August finds June July hot

By Walter Tunis — Contributing Music Writer

Posted: 12:24pm on Aug 20, 2009; Modified: 1:05pm on Aug 20, 2009

  • The week that was

    Jake Shimabukuro at The Kentucky Theatre: Once you got past the sheer novelty of Jake Shimabukuro's worldly musical vision for an instrument as stylistically and culturally maligned as the ukulele, you discovered some delightful contrasts. At this taping of WoodSongs Old-Time Radio Hour, where he was the lone guest, the Hawaii native, 32, approached the instrument almost as a classical utensil, from the studied flamenco design of Let's Dance to the light-as-air compositional fabric of Piano Forte. But there also was a broad pop flair to the repertoire and the playing. Granted, the pizzicato lead into a solo ukulele version of Michael Jackson's Thriller initially furthered the classical accents. But as the tune accelerated past its familiar chorus, the ukulele became as much a percussive device as a stringed voice. Similarly, just when one thought Shimabukuro's pop preferences were exclusively American, as emphasized by the Jackson tribute and the banjo-speed bluegrass of Orange World, he twice embraced the music of the Beatles — first with a lovely reading of fellow ukulele lover George Harrison's While My Guitar Gently Weeps and then with the Lennon/McCartney staple In My Life. Both tunes were deliciously understated in delivery, with strings approximating the delicacy of a harp. In short, the ukulele, in Shimabukuro's hands, became something refreshingly new, inviting and, most amazingly, cool.

    Mic Harrison and the High Score at Lynagh's: Veteran Knoxville rocker and V Roy alumnus Mic Harrison possessed enough honky-tonk swagger during this hourlong opening set for Nashville's Wess Floyd and the Daisycutters to make him a credible fixture in most any country joint. But the back-yard — or maybe backwoods — imagery and modest rural inflection of his tunes, from the show-opening Mighty Good Wine to the immensely electric Satan Lives in Arkansas, were performed with the clarity — vocally and instrumentally — of a well-oiled Americana roadhouse outfit. Not surprisingly, the band that so often came to mind as Harrison and the High Score weaved their way through wily country fare was the renegade Missouri rock troupe The Bottle Rockets. Even the clipped, exact and often urgent cut of Harrison's vocals recalled Bottle Rockets frontman Brian Henneman. When High Score guitarist Robbie Trosper was given the microphone for a pair of tunes (Let the Stupidness Begin and the Twin Peaks-inspired Leo Johnson), the program took a more punkish pop turn. Similarly, when Harrison resurrected a V Roys nugget, Sooner or Later, his broader pop preferences took over. But the boozy barroom waltz Wiser the Whiskey and the stormy power chords injected into a cover of the 1971 Charley Pride country hit Kiss an Angel Good Morning offered a romp through honky-tonk waters that was familiar but never obvious.

June July

9 p.m. Aug 21 at Natasha's Bistro, 112 Esplanade. $6. (859) 259-2754.

Were you were lucky enough to land a ticket for Studio Players' recent production of Always ... Patsy Cline? If so, you were part of a wonderful summertime rocket ride back to the days when country music possessed an unshakable, soul-stirring charm altogether different from today's Nashville pop confections.

The actress and singer who so vividly portrayed Cline, along with much of the band that ignited her finest songs, will be showcasing what they do on an entirely different stage Friday at Natasha's Bistro.

The band is June July, with vocalist Heather Parrish (Miss Patsy herself) and guitarist Billy Mason at the helm.

Learning Cline's repertoire for an extended run of the production last month encompassed far more than mimicking the singer's unending appeal. It meant mastering songs by Hank Cochran; Hank Williams; Cole Porter; Willie Nelson, composer of the landmark Cline hit Crazy; and Bill Monroe, whose Blue Moon of Kentucky was one of the show's many highlights. Their material kept Cline's career, more or less, on a roll.

But expect June July to supplement such vintage country charm with material of its own. The band has posted a few songs on its MySpace page that shift from the near bossa nova flair of I'll Meet You in Your Dreams to the torchier twang of Sweeter Dreams.

Put all of that onstage for an evening, and it's a good bet that June July will light up August just fine.

Another Natasha's note: Cincinnati's ever-popular folk-pop ensemble Over the Rhine, which usually packs The Kentucky Theatre every year or so, performs Sunday at the bistro. That performance is sold out.

No Dukes, just Earles

Steve Earle's July 2008 performance at The Kentucky Theatre, with an onstage DJ and wife Allison Moorer as his only accompanists, seemed like the Texas-turned-Tennessee-turned-New York songwriter's first Lexington outing in ages. The wait time was, in fact, four years. Not an eternity, perhaps, but quite a spell considering that Earle has an extensive local performance history.

He played at the long-since-defunct Breeding's on New Circle Road when Guitar Town broke his career open in 1986. A three-hour marathon show at the equally long-gone Rhinestone's on Athens-Boonsboro Road followed in 1987 after the release of the sublime follow-up album Exit 0. A year later, Earle was back again to play the big house — an opening set at Rupp Arena for Hank Williams Jr. — when Copperhead Road was all over the radio.

Those early shows were collaborations with his longtime band The Dukes. When Earle returns to town to play the Opera House on Wednesday (this time, after just 13 months away from us), there will be no Dukes. Instead, Earle will handle the show — as he so often has at numerous concerts during the years at The Kentucky — on his own.

Moorer, an extraordinary songstress in her own right, will open next week's performance and no doubt will make a cameo appearance or two during her husband's set. But there will no Dukes this time, just Earles.

In Sunday's Arts and Life section, we will examine the thrust of Earle's current solo acoustic tour, which is promoting music from his recent Townes album, a tribute to the vanguard Texas songsmith — and Earle's artistic mentor — Townes Van Zandt.

Tickets for Wednesday's 7 p.m. concert are $29.50 and $36.50. Call (859) 233-3535 or TicketMaster at 1-800-745-3000.

Meeting Halfway

With a sunny new single, I Know Where Heaven Is, ready to reignite their career, Eastern Kentucky natives Chad Warrix and David Tolliver, better known as Halfway to Hazard, will be back in Lexington on Friday to perform at Cadillac Ranch, 2320 Palumbo Drive. (10 p.m., $10). Call (859) 335-8800.

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