Author: Michael Witthaus

Guitarist Jesse Cook marks debut album’s 25^th

It’s easier to follow the puck on a televised hockey match than to discern what Jesse Cook’s fingers are doing on a fretboard. The Toronto-based guitarist defies the laws of physics every time he plays flamenco music on his nylon six-string. Since releasing his debut album, Tempest, in 1995, Cook has captivated audiences across the world.

He’s made multiple PBS specials, received several Juno nominations and earned 10 platinum and gold albums. He was seemingly born to play; Cook can’t remember when he first picked up a guitar but hears stories about jamming with a friend when he was 3 years old.

Cook took his first lesson at 6 and would go on to study at the Royal Conservatory, NYU and Berklee, determined to be a concert guitarist.

“But as I got close to graduating, I started to chicken out,” he recalled by phone recently, reasoning that “everybody would love to be a concert guitarist, but you can’t make a living doing that.”

So he turned to being a composer and working behind the scenes of film and television. But he kept getting noticed when he’d create a guitar piece. “People would say, ‘Oh, that’s so beautiful, you should record an album of your own music,” he said. “I was like, ‘Nah … nobody’s going to want to hear that.’”

Finally Cook relented and recorded his first album at home. He reluctantly pressed 1,000 CDs, and worried most of them would end up as coffee coasters. But with help from a couple of key television and radio appearances, the opposite happened. Cook sold them all out within a week.

This success created an unexpected problem; Cook didn’t have any money to make more discs. However, a distributor stepped in and pressed another 2,000 copies to satisfy burgeoning demand at record stores across the country. “Canadians are really supportive of our own, “ Cook said.

All the activity got the attention of labels below the border. and after a flurry of courtships Cook signed with Narada Records. “They swept me off my feet,” Cook said to explain why he chose the Wisconsin independent company over Windham Hill and a few other bigger-name operations.

It was a good decision; Cook’s new label quickly got him added to the prestigious Catalina Jazz Festival, held on an island on the coast of Southern California. Though booked in a small bar that weekend, he played to capacity crowds that spilled out onto the sidewalk. When Cook moved around the tiny island in one of their trademark golf carts, fans chased him like he was musical royalty.

Soon after, Cook’s album was in the Billboard Top 20, and he hasn’t looked back since.

“As soon as I stopped getting in my own way [and] chased my dreams … my life got way easier,” he said. “I had a full calendar, I was doing the things I’d always wanted to do and loving doing them, and there were way less annoying gigs. When you’re kind of a music mercenary you take whatever comes in the door, [but] once it’s your own project you only have to work with the people you like and admire.”

Cook is finally embarking on his pandemic-delayed Tempest II tour, supporting a re-recorded version of the record that started it all. When he appears at Concord’s Capitol Center on June 11, he’ll be joined by Matt Sellick. Cook calls the young native of Thunder Bay “the best flamenco guitarist in Canada,” adding, “he knows my music better than I do.”

Sellick encouraged Cook to revive “Switchback,” a song from his late 1990s catalog, and rework it as a guitar duet piece. Watching the two exchange frenetic runs on the track, now a regular part of shows, is a wondrous sight.

Also in Cook’s band, which formed a little over four years ago, supplanting his decades-old former group, are Portuguese drummer Marito Marques, bass player Van Mitchum and Fethi Nadjem on violin and other instruments. Cook spotted Algerian-born Nadjem while watching videos of friends on YouTube, and got an introduction through mutual friends.

“Once we finally got together, it was just this great collaboration,” Cook said of Nadjem, who provided integral support on Cook’s latest album, Libre. “I just love the way he plays, the way he hears music. He’s super talented.”

Jesse Cook
When: Saturday, June 11, 8 p.m.
Where: Capitol Center for the Arts, 44 S. Main St., Concord
Tickets: $35 and up at ccanh.com

Featured photo: Jessie Cook. Courtesy photo.

