TO DO LIST: Ryan Montbleau Band @ The Hamilton

The day after Thanksgiving is an interesting time to be in the District. Some people work, some people don’t. Lots of tourists, but nothing close to summer levels. Overall it’s pretty quiet. And quiet is no fun. That’s why the Hamilton will be the place to be Friday night for a funky performance by the always entertaining Ryan Montbleau Band.

Montbleau’s mixture of funk, folk, and blues was given a jolt of N’awlins soul on For Higher, the band’s most recent album (which was financed by a wildly successful PledgeMusic.com campaign). The band entrenched themselves in the Big Easy and got help from such luminaries as Ben Ellman (of legendary New Orleans funk jam band Galactic), Ivan Neville, Anders Osborn, and George Porter, Jr. of the Meters. While Montbleau didn’t set out to make a “New Orleans” record, with a group like that a dash of bayou soul couldn’t be helped. The end result is a wonderful gumbo of funk and soul which – like all of Montbleau’s songs and indeed all New Orleans-influenced music – is served better live.

On paper, the music on For Higher seems like a departure for a guy from Peabody, Massachusetts who’s opened for Ani DiFranco and whose previous album, 2010’s Heavy on the Vine, was produced by folk star Martin Sexton. But for Montbleau, the funk and the folk are never that far apart. Known for playing more than 200 shows a year, he and his band have reached a level of tight that other performers can only dream of.

Opener Nathan Moore also knows a thing or two about crowdsourced performing – for more than two years the highly skilled folkie traveled the country without any booked shows, instead playing only where invited by fans. Moore and his manager webcast themselves 24 hours a day and were helped out by fans who lined up gigs at homes, parks, and rec centers. While the room might be a little bigger than Moore is used to, his charming brand of folk will fit right in at the Hamilton.

Tickets are still available here. We'll see you at the show tonight!

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LIVE: Allen Stone w/Sister Sparrow and the Dirty Birds @ The 9:30 Club - 9/27/12

Allen Stone’s band warmed up the crowd with a variation on James Brown’s “Sex Machine” prior to his taking stage at the 9:30 Club Thursday night. If you didn’t know what the soul-singing wunderkind from Washington state looked like before he emerged, you might have thought they brought out the wrong guy. In his wide-brimmed hat, Western-style knit parka, and large glasses he looked less like a singer and more like a nerdy cowboy about to rob a stagecoach before heading to Old Mexico.

But then he started singing (the appropriate-for-DC “What I’ve Seen,” in which he talks about how “politicians manipulate minds”) and any discussion of his appearance went out the window. Stone’s voice is darn near perfect for the kind of uplifting party/soul music he performs. At its best, it’s a voice that’s often compared to Stevie Wonder’s - while that’s not as evident on his records, it becomes very clear live, especially on songs like “Celebrate Tonight” and “Sleep,” arguably his most popular song.

At only 25, Stone is already a master showman and worked the crowd magnificently. He constantly bounced all over the stage, repeatedly engaged with the capacity crowd and urged them to dance, and said “Washington, DC” more times in one night than a city councilman says it in a year. At one point Stone divided the room in half for a “dance-off,” noting that people had no excuse for not dancing since he himself had been dancing all night and was from “one of the most rhythmically challenged areas of the United States.” His relentless enthusiasm for performing is infectious.

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ROAD TRIP: 2012 Equifunk Festival - Part 2

While Friday afternoon was cloudy and rainy, Saturday morning dawned clear and warm at Equifunk. We wandered through the camp and enjoyed the picturesque landscape as laughter and music emanated from all the bunks. Campers enjoyed breakfast in the mess hall, a 3-on-3 basketball tournament, softball, even hula hoop lessons. In other words, it was summer camp.

But the music started soon enough. Brooklyn’s I’ll Be John Brown provided the perfect Saturday morning set with a classic rock sound that called to mind a rawer version of Credence Clearwater Revival. After the electronic experimentation of the night before, it was great to have some “real” music again. A highlight of the band’s set was a cover of the Grateful Dead’s “Mr. Charlie” – combined with Dumpstaphunk’s cover of “Fame” the previous evening, we began to see a pattern of Equifunk bands doing amazing renditions of other songs; it was a trend that would continue.

Eventually Sister Sparrow, neé Arleigh Kincheloe came on stage and, as we knew she would, promptly ripped the shit out of it. It’s astounding that such a husky and huge voice comes out of Kincheloe who is, to paraphrase Roc Dutton in Rudy, “five feet nothin’.” Her voice seems to change with every song – on “Millie Mae” she was Susan Tedeschi, on “Hollow Bones” she was Janis Joplin, but on “Dirt” she’s all Sister Sparrow, a funked-out wrecking ball whose “eyes are bigger than my liver.” Kincheloe’s brother Jackson, the unofficial bandleader, accompanies her on a bluesy, distorted harmonica. He’s probably sick of being compared to John Popper, but the compliment is accurate because the man is damn good.

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