On Stage: Emily King has music in her blood

Also: new albums, local shows for Kopecky, SLV

By Denny Dyroff, Staff Writer, The Times

The phrase “in one’s blood” means “ingrained in or fundamental to one’s character.” It could be used in reference to music and Emily King, a talented and versatile singer-songwriter-guitarist who will headline a show on July 25 at Underground Arts (1200 Callowhill Street, Philadelphia, http://undergroundarts.org).

Actually, King’s music is more than something that is in her blood. Music is embedded in her DNA.

“My folks got me into singing,” said King, during a phone interview Tuesday evening as she was travelling north between gigs in Atlanta and Petersburg (Virginia). “It was something I was raised to do. I don’t know what I’d be doing other than making music because I don’t know how to do anything else.”

Her parents, Marion Cowings and Kim Kalesti, were a singing duo who performed and traveled regularly, bringing her and her older brother along with them.

Cowings is a jazz singer who was mentored by the legendary Jon Hendricks and is a master of scat and vocal technique. Involved in commercials, voiceovers and jingles, Cowings received the advertising industry’s Clio Award. He is also a recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts grant and a published lyricist with Quincy Jones, Wayne Shorter, Frank Foster, and Sonny Rollins.

Kalesti is an acclaimed torch singer who is known for her project “Kimistry, The Living Museum,” a moveable feast of sounds, beats, visuals, philosophy, and words that deals with emotional subjects that affect the way we live and feel.

“My parents sang jazz together for 14 years,” said King. “They’d tour with bands and take my brother and me along with them. We were bored at the time. But, we were constantly exposed to the music so we were subconsciously soaking it in.

“They sang jazz standards such as the music of Lambert, Hendricks and Ross. My father wrote a lot of lyrics for jazz sings. He also sang a lot of scat and be-bop. But, they also let us listen to whatever we wanted.

“My brother and I were into hip-hop in the early 90s — also Mariah Carey, Michael Jackson and a lot of Motown — whatever we heard on the radio. My uncle gave me a tape of Nirvana’s ‘Nevermind’ album and that was my first love connection with rock-and-roll. Later, I got into the Beatles, Cat Stevens and soft rock.”

King stepped out on her own at an early age.

“When I was 16, I asked my parents if I could leave school and they said yeah,” said King, who grew up in the East Village near Little Italy, Chinatown and Greenwich Village.

“I spent the summer taking classes from a teacher in Harlem to get my GED. I started doing shows at restaurants. They fed you and paid you $50. That’s when I realized I could be a professional. My first show at a big venue was at the Bitter End here in New York.”

It didn’t take long for King’s talents to get noticed by people in the music industry. In 2004, she has a meeting with legendary music mogul Clive Davis that led to her signing a record deal with J Records/Sony Music.

“At that meeting, people were nervous because it was Clive Davis but I was feeling rebellious at the time,” said King. “He walked in and the result was that I signed with J Records. That was my dream — to sign with a label. I made the album and it took three years to be released. I went through a lot of growing pains.”

King’s debut album East Side Story was released in August 2007. The crtitically-acclaimed album earned a Grammy nomination for “Best Contemporary R&B Album of the Year.”

“The Grammy nomination did help my career a bit,” said King. “But, it wasn’t a win. It did get people to start paying attention to my music. I got a Grammy nomination and then got dropped by the label later that years and that was that.”

In 2001, King released a well-received EP titled “The Seven.”

“I was pretty determined to create something I was proud of,” said King. “I recorded ‘The Seven’ on my own with produced Jeremy Most. From then on, I’ve gotten good response to my record.”

In May 2012, King was awarded the Holly Prize (a tribute to the legacy of Buddy Holly) from The Songwriters Hall of Fame for recognition of the “all-in songwriter” whose work exhibits the qualities of Holly’s music — true, great and original.

“Winning that award was a real boost to my confidence,” said King.

Over the last few years, King has toured with John Legend and Sara Bareilles and has recorded duets with José James and Taylor McFerrin. Last month, she released her sophomore album titled “The Switch.”

“Jeremy and I started working on ‘The Switch’ about three years ago,” said King. “We really kicked it in about a year ago after I finished a tour with Sara Bareilles. ‘The Switch’ was a natural progression from ‘The Seven.’ We worked on keeping a variety of styles of songwriting and finally got the songs we wanted.

“When I’m touring, I have a steady band that I use. There are six of us — electric guitar, backup singer, keyboards, bass, drums and I sing and play guitar. I have fun playing old songs and new songs. I try to pull from a lot of styles — R&B, jazz, blues and soul.”

Video link for Emily King — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-qGzywSz9Yideo.

King’s show at Underground Arts on July 25 will start at 8 p.m. with opening act Jaime Woods. Tickets are $20.

According to its website, Belmont University is a “student-centered Christian community providing an academically challenging education that empowers men and women of diverse backgrounds to engage and transform the world with disciplined intelligence, compassion, courage and faith.”

Belmont University is also a hotbed for musical talent — not surprisingly since it is located in Nashville, Tennessee.