After country detour, Lit returns rocking

“My Own Worst Enemy” could be the post-grunge era’s “Free Bird.” Released by Lit in 1999, the raucously rocking tale of misadventure is a fitting touchstone for that cultural moment. With its staccato opening guitar riff and a wailing chorus of “please tell me why” that’s both desperate and arrogant, it provided just the right coda for a musically chaotic decade.

The song also changed the lives of the band that made it. Lit began in a Southern California living room with a bunch of teenage pals chasing rock ’n’ roll dreams. The core group — brothers Jeremy and A. Jay Popoff, Kevin Baldes and Allen Shellenberger — formed in 1989 with a now long-gone member as Razzle, toiled in L.A. clubs and looked for a record deal.

Ten years later, the hordes at Woodstock 99 were singing along to their song.

They’ve haven’t lost sight of how special that is. “The song has legs of its own, it’s its own animal,” Kevin Baldes said by phone recently. “But we’re still rock fans, we still buy albums. We still love listening to new music and old music, and we can’t believe that we’re a part of the … Americana fabric. ‘My Own Worst. Enemy’ is in there. It feels good; we don’t take it for granted at all.”

It’s an iconic track, but far from their only one. The band’s punkier-than-thou tour manager said it wasn’t even their best. Lit’s major label debut, A Place In the Sun, recently reissued on white vinyl, had great songs like “Miserable,” “No Big Thing” and “Zip Lock.” Their upcoming album Tastes Like Gold furthers the case that Lit might be selling out stadiums today if Napster and file sharing hadn’t crippled the music business right after the world first noticed them.

Due for release June 17, the first three singles from the new disc show the band in full stride. “Mouth Shut,” the latest, takes their most famous song and reworks it for the internet age. “I don’t regret what I said, I just regret hitting send,” sings A. Jay. “I shoulda stayed in my head.”

Baldes is eager for fans to hear more. “If you like A Place in the Sun, Tastes Like Gold is like right there for you, man,” he said. “It’s awesome. There’s some great stuff. I can’t wait for it to come out and people to hear all the songs … friends that have heard the new album have come to me with their favorites, and it’s all over the place.”

It’s their first studio effort since These Are the Days. That album was a detour into modern country that confused many, The Popoff brothers currently reside in Nashville, and the 2017 record reflected that.

For Baldes, it feels good to be back to old-school Lit. “I got ‘Johnny Cash’ tattooed on my arm [so] I got a couple of drops of country blood in me,” he said, adding “Someday Maybe” was a particular favorite. “Jeremy and A. Jay … accumulated quite a few songs and [said] let’s try this out as Lit, these are kind of fun. Something different … that’s how it all evolved.”

He concedes they may have enjoyed it more than some fans. “That particular album kind of went sideways a little bit — I think in a good way. A lot of people loved it, but some were scratching their heads,” he said. “We felt it, and we were like, alright, this next record has to be in the hard rock arena.”

It’s perfectly consistent for a band that went from sounding like Motley Crue in their days as Razzle to punk metal on their indie debut Tripping the Light Fantastic while on their way to the version that struck “My Own Worst Enemy” gold.

“People know Lit as being what it’s always been, a rock band,” Baldes said. “But if you’re a huge fan, you know that we duck and weave quite a bit — there is no road map for us. We just kind of blindly get in the driver’s seat and go wherever it takes us.”

Lit w/ Chad Perrone
When: Friday, June 3, 8 p.m.
Where: Tupelo Music Hall, 10 A St., Derry
Tickets: $38 and up at tupelohall.com

Featured photo: Lit. Courtesy photo.

Talking Wallflowers with Jakob Dylan

Beginning in 1996 with Bringing Down the Horse, The Wallflowers became a band in name only, with a singular vision. “There’s really no one lineup that ever made two records,” Jakob Dylan said by phone from Los Angeles in mid-May. “One person is actually putting the ideas together, and that’s always been me.”

