Showing posts with label Campbell Steele. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Campbell Steele. Show all posts

Sunday, February 12, 2017

Sena Ehrhardt live at Campbell Steele Gallery - Feb. 11, 2017


Marion, Iowa
By Phillip Smith; Feb. 12, 2017


Saturday, February 11,  The Sena Ehrhardt Band gave a superb performance at the Campbell Steele Gallery in Marion, Iowa.  This Minneapolis-based blues band is fronted by singer/songwriter Ehrhardt, her husband, guitarist Cole Allen, drummer Wayne Allen, and bassist Crosby Williams.  Prior to Ehrhardt taking the stage to sing the wonderful “Things You Should’t Need to Know” off the 2014 Live My Life album, Cole Allen warmed the audience up with a serious dose of instrumental electric blues. His talent on the guitar runs deep.  


Ehrhardt’s strong and powerful vocals sounded so good on the slow and swampy “Last Chance”, from her first record. Cole’s ripping guitar performance, an added bonus, is such a treat.  The band blessed the crowd with the house-rocking Chicago blues fave “Little By Little”, which ended in an audience participation sing-a-long. I was happy to hear them play a personal favorite, “Buried Alive”. It is an outstanding number.  For the fabulous finale, Ehrhardt closed out with “Rock Me Baby”, dedicating the song to B.B. King, Johnny Winter, and Smoking Joe Kubek.  It was a terrific show for sure.












Sunday, November 20, 2016

Danielle Nicole live at Campbell Steele Gallery - Nov. 19, 2016


Marion, Iowa
By Phillip Smith; Nov. 20, 2016


Saturday, November 19, singer/bassist Danielle Nicole gave an exquisite performance to a sold out crowd at Campbell Steele Gallery in Marion, Iowa.  Singer/bassist Nicole, previously of the Kansas City band, Trampled Under Foot, is now in command of her own band, consisting of the very talented guitarist Brandon Miller, keyboardist extraordinaire Mike “Shinetop Jr.” Sedovic, and the outstanding Jon Faircloth on drums. This troop of musicians is one of the tightest groups I’ve heard, and hearing them play live is truly an electric experience.

Nicole beautifully performed the tremendous “Give Me Tonight” by Grammy Award winning songwriter and producer Anders Osborne, who also happened to produce Nicole’s 2015 Wolf Den album. Their performance of “Starvin’ For Love” was both joyous and riveting.  Miller tore into some lush slide guitar on their deliciously haunting cover of Son House’s “Death Letter Blues.”    

The first segment of the second set featured Nicole onstage alone, armed with acoustic guitar instead of her bass. She captivated the audience with John Prine’s “Angel From Montgomery”, and a poignant delivery of Bob Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice”, before taking on Dolly Parton’s “Jolene”.
 
A moment of remembrance for the great soul singer Sharon Jones (May 4, 1956 – November 18, 2016) was taken, as Nicole shared her memories of opening up for Jones at a music festival overseas.  This ushered in a most fitting tribute as they broke out the funk in Jones’ “Nobody’s Baby”.  Another tribute to a recently fallen musical dignitary was taken later in the evening with a terrific performance of Prince’s “Purple Rain”.  Nicole sang this with intensity and heartfelt emotion as Miller payed a stellar guitar solo.


Although the band played for nearly three hours with just a smidge of a break, it was an evening which no one really wanted to end.  This is what the blues is all about.

* all photos by Phillip Smith


Danielle Nicole

Mike “Shinetop Jr.” Sedovic

Brandon Miller

Danielle Nicole & Jon Faircloth

Brandon Miller

Danielle Nicole


Jon Faircloth 

Danielle Nicole


Danielle Nicole, Jon Faircloth, Mike 'Shinetop Jr.' Sedovic

Saturday, April 23, 2016

Shaun Hague : Journeyman A Tribute to Eric Clapton - Live @ Campbell Steele Gallery : 4/22/16


Live @ Campbell Steele Gallery
April 22, 2016 – Marion, Iowa
By Phillip Smith; April 23, 2016


Friday, April 22, Chicago guitarist/vocalist Shaun Hague brought his captivating show, Journeyman - A Tribute to Eric Clapton, to Campbell Steele Gallery in Marion, Iowa.  Joining Hague onstage for this delightful retrospective is keyboardist Robert Monroe, bassist Brian Burke and drummer Andy Taylor.  In this sold-out show, Journeyman treated the audience to three sets of hits and deep cuts, making sure to cover every era of Clapton’s career.

