Tret Fure @ Summerdale / Good Shepherd Church 6.9, 1700 W. Farragut, 7:30 p.m., ( 773 ) 248-3953, $15 at the door
Melissa Ferrick @ Martyr's 6.10
Rebecca Riots @ Uncommon Ground 6.14
Kate Schutt @ High Risk sometime this summer
For something like 30 years, lesbians have been more visible than gay men when it comes to recording and releasing albums in the realm of independent queer musicians. While there are more out male performers than their have been in the past, women still dominate.
Melissa Ferrick's March 2001 performance at the Rainbow Cattle Company during SXSW in Austin, Texas, was a highlight of the music conference and festival. Valentine Heartache ( Right On ) , her latest studio disc ( the second on her own record label ) fulfills the promise of that performance, as well as all of her previous studio efforts. First and foremost, the album possesses three of Ferrick's trademarks—her distinctive guitar playing, her instantly recognizable vocals, and her unique songwriting style—which will please her fans to no end. As an artist who is constantly on tour, Ferrick has often worked "the road" into her song and she does so on "Welcome To My Life." She also addresses the hardships of love and sex ( another favorite topic ) on the blistering "One Night Stand," as well as "I Still Love You," "To Feel Real" ( with some amazing guitar work ) , and "Will You Be The One." The album's biggest surprise is the song "E-Mail" ( which includes a mention of SXSW! ) on which Ferrick skirts Ani DiFranco with her lyrical gymnastics and the presence of a trumpet ( played by Ferrick herself ) . Ferrick, who, to her audience's delight, is known for often working other people's songs into her own when performing live, goes one step further by actually doing a cover song on Valentine Heartache. She is the second artist in the course of a year to record Patty Griffin's "Moses" ( Bette Midler was the other ) and her reverent rendition is both poignant and uplifting.
Like Ferrick, Kate Schutt is another artist with a base in Boston. Educated at both Harvard and the Berklee School of Music, Schutt's amazing and inventive disc of cover tunes, Brokenwingtrick ( Wild Whip ) , will have you rethinking several songs as well as the concept of the singer/songwriter. Schutt does write her own material, some of which she has included as unlisted bonus tracks. However, it is her skills as an interpreter that have impressed me the most. You will never listen to the songs "Rebel Rebel" and "Like A Virgin" the same way after hearing Schutt's acoustic punk versions. The same holds true for her hard folk rendition of "Freeway Of Love," equally-as-gorgeous-as-Shawn-Colvin's take on "This Must Be The Place ( Naive Melody ) ," the stripped down sound of "Here Comes The Rain Again," and most especially her guitar/jazz/vocal vision of "What's Love Got To Do With It." Schutt co-produced the disc with fellow Berklee grad Leon Lim and got the album's title from gay writer Tom Spannbauer.
Back after a lengthy absence, Suede has released the snazzy and snappy live album On the Day We Met ( Easily Suede ) . Recorded at the Birchmere, in Alexandria, Va., in November of 2000, Suede sounds simply marvelous. Performing as part of a trio ( David Pearl on keyboards and Max Murray on bass ) , Suede plays trumpet and guitar in addition to singing all of the lead vocals. Like Kate Schutt, Suede makes the familiar songs on this album her own, especially in the case of "My Romance," "Built For Comfort," " ( Do You Know What It Means To ) Miss New Orleans," "Dream A Little Dream," and " ( I Want A Little ) Sugar In My Bowl." Suede also effortlessly transforms four contemporary tunes—Janis Ian's "This Must Be Wrong," Roxanna Ward's "Remember Who You Are," Van Morrison's "Moondance," and Shirley Eickhard's "Emily Remembers." If you don't know Suede ( or her infamous "Suede wave" ) , I recommend you make her acquaintance with this live album.
The bluesy numbers on the Suede album should go along way in warming up listeners to Ain't Gonna Hush! ( Alligator ) by Saffire-The Uppity Blues Women. Out lesbian vocalist Gaye Adegbalola is one third of this bold boogie-woogie trio ( Ann Rabson and Andra Faye are the other two ) . "Blues For Sharon Bottoms" ( with the chorus "How low/How low/You know/Sharon B's mama is a baby-stealing so and so" ) is about the lesbian mother who lost custody of her son, and is only one of the 15 recommend tracks on this terrific album.
