Author: Michael Witthaus

Wyn Doran readies next project

Watching a private screening of Beautiful Was The Fight provided a full-circle moment for Wyn Doran. The Nashua based singer-songwriter appears early in David Habeeb’s documentary film about the challenges faced by New England’s female and non-binary musicians. A nervous Doran is seen in 2017 auditioning for an eventual role in Liz Bills’ band. Years later she’s fronting her own all-female combo.

“We were babies,” Doran said by phone recently about the clip of her and Bills. “The first day we met was basically captured in that film, and now she is one of my absolute best friends.”

The journey from jittery aspirant to confident artist wasn’t easy, but watching Wyn Doran these days, it feels complete.

While singing backup for Bills, Doran made her stirring 2019 EP Thick of It, an effort marked by medical emergencies, bouts of stage fright, even a house fire. During the pandemic she released a few singles, including a reverent cover of Amy Winehouse’s “Back To Black.” In February she’ll enter the studio to record her first full-length album.

Fans can get an early preview of the as-yet-unnamed project, to be produced by Colin Lester Fleming at Great North Sound Society in Maine, when Doran appears at Stone Church Music Club on Jan. 25, backed by upright bassist and multi-instrumentalist Lucia Jean.

Catalyzed by Covid-19, playing live has become much easier for Doran.

“After not being able to get in front of people for such a long time, the second I could, the stage fright was gone,” she said. “It was this huge shift in mindset … this is something that I really enjoy and feel like I’m born to do; why am I sabotaging it with myself?”

With only the livestreams to do, Doran spent the pandemic creating, continuing after the world began to open up. When she wrapped up last fall, she had a unified set of songs worthy of her first long-player. “It was this big piece of work,” she said. “I really do see the album as a journey. I got the band, a producer, and we started workshopping things in December; it’s the real thing in February.”

Lyrically, the new record “is a mix of both my personal anguish and journey, and what I see as a greater view of humanity — the cycles we’ve woven ourselves into nationally and on a global level. It kind of ebbs and flows between getting really, deeply personal, those themes, and zooming way out to the beginning of time, and kind of how we all got here.”

Her longtime band — Jean and drummer Heidi Tierney — will work with Doran in the studio. “We’re going to really try and keep it true to our trio live show, but also play with the skills that we bring to the table,” she said, noting that Tierney also plays a variety of instruments. “I’m kind of blown away to have them, and so excited about these 10 songs.”

A songwriting retreat with Ben Folds a few years back helped Doran find her voice as a songwriter, and she’s come a long way since. During the pandemic she assisted Folds with a Zoom version. “That was a neat throwback,” she said. “First, it was the scared Wyn showing up for the start of my songwriting, then jumping into this role where I wasn’t just pouring out sweat, I was interfacing with it. He’s releasing an album this year, I’ll be releasing an album this year — who knows?”

Seeing Habeeb’s documentary gave her a sense of camaraderie, albeit bittersweet.

“I don’t want to put a negative slant on this, but there are people who think we’re the bassist’s girlfriend, just carrying the amp, and we really have to step up and advocate for who we are as a musician,” she said. “One of the special parts of the film was Dave showing that experience back to back to back … these things I used to feel so alone in experiencing; all of a sudden, you realize we’re all together, going through this collective struggle.”

Wyn Doran w/ George Barber & Paulie Stone
When: Wednesday, Jan. 25, 8 p.m.
Where: Stone Church Music Club, 5 Granite St., Newmarket
Tickets: $10 at stonechurchrocks.com

Featured photo: Wyn Doran. Photo by Devin Perry.

A new hip-hop vibe from Fee The Evolutionist

Winning the Rising Star New Hampshire plaque at this year’s New England Music Awards was quite gratifying for rapper Fee The Evolutionist, but also bemusing. “I was laughing about that,” he said by phone recently. “I’m a rising star — it only took me 20 years.”

