On Stage: Kennedys in Kennett, Fitz in Philly

Roots rock, funk and pop take center stage in the area this weekend

By Denny Dyroff, Staff Writer, The Times

The Kennedys, one of the more popular nationally-recognized acts to play The Flash (102 Sycamore Alley, Kennett Square, 484-732-8295, http://www.kennettflash.org), are returning for a special “Back by Popular Demand” show this weekend.

On November 8, the Kennedys will treat area fans to another evening of their unique blend of folk songs, virtuoso guitar work and jangly pop music. The duo played to a packed house at the comfortable Kennett Square venue just over six months ago.

The husband-and-wife team of Pete and Maura Kennedy has played more than 1,600 shows in the last 12 years with its roots in American music. And, they also have gone out on a number of tours as Nanci Griffith’s backing musicians.

“We’re just gigging — a lot of live gigging,” said Pete Kennedy. “We just keep up our tour schedule. We’re not slowing down. We still do over 100 gigs a year. We really like playing The Flash. It’s a great venue.”

Pete Kennedy recently released “Tone, Twang and Taste” — an album that is a tribute to pre-rock electric guitar. Meanwhile, a new Kennedys album appears to be still a long way off.

If you attend a Kennedys concert and you want to hear them play one of your favorite songs recorded by the duo, all you have to do is ask.

“Almost every show we do is all requests,” said Kennedy. “We take requests right at the show. I usually go around with my notebook and ask the members of the audience what songs they want us to play. It really sets up a good vibe.”

Scott Birney will open the show Saturday night. On November 7, band of brothers will headline a show at The Flash with Rage On as the opening act.

“Tantrums” or “Dirty Birds” — these are your choices this weekend if you want to attend a concert featuring lively rock bands with horns in addition to the standard guitar-bass-keyboard-drums line-up.

Fitz and the Tantrums will be performing on November 7 at the Electric Factory (421 North Seventh Street, Philadelphia, 215-627-1332, www.electricfactory.info) while Sister Sparrow and the Dirty Birds will be laying down some grooves at on November 6 at Tellus 360 (24East King Street, Lancaster, 717-393-1660, www.tellus360.com).

Los Angeles-based Fitz and the Tantrums features Michael Fitzpatrick (lead vocals), Noelle Scaggs (lead vocals, percussion), James King (saxophone, flute, keyboard, percussion, guitar), Joseph Karnes (bass), Jeremy Ruzumna (keyboards) and John Wicks (drums, percussion).

The band, which combines neo-soul with modern rock, released its first album “Pickin’ Up the Pieces” in 2010 and its sophomore disc “More Than a Dream” last year.

“We recorded ‘More Than a Dream’ in spring 2012 — right after we got off the road from touring our first album,” said Karnes, during a recent phone interview. ‘We recorded it and then switched labels. It took a year after we made the album for it to finally be released.

“We were definitely tight musically after touring together for so long so putting the new music down in the studio was an easy process. We saw the kind of energy we wanted in our shows. So, we kept that in mind with the new songs we were recording.”

The band received a huge break when Chester County’s own Daryl Hall invited the group to perform on his popular web series “Live From Daryl’s House.” They performed a few of their own songs and several of Hall’s songs including “Girl I Love You” and “Sara Smile.”

“Getting to perform on ‘Live from Daryl’s House’ was one of the single biggest things we’ve done to break the band,” said Karnes. “In 2012, we had no traction on the radio and went from that to 250,000 followers. It really brought people in the door.”

More people were brought through the door when Fitz and the Tantrums’ song “Out of My League” reached number one on Billboards Alternative charts in September 2013.

“When we were in the studio with the latest album, we just wanted to let the songs have whatever they needed,” said Karnes. “In our live shows now, we’re playing most of the second record and at least half of the first album. Certain things change when playing them live.

“It was a conscious decision to expand our sound — to explore where we can go. We had to get out there and re-discover the songs. They have more energy live. The sax player plays a lot more sax. We really wanted to just be ourselves even more. It was fun to blend both albums.”

Brooklyn-based Sister Sparrow and the Dirty Birds features Arleigh Kincheloe (vocals), Jackson Kincheloe (harmonica), Bram Kincheloe (drums), Sasha Brown (guitar), Phil Rodriguez (trumpet), Brian Graham (baritone saxophone) and Josh Myers (bass).

“We’re just going out for a one-week run this time,” said Arleigh Kincheloe, during a phone interview Wednesday evening. “Our summer and fall was pretty heavy touring so we’re doing a light late fall. We’re going into the studio in December.”

Sister Sparrow and the Dirty Birds released their eponymous debut album in November 2010 and followed with their “Pound of Dirt” album in February 2013. In March 2013, they recorded an EP titled “Fight” with Grammy-award winner and former American Idol judge Randy Jackson.

