Falling In Love Again

I’ve wanted to write about Imelda May for a few months. This past weekend while looking for some live music, I discovered that she was opening for Chuck Berry. Unfortunately, tickets were about $100. Not the amount that I, and my friends visiting from out of town, wanted to spend. Luckily she was in NYC for a few days. I checked out a show on Tuesday at Piano’s, a small club on the Lower East Side. A perfect excuse to write about her. Plus a chance to see her live and find out if she was as good as she sounds on her album. Would I fall in love with the music again?

I first mentioned Imelda May in the SWIK Summer Dance Mix (see post). She was introduced to me by the music-pusher, who I’ve now mentioned in several posts and who will finally get a name, or at least a pseudonym. I’ll call him Slim. We dated briefly and remain...um.. pen pals? Although, in the 21st century there are no pens involved, mainly just keyboards. Slim spent a few weeks in Ireland earlier this year. He returned to email me about the Guinness and a fabulous Irish rockabilly chanteuse, Imelda May. He’s been asking when I’m going to blog about her ever since. She’s amazing, of course. I fell in love immediately and can’t stop listening to her album, Love Tattoo.

[caption id="attachment_848" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Photo by Chris at Music Snobbery"][/caption]I met up with Slim at the show. To say we were impressed is an understatement. May and her band blew us away. When you really like an album sometimes a concert can disappoint, but I enjoyed the live set even more than the album. As she told us after the show, the songs have been paired down. (Yes, we skulked around outside after the show and had a chance to meet her and her guitarist/husband, Darrel Higham.) There’s more piano on the album, which was actually recorded a few years ago although only released in the US last month. When they began touring they paired things down to drums, guitar, upright bass and horn. They told us that this changed the sound. I liked it. The band is tight and the songs jump out at you. I did the stand-in-place and don’t-make-a-big-scene dance for most of the show with much of the audience. Well, except for the few who completely let go in front of the stage. Piano’s is a small place, but it was packed and the audience was great. At 8:00 PM on a Tuesday, they were there to see Imeda May. The enthusiasm was wonderfully unrestrained, much like May’s voice.

In addition to several of my favorite songs from the album, she belted out an extraordinary version of The Beatles “Oh Darling”. She did a few other covers and regaled the crowd with a story about singing in blues bars in Ireland when she was 14. “Rollin’ & Tumblin,’" a traditional blues tune attributed to Muddy Waters, brought the house down at the end of the night. She also introduced us to a few new songs, making me eager for the next album. The band was phenomenal. At one point, Higham seemed to be channelling the famous guitarist Dick Dale. And there’s nothing like an upright bass and a horn player to add some funk and sexiness to a show. May also rocked out on a traditional Irish frame drum called a bodhran, which I’m told is not easy to play. Like most of my favorite singer-musicians, May didn’t overpower the stage. She's the main attraction, but she's there with the band. She’s part of the whole picture that draws the audience in.

May hails from Ireland, but has a love for American rock ‘n roll and blues. She grew up in The Liberties, a rough working-class neighborhood in Dublin. A friend, who also joined me at the show and who also hails from Ireland, called The Liberties “the South Bronx of Dublin.” May certainly has a rough and tumble sound to her vocals, but overall her voice is smooth, powerful, and sexy. She’s been compared to Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders and Billie Holiday. I’m reminded of Julie London, a crooner with a smokey voice popular in the 1950‘s, who had a hit with “Cry Me A River”. May certainly channels all of these women, yet her sound is completely different. She has an energy that is pure rock ‘n roll, but a voice that is sexy and sultry blues.

May is part of a genre called rockabilly, a combination of rock ‘n roll and country (from its original term ‘hillbilly music’ in the 1940’s). Rockabilly has swing, blues, and soul influences. Some would say it’s the music of Elvis. In the 1980’s the Stray Cats captured the sound and had a few hits. Rockabilly, even more so than hip-hop (see Trina post), is entirely dominated by men. You don’t hear many women singing rockabilly. I’m not sure there will be many women willing venture into rockabilly after May. She’ll be tough to top. From here on, I expect that everyone will be compared to her.

Finally, I’ll mention one of my my favorite songs on the album, although they didn’t perform it on Tuesday. “Falling in Love With You Again” is about falling in love again and again with the same person, who’s already your partner. The lyrics capture how love lasts and can continually be new. It’s pure romance, but May’s vocals add a sexiness to the song. And when you fall in love again and again, there should certainly be some sex involved. Not to trivialize love, but this is the essence of what a good live show can do when you already really enjoy an artist or band. You listen to an album again and again. It becomes familiar and comfortable. Then you see a live show. Suddenly it’s like discovering the music for the first time. You fall in love all over again.

Imelda May is touring the UK and will be back in the states in November. If she’s in your city, be certain to check her out. Until then pick up a copy of Love Tattoo, so you can fall in love again when you see her live.

Hear Music
Imelda May SWIK Mix

See Music
Oh Darling
Rollin’ and Tumblin’
Johnny Got A Boom Boom

Buy Music
Love Tattoo

More Info
Imelda May web site
Music Snobbery Great photos from the Piano’s show here. He includes a set list, but it’s not the same songs that I heard at the show. Granted, I’m getting old and forgetful. Seriously though, I would not have missed a cover of "Tainted Love".