That tradition continued with last year’s Exit Wounds and a lineup including producer Butch Walker, session ace Val McCallum (who played on 2002’s Red Letter Days) and singer Shelby Lynne. Led by standout tracks like the raucous “Dive Bar In My Heart,” the tender ballad “Darlin’ Hold On” and “Who’s That Man Walking ‘Round My Garden?” — an homage to Dylan’s guiding light Tom Petty — the new record is a solid addition to a stalwart catalog.

Here’s an edited transcript of Dylan’s interview with The Hippo.

How did the songs on Exit Wounds come together?

Refining songs is the dirty work, but you can’t start with nothing. You have to have a bunch of ideas sketched out, and then when you’re going to be recording, you gather all those ideas up. So, I would not say I wrote this record all in one sitting. I had collected song ideas a couple of years before that. It takes the motivation, the excitement of getting in a studio to really go to work on them and make them what you hope they’ll be.

Butch Walker produced — what was that like?

Butch is one of the rare people who can do a little bit of everything, and he does those things better than most people in the room [and] he’s a songwriter…. One of the more important assets that I need in the studio is somebody who understands and has the range to make these songs as strong as they could be. Because … a songwriter always thinks their new songs are their best songs, which is rarely true. I always work better with somebody around who does the same work that I do to bounce ideas off of.

Shelby Lynne was another fantastic element; you mesh so well together. Do you go back?

No, we don’t … we run in similar circles [and] she was always on my wish list. Val McCallum, who plays guitar on this record, worked with her a lot. He mentioned her one day. Butch and I lit up thinking we should call, and we should ask. It’s very organic to do it that way, rather than calling through agents or something.

You worked during a fairly tumultuous time in the country. What were you thinking about when you put it together?

You can find a way to translate those things into an individual perspective without having to use a lot of words that I don’t think really sound good in a song … there are other ways to write about how they affect you as a person, how you see things, rather than hit the nail on the head.

Yes — “Move the River” is a good metaphor, and it’ll endure.

Well, yeah, I appreciate that, thank you. Because that is how I prefer to do those things, rather than put buzz words in songs — thoughts and prayers, and all that. Like, it’s too timely. Songs should be timeless. So, that is a song where, yes, I did try to find a way to write about current times, [but] if you haven’t been paying attention, and you live under a rock, I hope you can still like the song without really caring what it’s about.

What are your memories of Tom Petty?

He was a huge impact on my life, my career. When I was a teenager, I got to watch him from side stage. I visualized forming my band in that same mold [as] the Heartbreakers. I thought that band could do anything, they’re one of the best American rock bands that we’ve had, so I thought that was a good starting place…. I found that with younger artists, he was only complimentary and encouraging, which is not always the case [with] some people from the generation before me. Maybe perhaps they feel threatened by the next generation. Which is ridiculous; if you’ve made your mark, you shouldn’t be worried about those things. I always found that Tom wanted the younger crowd to come in and be great, he wasn’t threatened … and he was encouraging, he understood that, in kind of a patriarchal parental tone, with a lot of artists. He wasn’t there to be competitive with you. He was encouraged, and he wanted to transfer that music, and he was so moved by younger people, he wanted them to be great. There’s a different spirit with everybody, and his was just very powerful and very strong. It was very positive.

Over 30 years of performing, what’s changed for you, and what’s stayed the same?

Well, that’s a broad question. A lot has changed. I don’t know that I’ve changed too much. The record business has really changed; I don’t know if there is one anymore. But that’s OK, things change. They have to, and you find other ways to do your thing, and hopefully make a living. People think that’s a dirty word, but everybody has to work. That’s what I chose to do a long time ago, and it’s treated me very well. There’s a lot of stuff I don’t remember, you know? It’s been a long time. I see pictures, it doesn’t look familiar, but I was there. It’s a long time for anybody to be doing any one thing, and sometimes I don’t believe that my first record was 30 years ago. That doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. But, you know, the calendar doesn’t lie.

Given your background, it seems inevitable that you’d become a musician…. However, early on you quit to study art in New York. You lasted a semester, then came back. What prompted you to go, and what made you come back?