It’s actually a bit longer than that.

Bill Fee was dropping rhymes in the mid-1990s, with DJ Lyrical in the group X-Caliber. The period birthed an incredible story, when they impressed producer Ski Beatz during his visit to the radio station at UMass-Lowell. This led to an invite to Ski’s New York City studio, but their opportunity got bumped so another rapper could finish his first album — Jay-Z.

The rest is hip-hop history.

“Looking back, you know, it was probably the right decision,” Fee said with just a little irony. “We weren’t ready.” Ski Beatz stayed a mentor and produced X-Cal’s “Back in the Dayz” last year. The old-school track recounts that heady time and includes Fee’s life partner Ruby Shabazz on vocals.

Fee’s solo career is a newer development.

“I’ve always been in bands,” he said. “Playing drums, percussion, songwriting, rapping, singing … last November was my first solo release.” That would be the blistering “Go,” a two-minute sprint that evokes punk and metal with the same fervor as hip-hop.

Such cross-pollination is typical for Fee, and it’s one reason he and Shabazz have been called “King and Queen of New Hampshire Hip-Hop” more than a few times. Another is the couple’s consistent civic engagement. “We love it,” he said. “We embrace the community, and the community embraces us.”

The latest example of his genre-hopping ways will be on display Sunday, Jan. 15, in his home town of Nashua, when Fee performs with guitarist Adam Payne at Millyard Brewery. The centerpiece of the show, which will also include brief sets from Shabazz and fellow Nashua rapper Cody Pope, is an acoustic set featuring Fee rhyming and Payne’s looped playing.

It’s hip-hop, time-traveling to a ’60s jazz club. “A folk vibe,” Fee said. “I’m gonna bring my cajon and bongos, and some percussion … it’s going to be a lot of improv. Set songs, some familiar covers, but we’re also going to flip stuff, make it fresh.”

This is Fee’s first gig with Payne, who he initially saw perform at a festival in downtown Nashua a few months back. “I loved it, and I said, ‘Hey, I’ve gotta link up.’ This was the opportunity,” he said. Millyard’s a logical venue choice, he added. “I just feel like a brewery is a good place to have guitar and percussion, and kind of introduce what we do.”

The microbrewery has been a big supporter of the local arts scene, offering regular weekend events. In a Jan. 4 email, Millyard’s Dean Baxter called 2022 “a storming year,” saying “we are fast becoming a leading live music venue [and] continue to support some of the best-known musicians in New England. Fee is one of those.” 

Fee adopted his Evolutionist moniker to underscore his solo career as a step away from band days, along with the way he draws from many eras as an artist. “I’ve seen the evolution of hip-hop; I’m taking you through that,” he said. “I have soul samples from the ’70s, a little R&B, and I’ll get a little bit more aggressive … that’s one aspect; the other is the evolution of myself, and my growth as a person. I’m always evolving, and trying to learn new stuff.”

He views his NEMA win as validation for the genre in the region. “It’s flourishing; we’re in a renaissance period for hip-hop up here,” he said, pointing to the success of Pope and DJ Myth, who he also collaborates with, and other local artists, along with the excitement that surrounded the recent Hellhound for the Holidays showcase at Nashua Garden as examples.

His own brand of hip-hop is distinct from many others, Fee continued. “I consider it more of the jazz style; it’s organic,” he said, noting it attracts an eclectic group of musicians eager to work with him. “You’d be surprised how many people are open to that … they’re like, ‘Oh, I have never done this before.’ It’s new; we’re kind of making our own genre right now.”

Fee The Evolutionist w/ Adam Payne
When: Sunday, Jan. 15, 5 p.m.
Where: Millyard Brewery, 25 E. Otterson St., Nashua
More: feetheevolutionist.com

Featured photo: Fee The Evolutionist. Courtesy photo.

