Discography
01/25/13 Evanston, IL SPACE
01/26/13 Milwaukee, WI Cactus Club 01/27/13 Madison, WI High Noon Saloon 02/01/13 Chicago, IL Green Mill Read More Stuff I Love About Thrift Stores:
1. That they’re like natural history museums where you can afford to buy the artifacts. 2. When you can tell by the fixtures (or the stairs or where the linoleum stops and starts) what the thrift .... The gorgeous, versatile pipes of alt-country singer/songwriter Kelly Hogan will be heating up the Turf Club on Thursday, January 24th. She is best known as Neko Case’s vocal soultwin, having supplied backup vocals on several of Case’s..
|
“I know it’s a school night,” Kelly Hogan joked to a very enthusiastic Turf Club crowd before thanking everyone for coming out to the show. Weeknights plus zero degree weather can really kill the music-watching spirit, but those who braved the elements last night were treated to a spectacular set from Atlanta-native singer and songwriter Hogan and her excellent back-up band of Nora O’Connor, Casey McDonough and drummer Gerald Dowd.
The band is out promoting Hogan’s newest album I Like to Keep Myself In Pain with their current outing playfully titled “Hogan Midwest Frozen Freakout Tour”; after Minneapolis, they’ll head down to Chicago and then swing through Wisconsin for two stops (Milwaukee and Madison.) On route to the Twin Cities, the band experienced some van troubles and came in late enough that they couldn’t rehearse (Hogan thought that an abundant supply of estrogen was perhaps the cause for their traveling troubles). But that didn’t seem to hinder them one bit, as they sounded fantastic with Hogan nearly blowing the roof off the place with that soulful voice.
The sauntering title track to the new album kicked off the show followed by my favorite new song “We Can’t Have Nice Things” and an older one “No, Bobby Don’t” from Because it Feel Good. The jaunty Jon Langford-penned “Haunted” and blissful “Sleeper Awake” kept the mood light and fun, despite the dark nature of most of the songs. Hogan would fill the time in between songs with humorous stories about her music and touring in her languid southern drawl. For instance the uptempo “Sugarbowl” (that featured Hogan on the elusive instrument nose-flute), is about her time as a waitress working in the restaurant of a woman whose motto was “I hate to cook.”
There were two major highlights of an already amazing evening of music; one was surprise guest John Munson, of Trip Shakespeare, Semisonic and the Twilight Hours, hopping on stage to join the band for two songs. I have never seen Mr. Munson in person before and the last time I saw him play music on television, it was with Semisonic on TRL on MTV back in 1997. So when Munson, who is something like 7 feet tall and was dressed in a furry, white/black coat and plaid pants, graced the stage, I was as shocked as I was elated. They did a fast and morbid little ditty about what I think was the Titanic and then killed it with a Trip Shakespeare song “Snow Days,” all the members on stage creating this lovely, warm harmony that made time stop and the planets align for four or five glorious minutes.
The Magnetic Fields songs were definitely the other highlight (and fan favorite); “Plant White Roses” from Hogan’s current and “Papa Was a Rodeo” from Beneath the Country Underdog are both hushed and intimate songs and elicited misty eyes even from the most grizzled fan. Before playing “Papa Was a Rodeo,” Hogan dedicated the song to a fan who was celebrating his birthday and who happened to raise chickens. As the song began, the fan walked to the stage with a bag of fresh eggs for her. “So fresh,” Hogan joked. “they were still in the chicken [earlier today]!”
Kelly Hogan’s live shows are both tear-jerkingly moving and raucously fun. Catch her on tour or check out Magnet online where she was guest editing all last week - her daily column is called From the Desk of Kelly Hogan. Check it out!
The band is out promoting Hogan’s newest album I Like to Keep Myself In Pain with their current outing playfully titled “Hogan Midwest Frozen Freakout Tour”; after Minneapolis, they’ll head down to Chicago and then swing through Wisconsin for two stops (Milwaukee and Madison.) On route to the Twin Cities, the band experienced some van troubles and came in late enough that they couldn’t rehearse (Hogan thought that an abundant supply of estrogen was perhaps the cause for their traveling troubles). But that didn’t seem to hinder them one bit, as they sounded fantastic with Hogan nearly blowing the roof off the place with that soulful voice.
The sauntering title track to the new album kicked off the show followed by my favorite new song “We Can’t Have Nice Things” and an older one “No, Bobby Don’t” from Because it Feel Good. The jaunty Jon Langford-penned “Haunted” and blissful “Sleeper Awake” kept the mood light and fun, despite the dark nature of most of the songs. Hogan would fill the time in between songs with humorous stories about her music and touring in her languid southern drawl. For instance the uptempo “Sugarbowl” (that featured Hogan on the elusive instrument nose-flute), is about her time as a waitress working in the restaurant of a woman whose motto was “I hate to cook.”
There were two major highlights of an already amazing evening of music; one was surprise guest John Munson, of Trip Shakespeare, Semisonic and the Twilight Hours, hopping on stage to join the band for two songs. I have never seen Mr. Munson in person before and the last time I saw him play music on television, it was with Semisonic on TRL on MTV back in 1997. So when Munson, who is something like 7 feet tall and was dressed in a furry, white/black coat and plaid pants, graced the stage, I was as shocked as I was elated. They did a fast and morbid little ditty about what I think was the Titanic and then killed it with a Trip Shakespeare song “Snow Days,” all the members on stage creating this lovely, warm harmony that made time stop and the planets align for four or five glorious minutes.
The Magnetic Fields songs were definitely the other highlight (and fan favorite); “Plant White Roses” from Hogan’s current and “Papa Was a Rodeo” from Beneath the Country Underdog are both hushed and intimate songs and elicited misty eyes even from the most grizzled fan. Before playing “Papa Was a Rodeo,” Hogan dedicated the song to a fan who was celebrating his birthday and who happened to raise chickens. As the song began, the fan walked to the stage with a bag of fresh eggs for her. “So fresh,” Hogan joked. “they were still in the chicken [earlier today]!”
Kelly Hogan’s live shows are both tear-jerkingly moving and raucously fun. Catch her on tour or check out Magnet online where she was guest editing all last week - her daily column is called From the Desk of Kelly Hogan. Check it out!
|
Kelly Hogan (with John Munson) at Turf Club, St Paul (01/24/13) photograph by Sheena Dean
|
Comments