Circe Link Fabulous In Concert At Kulak's Woodshed

On Saturday September 22^nd, Circe Link and her band performed at Kulak’s Woodshed on Laurel Canyon Boulevard in North Hollywood, an intimate, earthy setting that affords the audience ample opportunity to get close to the artists who are performing. Riveting Riffs Magazine took this opportunity to review the concert streaming on the internet. Backed by a solid band, consisting of her partner in both life and in music, guitarist Christian Nesmith (Air Supply, Debbie Peterson of the Bangles), Brant Biles (acoustic guitar), Jason Chesney (bass), drummer Christopher Allis, keyboardist Michael Sherwood (has performed with Yes, Toto, Air Supply, Lisa Loeb) and singers Laura Drew and Deb Tala (who also played accordion), Circe Link performed almost exclusively original songs (“No More Tears,” being the lone cover tune). Dressed in a black top, black hot pants, white belt, white boots and with her blonde hair almost waist length, Circe Link’s twang, as she sang what she describes as Cowboy Jazz, belies her California heritage.

Longtime friend, musician and singer-songwriter Robbie Rist introduced Circe Link and acted as the host for the evening and he did an outstanding job of demonstrating wit, while mixing in the right degree of sincerity. The ability for fans to email the venue during the concert added a unique element to the evening, as periodically, Rist read the emails and it gave Circe and her band an opportunity to interact with their cyber audience.

Circe Link opened the evening with the vintage Country tune “Bluebird Tattoo,” as she harmonized with Laura Drew and Deb Tala on the chorus and particularly noticeable was the superb guitar playing of Christian Nesmith. The opening tune was followed by the country swagger, “Hell Of A Good Man,” from her Moody Girl album, and the title pretty well tells the story with this one, the message being it is going to take one hell of a good man to be Mr. Right. Link harmonized beautifully with Drew and Tala on what can best be described as the Andrew Sisters meet Bob Wills (minus the fiddle). This is a song that invites you to move your shoulders, move your hips and tap your toes.  Oh did we happen to mention, by the next time you are at a Circe Link concert you will be singing along to this fun song with the homespun lyrics.

There was very much a Patti Page feel to the song “Three Bells,” from Circe Link’s first album, More Songs From Circe Link (and yes that is the correct title). A few songs later, the band would perform another song from the same album, “Call Him A Thief,” more of a slow, meandering tune that laments about trusting your heart to man who is likely to break it. That theme turns more philosophical and becomes mellower, with “Falling On Knives,” (Moody Girl), a song that is a pretty Pop tune.

With “Not The Marrying Kind,” we imagined that this might be what Buck Owens might have sounded like if he had been a woman.

Other highlights during the evening included Deb Tala’s wonderful accordion on the song “No More Tears,” and this coming from a writer, who is not particularly a fan of the accordion, but she made a convert out of me on this one. “One Drop Of Poison,” from the album of the same name delivers on Circe Link’s promise of Cowboy Jazz and the kazoo infused “Getting Old,” has a beautiful line, “Every single gray hair on your head, is like gold to me.”

“Tiger Swami,” from Circe Link’s most recent album California Kid tosses overboard any notion that Link is a one-trick pony, as this song has a little bit of everything in terms of musical influences and is one of our favorite tunes. The song is a testament to the brilliance of the songwriting of Link and Nesmith.

“Gossip Queen,” is playful and pokes fun at those who cannot think of anything better to do with their time than invent rumors and is a who told who about what about her or him, type of a song.

The beautiful countrified Andrew Sisters sound captured on the pretty love song “You Are The Stars,” Christian Nesmith's and Brant Biles' elegant guitar playing and Michael Sherwood’s incredible keyboards made this a very memorable concert and if you were watching online you had a front row seat as the crew at Kulak’s Woodshed did an excellent job of both panning the venue and zooming in on Circe Link’s face and the instruments being played by the musicians. If you cannot be at a Circe Link concert in person, we would highly recommend this experience.

Please visit the Circe Link website.

Interviewed by Joe Montague

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