“Our manager met Randy Jackson a few times,” said Kincheloe. “Randy acted as our mentor for a little while. Then, he told us he wanted to produce us. So, we did an EP with him.”

Sister Sparrow and the Dirty Birds plan on heading to Seattle in December to make their third album.

“All the songs are already written,” said Kincheloe. “We took some time back in January and February to work on writing. Now, we’ve been playing the songs for awhile — road-testing the songs in our shows.

“We don’t write in the studio. I’ve always preferred to work out all the kinks before we go into the studio. We have 10-12 songs ready to record — and we have a couple on the back burner.”

The Dirty Birds’ band members come from all over the country and bring with them a wide variety of influences.

“I always wanted to have a big band and I was pretty determined to have it happen,” said Kincheloe. “My brother Jackson and I came down to New York City from our home in the Catskills to put the band together. Ryan Snow, who used to be our trombone player, helped a lot in bringing the musicians together.

“He left the band and we’re going with just two horns. It actually tightened everything up. It worked out well because the two of them (Phil Rodriguez and Brian Graham) are so in synch.”

Sister Sparrow and the Dirty Birds honed their chops with a long and very successful residency at the Rockwood Music Hall in New York.

“We had a steady gig at the Rockwood,” said Kincheloe. “We had a residency that lasted on-and-off for about two years. We usually played Friday or Saturday nights.

“Our music is always evolving. It’s more than just straight funk. It’s very song-oriented. It’s got a soul-rock thing. And, there are some elements of pop — with songs for the song’s sake. We’re very open at this point. As always, laying down a heavy groove is really important. It’s got to be big.

“We want to start recording again. So, we’ve started a PledgeMusic campaign. Fans can log on to the website, make pledges and get a lot of great rewards for their pledges. They can check it out at www.pledgemusic.com/projects/sistersparrow.

Tickets for Fitz’s 9:30 p.m. show are $25. Sister Sparrow’s show starts at 8 p.m. with tickets priced at $120 in advance and $12 at the door. Other upcoming shows at Tellus360 are Dynamo and Damien McCarthy on November 7, Lydia Loveless on November 8, Corty Bryan on November 9, Johnny Boyd on November 10, Makem & Spain on November 11 and Scott Sax and Suzie Brown in November 12.

Mark Lanegan, who will be headlining a show at Underground Arts, (1200 Callowhill Street, Philadelphia, 215- 629-5765, undergroundarts.org) on November 7, is a musician with an impressive resume. Showtime is 8 p.m. and tickets are $25.

Lanegan, who has a unique baritone voice, worked with Kurt Cobain prior to Cobain’s time in Nirvana. He was a founding member of the Screaming Trees. After the Screaming Trees disbanded, he joined the Queens of the Stone Age.

Later, he formed The Gutter Twins with Greg Dulli and released three collaboration albums with former Belle and Sebastian singer Isobel Campbell.  Last year, his track “Strange Religion” was used in Season 6 of the Showtime television series “Californication.”

Lanegan also has recorded nine solo albums, including the recently-released “Phantom Radio.”

“I started working on ‘Phantom Radio’ right when I started making it,” said Lanegan, during a recent phone interview from Los Angeles. “”I’d write one song and record it. While finishing it, I’d start on another.

“Alain Johannes, who is a good friend of mine, lives nearby and has a studio in his house. Basically, I’d go there and do one song at a time. This is the way I’ve been making records for over 10 years.”

There have been exceptions.

“A couple years ago, I made a covers album,” said Lanegan. “I booked the studio, got the guys I wanted to play on it and did it old school. It was fun. But, it wasn’t how I like to make records. I like to be able to sit on things for awhile before I set them down. With the process I use, there is room for change and evolution.

“I don’t like to be forced into anything. Thinking is work for me and most of my music comes from my thinking. I’m not somebody who is particularly driven. A couple hours a day for a week is O.K. with me.

Lanegan is far from being a stereotypical rock musician.

“I got burnt listening to loud music for eight or nine hours a day,” said Lanegan. “In the old days, we go in the studio and have to play and listen to take after take. I’ve had the same band since 2012 — three Belgian guys and one American dude. With my guys, we do it in a day and it’s done.

“Whenever I put out a record, I usually lean into it. When I play live, I do half of the record and the rest is old. It’s because I happen to enjoy playing new songs more than older ones. I might do a Trees’ track and sometimes I play the Queens of the Stone Age’s ‘Hangin’ Tree.’

“Whenever I make a record, I start by putting together something near the front and something near the end. Then, I fill it in. I instinctively have the front and the back of the record. But, I never know what it’s going to be like until it’s done.”

Another show in the area on November 7 features an act that makes music that is almost totally the opposite of Lanegan’s style. Instead of deep, gruff vocals and songs about the tougher side of life, Lily & Madeleine make folk-pop music that is soft, lilting and soothing.