Mark Volman, a core member of the classic rock band The Turtles, is a professor there. The school’s alumni roster includes Brad Paisley, Lee Ann Womack, Trisha Yearwood, Kimberley Locke and the late Minnie Pearl (who was an undergrad when the school was known as Ward-Belmont College).

Another musical act that traces its roots to Belmont University is Kopecky Family Band, a six-piece indie rock band from Nashville that includes Kelsey Kopecky, Gabe Simon, Steven Holmes, David Krohn, Markus Midkiff and Corey Oxendine.

Formed in 2007, the band has a new name — shortened to Kopecky — and a new album — “Drug for the Modern Age.”

Kopecky will be in the area for two shows this weekend. On July 25, Kopecky will perform at Tellus 360 (24 East King Street, Lancaster, 717-393-1660, www.tellus360.com). On July 26, the band will be part of an ambitious line-up at the Xponential 2015 Music Festival on the Camden Waterfront (Harvour Boulevard, Camden, New Jersey, http://xpnfest.org).

“We were all going to college together at Belmont University back in 2007,” said Simon, during a phone interview Tuesday from his home in Nashville. “I met Kelsey when she was my R.A. We played our music for each other and liked what the other was doing, We just started doing our thing and having fun with it.

“We weren’t even thinking about making music as an occupation. We were just booking shows wherever somebody would pay us. We didn’t even have a van. We were driving around in a Honda Pilot. Our first $500 show was amazing.”

Four of Kopecky’s first five records were EPs — “Embraces” (2008), “The Disaster” (2010), “Of  Epic Proportions” (2010) and “We’ve Got It Covered” (2015). The band released its debut album “Kids Raising Kids” in 2012 and just released its sophomore disc “Drug for the Modern Age” last month on ATO Records. “Kids Raising Kids” was an independent release that ATO later picked up and re-released.

“We funded and produced ‘Kids Raising Kids’ ourselves,” said Simon. “Six months after a self-release, we signed with ATO. It’s been awesome. They’re a great label.

“We wrote about 35 songs for the first album and then cut it down. It’s better to have 30-35 and get 120 out of it. Some songs, we’d write and then go back take the riff, scrap everything else and then work off of that.

“The goal in making music is to be constantly challenged. Music is something that should make you bleed and cry. We never want to be just going through the motions. I write songs all different ways. I write on guitar, piano and sometimes even on bass. I wrote the track ‘Talk to Me’ on bass.

“I’ve gotten away from writing songs from a first-person perspective. Now, I write about what’s happening with other people — never going through what you’re going through but I think this is what it’s like. With other people’s perspective, you’re not thinking about yourself.”

“Drug for the Modern Age” includes 12 tracks featuring a variety of musical styles and a wide range of well-crafted emotional lyrics.

“We recorded the album at a couple studios here in Nashville and one in Charlottesville, Virginia,” said Simon. “We used the same producer for the entire album. Now, in our live shows we’re playing primarily the new record because it’s fun.”

Video link for Kopecky — https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=xdu5n0sDNw8.

Kopecky’s show on July 25 at Tellus 360 will start at 8 p.m. with a number of opening acts — Angela Sheik, Lost Bayou Ramblers, Kate Faust and Ton Taum. Tickets are $15.

The Xponential 2015 Music Festival will have a line-up on July 26 featuring Kopecky, Wailers, George Ezra, Grace Potter, Cheerleader, Rayland Baxter, Israel Nash, Bombino, Pine Barons, Buckwheat Zydeco, Lone Bellow, Courtney Barnett and Indigo Girls.

The roster of performers for July 25 includes St. Vincent, My Morning Jacket, Hop Along, Calexico, First Aid Kit, Lord Huron, Delta Rae, Vita & the Woolf, Field Report, Son Little, Fly Golden Eagle and Gina Chavez.

On July 24, the performers will be Cole Redding, Milton, Madisen Ward & the Mama Bear, Lost Bayou Ramblers, JD McPherson, The Word and Dawes. Tickets range from $25 (single event) to $150 (three-day pass).

Sandra Lilia Velásquez and Sean Dixon have each built a strong fan base with their own music and now are recording and performing together in a new band called SLV — a band that will make its Philadelphia debut on July 24 at Fleisher Art Memorial (719 Catharine Street, Philadelphia, http://fleisher.org)

 Velásquez, who sings and plays guitars, is the founder of Pistolera, an accordion-driven, Latin-flavored dance band from New York. Dixon is the drummer of an experimental, electronic New England band called Zammuto.

Fans of the two musicians will be surprised when they hear SLV — a band that doesn’t sound at all like Pistolera or Zammuto.  In its press release, SLV is described as a band with “retro-electro grooves that blur the dividing lines of rock, pop, R&B and experimental digi-funk.”

SLV just released its debut album “This Kind” in May.

“The original idea was that his would be a solo project for me because I had been doing Pistolera for 10 years,” said Velásquez, during a phone interview Tuesday from her home in Brooklyn. “Initially, I had the band under my initials because it was just me.”

