the 16th
Sweet Talk Radio - October 20th and 27 (both Tuesday nights)
The Mornings - October 23rd (Friday)

Also, in early November
Curt Smith (of Tears for Fears) - November 2nd (Monday)
Will Hoge - November 5th - (Thursday)

for more on the lineups at The Hotel Cafe, go here

If you're in Hollywood this Friday night, head over to The Hotel Cafe and give a listen to singer/songwriter George Stanford. He is a phenomenal talent, has excellent songs and a great band.

Stanford is from Philadelphia and has been in Los Angeles playing for several years. When I saw him the first time several years ago, he was playing with The Denim Family Band, who split up when two of the guys left - Stanford being one. Stanford then went solo and recorded his debut CD "Big Drop," which was released in June of 2008. He's been playing and touring in support of the album ever since, playing the Hotel Cafe and Crane's Hollywood Tavern several times over the past several months.

Several of the times I've seen him play recently, he was on the same bill as Truth & Salvage Co - which consists of many members of the no defunct Denim Family Band. Like Stanford, Truth & Salvage also got signed and they are now touring with The Black Crowes. They'll be playing Los Angeles with the Crowes in November. More on that later.

If you can, see Stanford play or get his album Big Drop. It's really good - particularly the title song, "30,000 Feet," "Downriver," "My Own Worst Enemy" and one song that's not on the album but still great, "Meet Me in Los Angeles."

He is also playing at Crane's on Wednesday October 14th

Hotel Cafe is 1623 1/2 N. Cahuenga Blvd in Hollywood.
Crane's is at 1611 El Centro Blvd, in Hollywood/Los Angeles.

You can find the album on iTunes and Stanford's music page on Facebook and here.