The Indianapolis-based duo, which will be performing at World Café Live (3025 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, 215-222-1400, philly.worldcafelive.com),  features Madeleine Jurkiewicz and her younger sister Lily Jurkiewicz.  The siblings have released two — “Lily and Madeleine,” which came out last year, and “Fumes,” which was just released recently.

“We started singing together a while ago,” said Madeleine Jurkiewicz, during a recent phone interview from their home in Indiana. “We made a video of a cover song. A friend of our dad’s sent it to Faith Cohen and she sent it to Paul Mahern, who is a producer and manager.

“Once we started writing our own music, he got in touch with us and told us what we had to do to get into the music business. We’ve been writing songs and making records for three years now.”

Lily Jurkiewicz said, “It progressed pretty quickly. After we got a few songs, we made a self-released EP that is titled ‘The Weight of the Globe.’ It got a buzz and we got signed to a record label called Asthmatic Kitty.”

“The Weight of the Globe” was picked up for a 2013 release by Sufjan Stevens’ Asthmatic Kitty Records. A short while later, John Mellencamp asked the sisters to contribute guest vocals to the soundtrack of his musical “Ghost Brothers of Darkland County” (which co-incidentally is being presented by the Kimmel Center on November 13 at the Merriam Theater in Philadelphia).

“We recorded our first album at Primary Sound Studio in Bloomington, Indiana,” said Lily. “It’s a nice studio in an old converted church. We needed to have a big studio because of all the musicians we brought in — musicians of all ages and backgrounds.”

Madeleine said, “Our first album is pretty acoustic — not a whole lot of elements to it. I think our approach to writing for the second album was the same. The difference was in the production.

“Our original genre was folk. We’ve progressed to a different genre. We’re still in the singer/songwriter category on iTunes but the album is different. We talk about empowerment and confidence.

“Musically, we were inspired by different artists — from Arcade Fire to Pink Floyd to Charlotte Gainsbourg. We’ve adapted our sound to something newer and fresher. We needed to move to a different realm. It was fun to experiment.”

Tickets for the 8 p.m. show are $12.

Over the last decade-and-a-half, the Steep Canyon Rangers have become one of America’s best young bluegrass bands. On November 8, they will bring their American roots sound to the area for a show at the Ardmore Music Hall (23 East Lancaster Avenue, Ardmore, 610-649-8389, www.ardmoremusic.com).

The North Carolina-based group includes Woody Platt (guitar, lead vocals), Graham Sharp (banjo, lead and harmony vocals), Mike Guggino (mandolin, harmony vocals), Charles R. Humphrey III (bass), Nicky Sanders (fiddle) and Mike Ashworth (cajon drums).

“We’ve been together for 15 years,” said Guggino, during a phone interview last week from his home in Brevard, North Carolina. “We were all friends in college at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. We were a typical bar band and then we stayed together and kept it going.

“We all fell in love with bluegrass during our college years. We bought (bluegrass) instruments and started to learn to play them. We all graduated in 2001 and nobody had a plan other than playing music. So, we moved to a house in Asheville (N.C.).”

Back then, blue wasn’t the only color associated with the Steep Canyon Rangers.

“We were so green at fist,” said Guggino. “When we signed with Rebel Records in the mid-2000s, that got our music out to the bluegrass audience. We played bluegrass festivals for many years — and still do a few each year.

“More of the festivals we play now are Americana or folk. We played the Philadelphia Folk Festival for the first time this year. When we’re on tour, we play performing arts centers as well as club venues.

“The cool thing about bluegrass is that it appeals to a wide variety of audiences and age groups. On any given weekend, we might play Friday night at a rock club and then the next night for a retirement age audience.

“Our music appeals to a big range of listeners. It’s acoustic so it doesn’t scare away older listeners. And, the younger audiences like the energy. It’s fast-paced music that gets people dancing.”

The Steep Canyon Rangers have found their niche but it took years of refining their sound.

“Our music has evolved greatly,” said Guggino. “At first, we came at it in a very non-traditional way. Later, we studied traditional bluegrass — artists such as Bill Monroe and Flatt & Scruggs. As years go on, we’ve gotten away from the traditional sound. Our latest album is the first one with drums.”

That album was “Tell The Ones I Love.” Released in September 2013, it was their third album for Rounder Records. The same record label also released “Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers featuring Edie Brickell LIVE” nine months ago.

Steve Martin played banjo along with the Steep Canyon Rangers in 2009 on a broadcast of  “A Prairie Home Companion,” and continued playing with the band on selected dates, including  the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival in San Francisco and Carnegie Hall in New York. He also travelled with the band to England for a performance on the radio show “Later with Jools Holland.”
“Steve Martin had a great effect on our success,” said Guggino. “He put our music out there. We got to play big venues and perform on TV shows. We played all last summer with Steve Martin and Edie Brickell. Steve is a funny comedian but he’s also a serious banjo player.”
Ladybird will be the opening act for the show which starts at 8 p.m. Tickets are $23 in advance and $28 day of show.

