The Musical Box

Now this was what you call a Monday night lineup - an elder expatriate of New Orleans funk and soul and a Nashville dobro great on a jazzman’s holiday.

cyril neville.

First up at last night’s immensely enjoyable taping of the WoodSongs Old Time Radio Hour at the Kentucky theatre was Cyril Neville, once the most socially and politically verbose of the Neville Brothers and, to this day, a true performance warhorse. Neville has settled, as have his siblings, over the years. And while the five songs he delivered last night fell far from the volcanic fire of the Nevilles in their prime, they summoned an earthy, blues heavy spirit that was still merrily drenched in Crescent City soul.

Of the four tunes performed off of Neville’s Brand New Blues album, Cheatin’ and Lyin’ best reflected the uprising attitude that has been dormant within the Nevilles’ music of late. I Found Joy maintained that drive, but turned the party lights on with a taste of carnival fun, as did the merry encore of Indians Got the Fire (from 2007’s The Healing Dance).

Though soft-spoken between songs, Neville painted no rosy pictures of post-Katrina life in New Orleans for the WoodSongs crowd. Having relocated to “physically live” in Austin, Tx. in the hurricane’s wake, Neville admitted that he was still “spiritually living in New Orleans.”

A trimmed touring lineup of his Tribe 13 band (with son Omari Neville on congas) reflected that sentiment. It dressed the music with light layers of percussive fire, piano and guitar but, curiously, no bass. The space that left in the music, though, simply added to the tunes’ atmospheric yet earnestly rhythmic charm.

rob ickes

Dobro ace Rob Ickes, a wildly versed bluegrass and country instrumentalist with a welcome thirst for exploring stylistic turf that falls far outside of the Nashville norm, teamed with pianist Michael Alvey to open his WoodSongs set will a real delight, the 1964 Horace Silver jazz classic Song for My Father.

Later excursions into Duke Ellington territory - a modest country swing taming of Take the “A” Train and an Eastern flavored Caravan where the dobro, at times, seemed to mimic a sitar - were also great fun. But Song for My Father was a knockout with the dobro’s inherent warmth and the tune’s infectious piano sway creating a fascinating and fluid musical dialogue.

Knoxville singer Robinella joined Ickes and Alvey for two tunes - a reading of Hank Williams’ You Win Again that downplayed country affection for pure, aching blues and the standard If I Had You. Striking a nice balance between country and jazz etiquette, Robinella’s phrasing again brought the great Billie Holiday to mind. But her tone was never imitative. She simply found her own spot within Ickes’ wonderfully inventive and respectful new string music and had a ball.