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@ the Maze, Nottingham 1.5.01 (review by Jon Horne 2001) © Touch Nottingham (internet magazine and What's On guide)
So, having missed the group's previous visit to this country (maddeningly, a one-off stop in London), there seemed little chance that I would ever get to hear Hazeldine sing their atmospheric, harmony-drenched songs except on old CDs. Happily, I was wrong. Last winter (if they have winters in New Mexico), Shawn Barton reunited with songwriting partner Tonya Lamm and bassist Anne Tkach, and began recording a new CD, for the German company, Glitterhouse. It was not just me who was pleased to see Hazeldine's return. Whatever trouble the group have had getting themselves known in their home country, they have a fair-sized audience in Britain, and throughout Europe. Barely publicised, the first date of this six-week European tour drew a crowd large enough to fill the Maze. And the crowd loved it. Hazeldine took a big risk with this show, declining to play any of their old songs until the encores, and concentrating on new material (from the only-just-released 'Doubleback' CD). The gamble paid off. The new songs bear all of Hazeldine's distinctive marks - emotionally dramatic narratives, generally played at a funereal pace, sung in conversational tones, but with soaring choruses to hook the listener in. Sitting here with the lyrics of 'Doubleback' in front of me, it is easy to praise Barton and Lamm's songwriting - in the sense that each song is a short story, told with great economy, where most of the action takes place between the lines. In 'Sunset Strip', a Hollywood starlet is tying to sing a passionate love-song to the small-town boyfriend whom she has just walked out on ("Sleep for me as I slip out"), but she can't get her mind off the image of herself, on a poster ("People passing by will all look at her - at me"), which makes the subject of the song - a relationship breaking up - all the more powerful because the singer never gets round to singing about it. The thing is, these songs work in the same way on-stage, when you don't know the songs beforehand, and you can't necessarily make out all of the lyrics. The sense of unfinished business and unspoken stories remains. This is testament to Barton and Lamm's singing. They never resort to the sort of screechy emoting which lesser singers use in order to impart 'feeling' into a song; instead, they follow Frank Sinatra's old dictum: "Sing the words." There is a tendency within this sort of music - white, American, country-based, and 'adult' - for it to degenerate into Soft Rock. I must confess that, two or three years ago when I first started raving about Hazeldine to interested friends, I would say: "Hear them now, before they turn into Fleetwood Mac." Indeed, on their sole Polydor CD, 'Digging You Up', it looked as if they were about to do just that, with a smooth Los Angeles production and 'additional players' hiding rather than enhancing the subtleties of the music, making it wash over the listener, and rendering the quality of the lyrics irrelevant. Thankfully, this trend has been reversed since Hazeldine left the corporate end of the music industry behind. Playing lead guitar on this tour is Neal Casal, a good songwriter himself. While lacking the skill of guitarists such as Robbie Robertson or Richard Thompson, he plays with the same attitude - aware that his job is to draw the audience into the songs, rather than distracting the listener with 'tasty licks'. The presence of a third guitarist also allows Lamm and Barton to simplify their own playing, doubling up on acoustic and electric guitars to make a single, expansive rhythm sound. Despite prodding from Anne Tkach (literally - she kept poking him in the stomach), Neal Casal seems unwilling to sing. This is a shame: Shawn Barton and Tonya Lamm already have a wonderful harmony thing going on, but on the one or two occasions that Casal does join in, the added male voice swells the vocal sound up to an almost Beach Boys level. After being largely sidelined (and reduced to small-print status in the credits of 'Digging You Up') during the Polydor excursion, Anne Tkach has become quite a commanding presence on-stage. With Tonya Lamm pregnant and taking it easy in terms of performance, Tkach is the one calling the songs, and giving Neal Casal (and his drummer John Hummel, the other hired hand) their cues. She was also a familiar face, having played the Maze last year, with Nadine. (Click to read a review of that show). All in all, one of the best live bands we've had at the Maze. The Cosmic American Music Club remains one of Nottingham's hidden treasures, and it's well worth supporting, if you have any liking for live music - cosmic, American, or otherwise. 
For additional information, have a look at the excellent Insurgent Country web site, run by a German obsessive who has close contacts with Hazeldine, as well as many other alt.country types. While you're at it, you might enjoy this weirdly-poetic translation of a German newspaper article about Hazeldine. Future C.A.M. events: 25th May 2001: Blue Rodeo / Shannon Lyon 29th May 2001: Victoria Williams and Mark Olson. (Two excellent singer-songwriters, also from Arizona / New Mexico - these days you have to come from a desert in order to count as a cosmic American). 5th June 2001: Tandy 25th June 2001: Willard Grant Conspiracy / Deanna Varagona - - - read more rants and raves |
