Westerly Sound presents
An evening with
Booker T Jones
with special guest Matt Dorrien
Saturday, May 11
Show: 8:30p | Doors: 7:30p
Tickets: $45 advance | $50 door ($2 Service Charge Included With Online Tickets. All sales are final, no ticket refunds or exchanges. Seats are on a first-come, first-serve basis, and seats are not guaranteed with ticket purchase.)
Visit website: https://bookert.com
“This is an amazing album.”
“…Tight urgency that is the foundation of the entire album, driving the funky guitar and bass lines through a brilliant reinvention of the M.G.’s soul chemistry, ramped up for the 21st century.”
“After all these years, he remains so soulful, and so good.”
“A showcase for Jones’ ever-sinuous way around his Hammond B-3, which sings, purrs, moans and shouts with often near-human expressivity, under his skilled touch.”
“Transports listeners to the ’60s heyday of Stax, where [Jones] and the MGs defined soul music.”
“Joyous a satisfying return to Booker T.’s classic instrumental soul and funk.”
“The Road From Memphis shifts to funk and R&B, with Philly’s own the Roots as his backing band. It’s a perfect pairing stellar.”
“The funk here is deep and solid. The punishingly unpredictable twists and turns all manage to punch your gut with a groove.”
About Matt Dorrien
Matt Dorrien audibly shifts in his chair, his feet pushing onto the pedals of a piano, as the opening chords of "Baby I'm So Lost" ring out. It's a simplistic, purposefully plodding introduction that's unusual in its total disregard of modern pop convention. But like most interesting things, patience is rewarded here. A beautifully broken love song slowly unfurls, complete with sad sack vocals and dueling clarinets that could close any dive-y lounge down.
"Cold and grey / I'm not okay, dear," Dorrien sings in a line that's half apology, half cry for help. You'd almost be worried for his hopeless protagonist if he didn't seem to enjoy wallowing in it so much.
Dorrien hasn't appeared completely out of the blue. The Portland-based songwriter previously released two sleepy folk records under the moniker Snowblind Traveler. But on his newest album, the aptly titled In The Key Of Grey, he's ditched his stage name and guitar. The new release is almost entirely performed on piano, a subtle ode to his songwriting heroes Harry Nilsson and Randy Newman. And like those legendary musicians, Dorrien has a wry sense of humor, a solid grasp of songwriting fundamentals, and a deep love of melancholy, binge drinking, and rain.
By Jerad Walker
npr.org