Well, I generally was interested in the arts, all of it, [and] at that age — 18 or so — it was a good time. You don’t have to be sure. You don’t really have to make any real big decisions. I’d already been in bands, and I wanted to try art school. Part of me does regret that I didn’t stick it out longer, because there is room [and] time for everything. I may have stayed longer and still been in a band, I don’t know. But there’s also part of me that probably was hoping that I would go and find a real calling that might release me from the reality of myself being in a band and what that might involve, and that’s stupid. But ultimately the desire to play music won out.

Will you do another solo record?

I don’t know; that usually depends on the songs … my mood, where I’m living, how I feel. … My solo records have a very different context than The Wallflowers [but] there are just no rules. The only rule is you should do whatever you want.

The Wallflowers w/ Ari Hest
When: Friday, May 27, 8 p.m.
Where: Colonial Theatre, 609 Main St., Laconia
Tickets: $39 to $89 at coloniallaconia.org

Featured photo: Jakob Dylan. Photo by Yasmin Than.

Drew Dunn and Saku Yanagawa At Rex

From his early days doing open mic nights in his hometown of Manchester, Drew Dunn has exhibited a tenacious work ethic. On any given night he’d do multiple sets, starting in the Granite State and ending in downtown Boston. Dunn began doing stand-up in 2014 and by 2018 had triumphed in comedy contests on both coasts, in Boston and Seattle.

A year later, in July 2019, he checked off a personal bucket list item with an appearance at Montreal’s venerable Just For Laughs comedy festival, where he killed it, and caught the attention of a top management team, who signed him on.

To borrow a metaphor from Dunn’s days as a rising high school baseball star before an injury cut short the dream, he was destined for the big leagues. Last year, the comic made the move to New York City, where a hard-working comic can do five or six sets on an off night like Monday or Tuesday.

“Just to be able to get the same quality stage time I was getting in New England, but in New York, and to be able to get a higher rate with so many comedy clubs on any night of the week … is a big benefit,” Dunn said by phone recently. “There are shows like that in New England, but they’re few and far between.”

Dunn was poised for the move, which quickly found him doing semi-regular gigs at The Stand, a club that’s booked big name comics like Pete Davidson, Nikki Glaser, Jim Norton and Janeane Garofolo. Preparation was key, along with a need to test himself on a bigger stage. Dunn had established ties to the city, making friends and doing gigs there over the years.

“I didn’t want to restart my career and have to be doing open mics and kind of introduce myself again; I wanted to at least maintain some of the momentum I had in New England at the time,” Dunn said. Facing big-league pitching was catnip to him. “If I can surround myself with and follow these killers, these guys that are doing the things I need to do … that’s the next step in my career.”

A current component of Dunn’s success strategy is frequent visits home for shows like one May 20 at Manchester’s Rex Theatre, where he’ll co-headline with West Coast comic Saku Yanagawa. The show will be filmed for a documentary to be titled Breaking America that will include stops at popular area landmarks like Laconia’s Funspot mega-arcade.

The show falls on both Dunn and Yanagawa’s 30th birthday, another cool element, and one of many things the two have in common. “We’re both born May 20, 1992, we both played baseball our whole lives and started doing stand-up comedy around the same time … just on opposite sides of the planet,” Dunn said. “We met in Seattle in 2018 and always thought it’d be fun to do something like this.”

It’s Dunn’s third time headlining the Palace Theatre-owned venue; he’ll be back in August for another show. Dunn noted he’s been working a lot with Palace comedy booker Jim Roach. “He’s been helping me foster and grow that New England audience … I did Buzz Ball for Greg and The Morning Buzz over the winter,” he said. “The Rex has been good to me [and] I think their goal is to try and get a bit of a younger clientele.”

The birthday bash will be hosted by Boston comic Chris Tabb and include a pair of feature comics, followed by Dunn and Yanagawa each doing, fittingly enough, a 30-minute set. Appearing in front of family and friends just a stone’s throw from where it began is special for Dunn.

