By So there I was, back where I grew up and discovered the criminally underrated BoDeans were playing a club gig. Having followed their trajectory since their debut in the 1980s, I had seen a handful of shows over the years, all were excellent.
This show was no exception.
The evening’s highlight may have been “My Hometown,” a song touching on the similar set of perplexing mixed emotions in the song of the same name by Springsteen. But lead singer songwriter Kurt Neumann takes it a bit further:
I guess that everybody winds down their own lonely road trying to get someplace that feels like home
And to find somebody that feels that same way that you feel inside
He introduced the song, explaining it was from the Netflix series The Ranch (which starred Ashton Kutcher, Danny Masterson, Debra Winger and Sam Elliott).
Back on my home turf, the song was a poignant song for me, but there were other heartfelt moments during the show.
By way of context, in January 1987 the Rolling Stone reader poll voted BoDeans the Best New American Band. The band attracted early in their career several notable musicians as producers: T-Bone Burnett, Mike Campbell, David Z (Prince) and Jerry Harrison. Campbell’s efforts at echoing the vibe from his work as part of Tom Petty’s Heartbreakers did not work out, much as Neumann admires Petty. Harrison brought a slightly more polished sound, but not as lovingly eccentric as his work as a founding member of Talking Heads. That effort elicited the hit “Only Love” and a tour opening for U2, which led to collaborations with Peter Gabriel on the debut solo album of Robbie Robertson (arguably the father of Americana music). BoDeans were eventually selected by the likes of Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Tom Petty, The Pretenders and David Bowie for the opening slot. That is an impressively eclectic list of giants. I doubt any other artist from Wisconsin can boast such a list.
The band has placed an impressive number of songs on TV shows and in films, which is well-earned mailbox money.
BoDeans: Holden, Neumann, Intelisano, Ferguson
Now with a stripped down classic 4 piece lineup, BoDeans have been hitting the road in the timeless tradition of bands before and after. What we saw on this tour were drums (Brian Ferguson), keyboards (Stefano Intelisano), guitar (Neumann) and bass, (Eric Holden) albeit with one extra string.
BoDeans might best be described as Americana with voltage.
In Buffalo the band trusted the crowd with a trek into deeper album cuts, which was ambitious and impressive. Neumann described “Flyaway” as a prison song triggered by the spirit of Johnny Cash. “Tied Down and Chained” told of folks trapped in a rut, by choice or otherwise. The song evoked a solid degree of darkness, but the quartet bounced back with the uplifting “Stay On:”
‘Cause this big wide open crazy world can get you downhearted
And wondering where you stand or fall, wondering why try at all?
Well, I say stay on, stay on, steady now
But BoDeans did not eschew the crowd favorites. “Still the Night” (from The Color of Money) was an instant sing along. Likewise for “Good Things” as the set rounded the clubhouse turn. An elegiac coda was magnificent.
BoDeans crossed the finish line with the usual gig-finishing “Closer to Free,” everyone on their feet.
(photos by Brad Auerbach)
