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 |