Beginning with the Sixties, Journeyman hit the ground running with a killer cover of “White Room” which almost immediately gave me goosebumps. This was followed up with a riveting “Badge”.  Burke's sweet bassline cemented the intoxicating groove on “Sunshine of Your Love”, in which Hague and Monroe alternated vocals.  The band was in total synchronicity for this one.  Taylor’s drum solo was spectacular and was a definitely ‘Hell Yeah’ moment.  Hague doles out more smokin’ guitar grooves on Robert Johnson’s iconic classic “Crossroads” to end the first set.

Set two, featured songs from the Eighties and Nineties, where Journeyman hit on deep cuts, “Holy Mother”, and honky-tonk friendly “Alberta”.  After a jamming performance of “Pretending”, they brought onstage with them, guest guitarist Billy Satterfield. Watching Hague and Satterfield go toe-to-toe on Muddy Water’s “Hoochi Coochi Man” was phenomenal.  The dual guitar sounded terrific.  Monroe downright tore it up on keys, reminding me of a mad scientist at work.  His talent definitely runs deep.    

The third and final set covered the classic Clapton songs of the Seventies.  Taylor grabs another captivating drum solo on “Let it Rain”.  I love this song.  I haven’t heard it in a while, but it transports me instantly to the days of my youth.  Satterfield is invited onstage again to join the band for “Cocaine”, where they tendered another absolutely grand performance.  Electric and spacy, their rendition of Jimi Hendrix’s “Little Wing” was an example of rock and roll at its best.  No Clapton tribute would be complete without “Layla”. This beautifully played song was the cherry on top, and ended the last set of the evening, bringing the walk down memory lane to a close.  It was a terrific night for music.    



All Photos by Phillip Smith


Shaun Hague

Robert Monroe

Shaun Hague

Brian Burke

Andy Taylor

Andy Taylor

Shaun Hague &  Brian Burke

Brian Burke

Brian Burke

Shaun Hague, Brian Burke, and Billy Satterfield

Shaun Hague & Billy Satterfield

Billy Satterfield

Robert Monroe

Robert Monroe

Shaun Hague

Shaun Hague

Shaun Hague & Billy Satterfield

Shaun Hague, Brian Burke, and Billy Satterfield



Sunday, March 20, 2016

Samantha Fish - Live @ Campbell Steele Gallery : 3/18/16


March 18, 2016 – Marion, Iowa
By Phillip Smith; Mar 20, 2016


Friday, March 18, Samantha Fish blessed the audience at Campbell Steele Gallery in Marion, Iowa with a captivating show featuring two terrific sets of music. One couldn’t ask for a better rhythm section to back her as bassist Chris Alexander and drummer Go-go Ray.  These musicians sound extraordinary together.   Fish quickly grabbed everyone’s attention with a rousing execution of “Wild Heart”, which was followed up by the killer song “Show Me”.  Highlighted by a stellar performance from Go-Go Ray, this one brought everyone to their feet. 

Fish effortlessly commanded the stage as she ripped through “Blame it on the Moon and crowd-favorite “Runaway” on oil-can guitar and slide.  Her gorgeous acoustic rendition of Charlie Patton’s blues classic “Jim Lee Blues” was outstanding and fresh.  Fish also broke out a sweet cover of Junior Kimbrough’s “I’m in Love With You”.  This one appears on her new album, Wild Heart

Fish returned alone to deliver the first two songs of the second set acoustically.  She played her most streamed song, “Let’s Have Some Fun”, along with a favorite of her father, Tom T. Hall’s “That’s How I Got to Memphis”.  Afterward, the band proceeded to tear through a smashing “Go to Hell”, a mesmerizing “I Put a Spell on You”, and a phenomenally ripping “Bitch on the Run”.  Before all was done, the band took the stage for an encore to end the evening with a fearless electric cover of Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs”, and it was great.  For this, I say “Bravo!”.  



All photos by Phillip Smith


Samantha Fish

Samantha Fish & Chris Alexander

Chris Alexander

Samantha Fish

Chris Alexander

Samantha Fish

Go-Go Ray

Samantha Fish & Chris Alexander

Go-Go Ray

Samantha Fish

Chris Alexander

Samantha Fish & Chris Alexander


Go-Go Ray

Samantha Fish