There Stands the Glass

I’m holding a ticket for tonight’s double-bill of Jeff Parker and SML at Revolution Hall. I’ve seen Parker with Tortoise and in other contexts, but I’ve never seen the guitarist perform as a leader. I’m especially giddy about catching the opening act SML for the first time.

The tandem compelled me to reminisce about five enticing double bills I’ve experienced. I’ve limited the following list to well-known artists. Bills with more than two acts and festivals were also disqualified.

B.B. King and Bobby “Blue” Bland- Uptown Theater (1979)
Pretenders and Steel Pulse- Uptown Theater (1981)
The Hold Steady and Art Brut- The Granada (2007)
Bonnie “Prince” Billy and Michael Hurley at Aladdin Theater (2023)
Lionel Richie and Earth, Wind & Fire at the T-Mobile Center (2024)

The idea for this post came to me two hours ago while on a walk in Portland. I’m almost certainly failing to recall many equally rewarding concerts. I haven’t bothered to fact-check either, so the details may be incorrect. Here’s hoping Parker and SML will come through with a performance that will merit placement on a future list of exceptional double bills.

The multimedia presentation staged at Yardley Hall on Saturday, February 12, shouldn’t have worked. The languid drawl of a disembodied octogenarian narrator offered insights into a blend of grainy footage and live performances throughout the 90-minute show attended by several hundred people.

Yet the narrator was the gallant folklorist William Ferris and the six featured musicians possessed correspondingly auspicious talent. What might have resembled a tedious TED Talk was instead a vital exposition of Mississippi culture.

The concept is inspired by Voices of Mississippi: Artists and Musicians Documented by William Ferris. The Grammy Award-winning collection ranges from tracks by the blues icon Mississippi Fred McDowell to the beat poet Alan Ginsburg. Saturday’s concert was similarly expansive.

Shardé Thomas and Chris Mallory of the Rising Stars Fife & Drum Band, Luther and Cody Dickinson of the North Mississippi Allstars, the roots music mainstay Ruthie Foster and sought-after guitarist Marcus Machado didn’t play it straight.

Ferris’ footage of B.B. King was followed by the rarest of musical unicorns: a fresh version of “The Thrill Is Gone.” Thomas’ vocals on the shopworn warhorse as well as the life-affirming fife playing she demonstrated on other selections were the concert’s biggest revelations.

Her collaborators were almost as good. Ruthie Foster delivered a stunning a cappella reading of Son House’s “Grinnin’ In Your Face.” The low-key guitar duels between Dickinson and Machado were tasteful. The Kansas City vocalist Danielle Nicole made a fun guest appearance on “You Gotta Move.”

The frequent video segments could have been buzzkills had they not been so engaging. Rather than resembling fusty outtakes from Martin Scorsese’s 2003 documentary on the blues, they added vitality.

Logic dictates that a performance by the same lineup at a roadhouse like Kansas City’s Knuckleheads would have been preferable. Yet almost everything about Voices of Mississippi defies blues convention. The triumphant concert was a most pleasant surprise.

Hearing Double

Concert Review: Voices of Mississippi at Yardley Hall