Paul Curreri’s guitar and voice amble along like the tumbleweed that trails across the chorus of his opening tune “Senseless as a Cuckoo”. The words roll, stutter and occasionally flood over a laid-back but sharply picked backing, and this approach very much sets the tone for the rest of his set.
He’s a performer that seems at once relaxed and a bit jumpy, the between song anecdotes tumbling out in a semi-stream-of-consciousness fashion akin to the lyrics in his songs. It’s absolutely charming and at times very very funny - his talking blues revamp of a Merle Travis tune “Long John” being a definite highlight – but there are also moments where this reviewer can’t helping hankering after a slightly more refined approach, lyrically at any rate.
Curreri is certainly capable of crafting a knock-out image, as on “The Island Drag” : ‘I mush his voice and pour it into bullet / then never even let the bullet fly’. His newly-wed wife and fellow peripatetic singer-songwriter-in-arms Devon Sproule – who played a great set at the same venue several weeks previously – features as the inspiration for a clutch of songs and stories, and inspires some of Curreri’s most tender musings, as on the touching and smile-inducing “Night Jet Trails”.
|
He is an engaging presence, a sweet player and a never-less-than interesting vocalist, restlessly playing tricks with phrasing, constantly coaxing new rhythms and meanings from his lyrics. In fact the problem for this reviewer, for the most part, could be put down to an unfamiliarity with the source material. Curreri’s questing approach to his own songs suggests that he is one of those performers whose shows might be appreciated all the more by the previously initiated.
Which isn’t to suggest you should stay at home if you haven’t heard the records. As a showman and genuine talent Paul Curreri offers more than enough to the first-time gig goer, and I look forward to renewing my acquaintance with the man and his songs on his next trip around.
|
