Wreckless Eric & Amy Rigby - Ward White -- Black Cat - June 9 2010

Ward White - White plays electric guitar and sings and has a violinist accompanying him tonight. His voice is very much like Eric Carmen (Raspberries) with its higher pitch and breathy feeling. The guitar playing is somewhere between folk and Billy Bragg. The violin gives a nice edgy strength to the sound. The songs are moody, but varied enough and quite easy to access. He is in good spirits despite the low attendance (20-25).

Wreckless Eric & Amy Rigby - Ah, this takes me back to my college days and going into the record store and seeing the first 20 singles on Stiff Records on sale. I preferred the Damned and the Adverts, but there were some nice ones by up and comers Nick Lowe and Elvis Costello. And was this band called Motorhead new wave? Guess I would have to buy it and find out. Stiff's fifteenth single release, sandwiched between Elvis Costello's third single and Ian Dury's first, was the first release by Wreckless Eric. And although he didn't quite match the success of his neighbors', he far exceeded that of the Roogalator or Lew Lewis and his Band. His career has been erratic, but he has kept it going and has a lot of respect of his peers and some hardened fans (which thankfully swelled to more than 50 by now). He is joined by his wife as they play guitars and basses with some keyboards and some computer drum tracks. The sound is good, both vocalists are strong and there's some good rock beats even when the rhythm is from the acoustic guitar and not a drum track. The opener was "You Can't be a Man (without a beer in your Hand)" which sort of sets the tone for his sense of humor. Both of them were quite funny with their patter. The cover "Put a Little Love in Your Heart" was ok, but my mind always wanders off to the Circle Jerks' version. The fans were not numerous, but were smart and rightly enjoying this set. Quite sincerely, the duo commented how much they enjoyed tonight and that isn't always the case, so they invited everyone to come join them in Raleigh the next night as their guests. Sadly, that is a bit far for me, but I hope to see them again some time.

Quote of the Night: After Eric was running down his fellow youths from the late 60s who were pompous and fashion oriented... "the rest of us were discussing what the link was between John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and the Pink Floyd. I can tell you now that there isn't one."