Damn, Well . . .

Last night Jeffro and I went to the Birchmere to see a much-anticipated show, The Damnwells and Ari Hest. We found out at the last minute about a third opening act, Julian Velard. Initially, I wasn’t thrilled to have two opening acts, but I actually wound up liking Julian’s voice quite a bit. I wouldn’t say he was commercial or pop enough for me to actually purchase his music (sorry, Julian) but he has an absolutely wonderful voice that made me want to keep listening. I would describe his voice as Jeffro did of Melinda Doolittle on American Idol, like warm chocolate, velvety. I would liken his voice to Lou Rawls, for the few of you who might remember him from “You’ll Never Find” or “Lady Love” back in the 70s. Listen for yourself and see what you think.

Ari Hest was quite good as well, and his band was outstanding. Ari's voice had a bit of vocal effect on it, which probably isn't needed since he's got a fine voice that doesn't need crazy vocal production. Frequently, I thought Ari’s voice sounded like a non-country version of Mark Miller from Sawyer Brown. His bass player sang harmony vocals that really made the songs shine, and his guitarist/steel guitarist sang occasionally as well. There’s nothing I like better than good harmony.

Which leads me to The Damnwells. They are a great band, don’t get me wrong. The lead singer has a great voice, the guitarist/steel guitarist (yes one here too) was superb, and the songs are catchy. I was really looking forward to seeing them cause Jeffro plays their CDs all the time and I’ve gotten to really like them. They put on a great show, however, it was severely lacking in harmony vocals. I found out today that due to a recent change in band members, there was no one to sing backup. But last night I was gravely disappointed and that kind of ruined the experience for me. I kept telling Jeffro I was "crushed." But despite this, and a suddenly very slurring lead singer during the encore, I am still a fan of The Damnwells. They just need to polish up their act to include once again the brilliant harmonies that are so much a part of their recorded songs.