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CONCERT REVIEW: The Great Unknown / KC Jones / Ali Wadsworth @ Johnny Brenda's 2/2
I have to stop getting surprised by bands with warm, pastoral three-part harmonies and deliriously catchy guitar hooks being from Philadelphia.
CONCERT REVIEW: The Great Unknown / KC Jones / Ali Wadsworth @ Johnny Brenda’s 2/2
I have to stop getting surprised by bands with warm, pastoral three-part harmonies and deliriously catchy guitar hooks being from Philadelphia. I’m not in Kansas anymore (or ever), but instead in an East Coast city with enough Americana heart in its native musicians to make Kansas City (yeah, I know, not actually Kansas) tip-toe home with its tail between its legs. Nobody at The Great Unknown’s vinyl release show on Saturday at Johnny Brenda’s, myself included, will ever forget that again.
This raucously fun show at Johnny Brenda’s on Saturday started with a set from local celebrity and all-round vocal powerhouse Ali Wadsworth. Joined by a backing band including her sister Claire, with whom Ali performed as a duo on NBC’s The Voice, Ali interpreted a number of songs from local songwriters with a country-rock mix underscored by subtle, reverb-inflected guitar atmosphere. Never missing an opportunity to showcase her booming and dexterous soprano voice, Wadsworth’s set was as haunting and interesting as it was familiar.
KC Jones, whose latest album Sounds from the West was released last week and sold at the show, offered a change of pace with his band’s ethereal neo-psychedelica that calls to mind British guitar bands like The Clash and Spiritualized in equal measure. The sonic inventiveness of the guitarists’ warm and wah-inflected guitars and Jones’s understated singing voice floated over a solid rhythm section that built in intensity into the set’s hard-rocking end.
Show headliners The Great Unknown, who were celebrating the release of their latest vinyl So Strange and Loud, brought the then-packed venue back to the ground with their brand of insanely catchy sing-along folk-rock tunes that give credo to their album name. The tight vocal harmonies and instrumental musicianship make this five-piece a name to remember. Bringing back Wadsworth and Jones for several songs and taking the time to recite song choruses for an audience that might have just been discovering them, their set hit crescendos and decrescendos in crucial moments to get people dancing, singing, and hollering at the top of their lungs for an encore. The message was clear: you can find something beautifully Heartland-laden without having to go very far from America’s birthplace.
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