Bluegrass duo Green Heron

Fans of old-time music have a few opportunities to partake of one of the region’s best in the next few weeks, as Green Heron has performances ahead in Boscawen, Barrington and Laconia. Betsy Green and Scott Heron’s deft, delicate instrumental interplay and inspired harmonies make the case for them as New Hampshire’s own Gillian Welch and David Rawlings.

The two initially connected as musicians, then found a deeper bond. In 2015, Green’s sibling group The Green Sisters was booked on a show with The Opined Few, which included Heron. At an after-hours jam session, Heron thought, “I’d like to get one of those girls in our band.” He ended up with more than that; they’re now married.

They’ve made three albums together. 2018’s Folk Heroes and 2019’s New Pair of Shoes contained mostly original songs, bluegrass with a timeless, dipped-in-amber character. Last year’s Feet on the Floorboards had a balance of Green Heron-penned tunes and traditional classics. Recorded at home, its 15 tracks offered a better reflection of their onstage sound.

For their next project, “I’m thinking a little bigger, and at the same time a little smaller,” Heron said by phone recently. “In this day and age, how many songs do you want to record? People aren’t necessarily sitting down and listening to full albums … let’s just get five or six decent songs together.”

Some of the newer material will likely be teased at their upcoming shows. They’re at High Street Coffee House on Jan. 6, bookending the regular open mic event. “We were lucky enough to get asked to kick off that series,” Heron recalled. “We played it once live, and also a livestream … it’s a wonderful time.”

In mid-2020, they serenaded an outdoor crowd from a gazebo overlooking Laconia’s Belknap Mill during the height of the pandemic; they’ll be inside for a Jan. 12 show. The many al fresco shows necessitated by Covid-19 were an unexpected pleasure that inspired them even after masks and social distancing were in the past.

“We actually did one in our backyard at our old house at the end of the warm-weather season, with a bunch of people and a couple of bands,” he said. “I miss that.”

A recent move to Barrington has them close to Nippo Golf Club, which is home to an early autumn to late spring bluegrass series that’s a fixture in the regional roots music scene. Green Heron’s next gig there will be a rare full-band affair. They’ll be backed by bass player Jed Rosen (Rockspring, Hot Day at the Zoo), Dave “Lonesome Dave” Talmadge (New England Bluegrass Band, Bolt Hill Band) on bluegrass banjo, and dobro player Bob Kordas (Fret Benders).

“The Nippo bluegrass series has just got such a fun built-in crowd,” Heron said. “A lot of friends go there regularly, and they’re all musicians, so we kinda just grabbed a few close friends and got them together.” It’s the first of two Nippo Lake appearances for the duo in the current season. Betsy also has a pair of shows with The Hazel Project, a tribute group that celebrates the music of bluegrass heroes Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard.

Both she and Heron have other musical irons in the fire. He plays with Tim Cackett in The Wagoners and performs in a duo with Manchester musician Liam Spain occasionally. Green’s sister act continues, and she’s in the harmony country folk trio She Gone, along with fellow Hazel Project members Lindsay Lassonde and Whitney Roy.

Bluegrass music moves naturally toward such community, and recruiting like-minded acolytes is a natural outcome, Heron observed.

“The music just kind of lends itself to collaboration, mostly because it’s acoustic and it’s simple… anybody with a guitar or banjo or fiddle can play,” he said. “We all kind of know the same stuff, [so] you can instantly start jamming.”

Green Heron
When: Friday, Jan. 6, 6:30 p.m.
Where: High Street Coffee House, 12 High St., Boscawen
More: facebook.com/greenheronmusic
Also: Full band on Sunday, Jan. 8, 6 p.m., Nippo Lake Restaurant, 88 Stagecoach Road, Barrington ($8 to $10 donation) and Thursday, Jan. 12, 7 p.m., Belknap Mill Society, 25 Beacon St., Laconia ($10 at the door)

Featured photo: Green Heron. Photo by Amanda Jean Kowalski.