“It’s definitely a treat to see the evolution from open mics at Murphy’s Taproom and the Shaskeen Pub, then going down to Boston and eventually kind of having to leave,” he said. “To even be able to do this has been a fun journey, so I’m excited to see what it can turn into.”

Drew Dunn & Saku Yanagawa
When: Friday, May 20, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Rex Theatre, 28 Amherst St., Manchester
Tickets: $25 at palacetheatre.org

Featured photo: Drew Dunn. Courtesy photo.

Faith-based acts play SNHU Arena

With soaring harmonies and epic instrumental breaks, it’s easy to mistake We The Kingdom for a Nashville pop act like Little Big Town or Lady A. Composed of brothers Ed and Scott Cash, Ed’s children Franni Rae and Martin, and Andrew Bergthold, a close family friend, the multi-generational group hits all the modern country cues.

Here’s the twist: We The Kingdom isn’t trying to be Fleetwood Mac with a pickup truck and cutoff jeans. They’re rocking for God, with lyrics pulled from a prayer book and delivered in ministerial fervor to born-again crowds. It’s a successful act; the group was named Contemporary Christian Artist of the Year at the 2021 Dove Awards, the genre’s Grammys.

They’re currently on the road with headliner Casting Crowns, part of an 18-city run stopping in Manchester on May 14.

When it was announced, WTK was third on a bill that included Hillsong Worship. They’re now providing lead-in, as the latter group, part of an Australian megachurch, withdrew from the tour last month. This came amidst allegations of sexual impropriety at the megachurch that led to the resignations of its founder and several leaders, and the closure of several church campuses.

In a phone interview from Moline, Illinois, Andrew Bergthold alluded to their own reckoning with church leadership. In 2015, an exposé in the evangelical magazine Christianity Today detailed accusations of sexual and spiritual abuse at the Gathering, a church in Franklin, Tennessee. Ed Cash, co-writer of the top worship song “How Great Is Our God,” was a Gathering member and had been sharing profits with its founder, Wayne “Pops” Jolley.

Ed and Scott Cash left the church soon after; Jolley died in September 2016. We The Kingdom formed two years later at a Young Life camp in Georgia. The first song they wrote together, “Dancing On The Waves,” was for a service there, and addressed what they were experiencing — in different ways — at the time.

“The band started in the midst of a time where we were all very shaken in our idea of faith and what church looked like,” Bergthold said. “You hear man speak about God and you build an idea of God — because you have to — around what man says about God. You learn from other people and you grow.”

Bergthold was heartened by the many fans who said “Dancing On The Waves ” had aided in dealing with their own crises of faith. “All the time people come up and say, ‘I was hurt by the church and this song helped me reconcile with the Lord.’ They know they’re loved by Him; it’s unbelievable.”

As to their music’s positive effect on others extending to Dove trophies, gold records and arena tours, Bergthold modestly demurs. “I think it’s really beautiful that the Lord would use our story,” he replied, waving off fame as fascinating but not much else. Above all, Bergthold and his bandmates want to elevate fans and help them find hope in their spiritual quest.

After standing at the crossroads of belief in mortals and faith in the spirit, Bergthold came out healed.

“The leadership of the church got very messed up, and we were left wondering what is actually the truth of God and what is a bit of the lies and manipulation of man; or even the good intentions, but misleading of man,” he said. “We started literally in the middle of us having to reconstruct a bit of our faith system in our love of the church and man. God’s really redeemed our story.”

A follow-up to their debut studio album Holy Water will arrive later this year, after being delayed by the pandemic. They expect to play a few selections from it at their SNHU Arena show, including “Miracle Power,” which Bergthold thinks may be the new record’s first single.

“It’s actually one of my favorite songs we’ve ever written,” he said, “so I think people will be pretty excited about it.”

Casting Crowns featuring We The Kingdom
When: Saturday, May 14, 7 p.m.
Where: SNHU Arena, 555 Elm St., Manchester
Tickets: $27.75 to $124.75 at snhuarena.com

Featured photo: We The Kingdom. Courtesy photo.