Sierra Loves Rocco
This week, we're tempted by David "Fathead" Newman's Tuesday and Wednesday gigs -- a tenor saxman who used to play with the Ray Charles Band, Newman is said to belong in the company of Coltrane and Getz. But Saturday night we were at the Triple Door for the Rocco DeLuca/Sierra Swan bill.
It was a night like any other, until Rocco DeLuca and the Burden began playing. Sounding like the love child of Jeff Buckley and Robert Plant, DeLuca plays a Dobro steel guitar (as revealed in the band's surprisingly extensive Wikipedia entry). "He's a remarkably cute man," noted our companion, who is appreciative of shy Italianate guys with great pipes.
Touring in support of their debut (and possibly breakout) album I Trust You To Kill Me, they played a short set that included the indie-radio-friendly "Colorful" and "Bus Ride," and a ferocious version of another song that came complete with bongo- and rockgod guitar-solo. He was completely new to us, but after that Frampton moment, we were sold.
By the time Sierra Swan appeared, the audience was whistling, clapping, and exhibiting other signs of life. Looking offstage after Rocco, she said, "If I didn't already have a boyfriend...." Singing songs from her debut album, Ladyland, the young piano-playing vocalist kept up a world-weary delivery which clashed a bit with her sometimes unpolished lyric choices. Hers is a big voice, but on this night she was working her lower register the way you do when your top isn't all there at the moment.
Her songs are a variety pack, from "Get Down To It" (written with Aimee Mann) and the Pink-like "Trouble Is," to the Cher-ish power ballad "The Ladder." "Copper Red," her piano-led single, is all Sierra Swan, and so is "Just Tell Me," the unrequited doormat song. On stage, she's dramatic, dancing, adopting poses; bantering with the audience, she was self-deprecating (wondering out loud whether her white skirt was see-through-able). Similarly, her music is full of personality or diffident; confrontational or indirect. The emotional range charmed the crowd, which happily applauded two encores' worth.