Margie Adam's name will be familiar to anyone with a knowledge of the history of the women's music movement. On Avalon ( Pleiades ) , Adam's eighth album, and her first in five years, showcases both her piano and vocal skills. Nine of the album's 10 tracks are Adam originals, the highlights of which include the lovely same-sex love song "Woman Of My Heart" and the gently provocative "I'll Be Right Over." The instrumentals "Eyrie," "Waves," and the piano only version of the title track, are all worth hearing for their individual strengths. Finally, Ms. Adam's cover of Carole King's "Will You Love Me Tomorrow?" is a tender and thoughtful reinvention of the classic tune and is enhanced by Mary Fettig's tenor sax.
Tret Fure's name, too, is tied in to the history of the women's music scene. While Margie Adam is renowned for her piano playing, Tret Fure is best known for her fretwork. On Back Home ( Tomboy girl Records ) she sounds as if she has come home, singing new compositions that sound like timeless folk songs, complete with her stellar guitar playing. "This Train," "Angel of Love," "Willing," "Coming Home," and a story song such as "Ancestors," all feel as if they belong in a songbook of standard folk songs. This albums also contains the last two songs that Fure wrote with her former partner of 20 years, Cris Williamson. "Bring Up the Girl" and "Closer to my Sons," are both fitting additions to Fure and Williamson's beloved canon.
Heather Eatman, Amy Fix, Megan Toohey and Jenn Adams are among the new voices to be heard in the realm of queer female vocalists. Not nearly as bluesy as Saffire, Heather Eatman nevertheless evokes a modern blues sound on a few tracks on her album Real ( Eminent ) . "Train," for example, with its slide guitar and "Motown foot stomping," was more than a little suggestive of the blues, and "Phone Call" and her cover of Willie Dixon's "Spoonful" couldn't have been any bluer if they tried. Still Eatman sounds like a born pop songwriter, as you can hear on "Heaven Help Us," the Rickie Lee Jones-ish "Mixed-Up Girl," and "How" and "Too Wild" ( both co-written with Bruce Brody ) , as well as the haunting title track.
Produced by GLAMA and OMA winner Dan Martin, Spoon ( AFCD ) by Amy Fix serves up a healthy dose of funny folk, particularly on "Closet," "Moustache," "Jesse McFadden," and "Jennifer Dinoffrio" ( about a character from the 1980s Sarah Jessica Parker TV series Square Pegs ) . When Fix gets serious, as she does on "Beautiful Dyke Ways," "48 Hours," and the prayerful "Jeany," she sounds like a queer Suzanne Vega.
Like the aforementioned Melissa Ferrick and Kate Schutt, Meghan Toohey is a Boston-area musician. In fact, Ferrick is thanked in the liner notes to Toohey's album Romantic Blunder #4 ( meghantoohey.com ) . Multi-instrumentalist Toohey's pop songs are enjoyable, made more so by the presence of her less-pissed-off Chrissie Hynde-like vocals. Standout tracks include "Pulling Me Under," "Seed" ( on which Jess Klein sings backing vocals ) , "Four Months," "Billy," and "Locket."
Northwestern United States-based Jenn Adams has a knack for story songs on her album In The Pool ( White Boxer ) . Songs such as "Joliet," "Everything Good," "1846," "Maggie Tobasco," and "Mozambique Is Burning," are the proof. Her choice of cover material, Julie Miller's "Speed Of Light" and Dylan's "All Along The Watchtower," are also exemplary. Celia, her partner, who is thanked in the liner notes, co-wrote two songs with Adams, "Not Tonight" and "All These Attachments," for the album. ( www.jennadams.com )
Finally, "Gentle Rebellion," the opening track on Gardener ( Appleseed ) by Rebecca Riots, perfectly sums up the "fresh radical folk" of this all-female acoustic trio from, you guessed it, Berkeley. Like any politically minded Berkeley based musical unit, these women sing about the disenfranchised ( "Shantytown," "Grey Girl," "Borrowed Clothes," "Every Living Thing Is Vulnerable" ) with a mild folk fervor.