Other upcoming shows at the Ardmore Music Hall are YoungBlood Brass Band & West Philadelphia Orchestra on November 6, the New Mastersounds and the Heard on November 7, Bonerama and New Sound Brass Band on November 9 and the Bailey Hounds and Parker Milsap on November 12.

When Red Molly, who are playing November 8 at the Sellersville Theater (24 West Temple Avenue, Sellersville, 215-257-5808, www.st94.com)  and November 9 at the Grand Opera House (818 North Market Street, Wilmington, Delaware, 302-652-5577, www.thegrandwilmington.org), started as a trio 10 years ago, there was no-one in the group named Molly.

The threesome featured Laurie MacAllister (vocals, guitar, banjo), Abbie Gardner (vocals, guitar, dobro, lap steel guitar) and Carolann Solebello.

“We took the name from a Richard Thompson song ‘1952 Vincent Black Lightning,’ said Gardner, during a phone interview Wednesday afternoon from her home in Jersey City.

“He was a character in Thompson’s song. It was a song about rebellious guy who had nothing. We had this ‘girl next door’ image but when we add ‘red,’ it made it more fiery.”

Ironically, Red Molly never performed the song back then.

Now, after a full decade as a performing act, things have changed on both fronts. In 2010, Solebello left the group and was replaced by Molly Venter.

“It’s kind of funny and ironic that her name is Molly,” said Gardner. “She had opened for us at a number of our shows. We loved her singing and songwriting. It was a natural fit to have her join us when Carolann left.”

The trio is still touring in support of its latest album “The Red Album.”

“We finally recorded that Richard Thompson song,” said Gardner. “It’s on our new album. We’re also going to put it out as a special edition on black vinyl. We thought about releasing it on red vinyl but decided to stay with the traditional black vinyl.

“We recorded the album last October. We went to Nashville to make the album and used some of the session musicians there. We always bring in extra people to fatten up the sound. We spent eight days in Nashville. We worked 12 hours a day and finished all the recording and the mixing.”

Red Molly has found the formula for a nice blend of originals and covers — both in their live shows and in their recordings.

“We first got together at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival in 2004,” said Gardner. “We started playing together and had these great harmonies with our voices. The growth of the group was very organic.

“We were singer-songwriters to begin with so we had a lot of originals to sing right from the start. Our new recording has more originals than covers — eight of 13. We want to be able to showcase our own material.”

The show in Sellersville starts at 8 p.m. Tickets are $25 and $39.50. The show in Wilmington is slated to get underway at 7 p.m. Tickets are $25. Both shows feature Mark Erelli as the opening act. This weekend, the Grand will also be presenting James Galea on November 7 and Alvin Ailey Dance on November 8.

Other shows over the next week at the Sellersville Theatre are James McMurtry on November 6, Signs of Life on November 7, the Pine Hill Project featuring Richard Shindell and Lucy Kaplansky on November 9, Rhett Walker Band on November 10 and Battlefield Band on November 12. Steel City Coffee House (203 Bridge Street, Phoenixville, 610-933-4043, www.steelcitycoffeehouse.com) will present the Jost Project with Phyllis Capell on November 7 and J.D. Malone & the Experts with John Beacher on November 8.

On November 7, Chaplin’s (66 North Main Street, Spring City, 610-792-4110, http://chaplinslive.com) will host What’s Next, Rock & Roll After School SuperGroup, Alyssa Garcia, and The Rudys.

Burlap & Bean Coffeehouse (204 South Newtown Street Road, Newtown Square, 484-427-4547, www.burlapandbean.com) will present Charlie Phillips with Caryn Lin on November 7 and Meghan Cary with a Fistful of Sugar and Analog Gypsies on November 8.

Melodies Café (2 East Ardmore Avenue, Ardmore, 610-645-5269, www.melodiescafe.com) will host Mark Mandeville & Raianne Richards with Kyle Swartzwelder on November 6, Reverend TJ McGlinchey, Joe D’Amico and Hinton, Bower , Jones on November 7, SPINN and Jason McCue on November 8 and Jenn Grinels and Rebecca Loebe on November 12.

The World Café Live at the Queen (500 North Market Street, Wilmington, 302- 994-1400, www.queen.worldcafelive.com) will have Universal Funk Order on November 7, Butch Zito and Friends on November 8, Shemekia Copeland on November 9, Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks on November 11 and Lee Ann Womack on November 12.

The Keswick Theatre (291 N. Keswick Avenue, Glenside, 215-572-7650, www.keswicktheatre.com) is presenting Billy Gardell on November 7 and Eric Johnson with Mike Stern on November 8.