SLV’s maiden recording was the “Dig Deeper” EP, which was produced by 10-time Grammy nominee and legendary bassist Meshell Ndegeocello, who played bass on three of the songs and co-wrote one.

“Even before the EP with Meshell, I had been collaborating with Sean. We met in Manhattan’s Chinatown. Pistolera’s drummer Sebastian Guerrero was a childhood friend of Sean and arranged for me to use Sean’s rehearsal space.

“Sean is a multi-instrumentalist and a composer is I used him at times as a sub with Pistolera. With SLV, I write all the words and the music is collaborative. It was this unplanned miracle.

“Prior to this, I always wrote alone and my songs were very personal. I always wanted to write with someone else and now I am — lucky that it happened by accident. I always write choruses but I’m not good with intros, codas and bridges. Sean is very good with those things.”

It didn’t take long for the two talented musicians to find a mutual groove.

“The original demos were more in a soul direction but I didn’t have an idea of how they would happen live,” said Velásquez. “Sean’s influences were a lot of blues — and he also has a classical background. Both of our influences melded together.

“When it was time to start recording ‘This Kind’ we had a lot of songs backlogged — and we continued to write. We did 17 songs and kept nine for the album. We recorded it last summer at The Bunker in Brooklyn. We had our guys that we like to work with — Jordan Scannella on bass and Mark Marshall on guitar. Then, we mixed it at Nick Zammuto’s studio.

“The direction of the music is still fairly new. With this album, we’ve solidified the sound. And, it keeps going. We want to keep exploring more textures and more sound palettes.”

Video link for SLV — https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=64PSv-RBrG4

SLV’s show at Fleisher will start at 8 p.m.  The co-bill also features Daniel de Jesus. Tickets are $12.

There a hundreds of tribute bands and acts performing in America and some of the most frequently acts being honored  are the Rolling Stones, Elvis, the Beatles and Pink. Some are good, some are not so good and some are atrocious.

One of the best Pink Floyd tribute bands is The Machine, a New York-based foursome that will be in the area for a show July 23 at the World Café Live World Café Live (3025 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, 215-222-1400, philly.worldcafelive.com).

What separates The Machine from the rest is the band’s authenticity and longevity. Another key factor is the group’s ability to jam when the music calls for it.

“We’re going on 26 years in November,” said Tahrah Cohen, during a phone from Manhattan earlier this week. “Pink Floyd has a lot to offer people. It’s a very rich music.”

Cohen, who is The Machine’s drummer, is also one of the founders of the band. The other members are Scott Chasolen (keyboards, vocals), Ryan Ball (guitar, vocals) and Adam Minkoff (bass, vocals).

The show this weekend will be special. It will be one of only a handful of “unplugged” shows the band presents each year.

“We do about 10 acoustic shows every year,” said Cohen. “Performing an acoustic show requires concentration. The acoustic show is very organic — especially the drums. I could drown out the whole thing if I wasn’t paying attention.”

Shutting down the amps and leaving the bombast out is nothing new for The Machine.

“We’ve been doing unplugged shows for about 10 years now,” said Cohen. “Our first acoustic show was a Syd Barrett show. Then, we just morphed it into older, more obscure Pink Floyd material.

“That’s how it started. It’s taken a turn. Now, it’s more like 50 per cent popular and 50 per cent older. We’ve kind of tried everything. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t.  Songs like ‘Money’ work. They’d work even if they were played on a kazoo.

“The biggest surprise was ‘The Dogs of War.’ We have our sax player play some of the guitar lines. It’s a very unique arrangement. We improvise a lot in the acoustic version of our show.

“Certain songs end up working very well acoustically with changing arrangements. When it’s on, it’s really special — really unique. You can hear the brilliance of the writing.”

Pink Floyd — even during its early experimental stage — always has had the knack for writing good songs.

“My first experience with Pink Floyd was when ‘Another Brick in the Wall’ came out,” said Cohen. “I loved the guitar. Joe (now-departed founding member Joe Pascarell) and I saw them on their ‘Momentary Lapse of Reason’ tour. And, I saw Roger (Waters) do ‘Another Brick in the Wall.’

“I feel very complete with how we handle Pink Floyd’s music. We’ve been in it for 25 years. We carefully have decided what to play – what we can play, what the audience wants and what the audience doesn’t want. At this stage, we know what works and what doesn’t.”

Cohen and her band mates also know that the appreciation of Pink Floyd’s musical canon spans generations.

“We have a lot of younger audience members,” said Cohen. “Our audiences get older and younger at the same time. Younger people are discovering the brilliance of Pink Floyd. There is nothing like it out there now.

 “We try to play songs everybody wants to hear — ‘Have a Cigar,’ ‘Wish You Were Here,’ ‘Dark Side of the Moon,’ ‘Comfortably Numb’ and anything from ‘The Wall.’ We’re considering the whole audience when we make our set lists.”

Video link for The Machine — http://www.youtube.com/user/ThePinkFLoydMachine.

The Machine’s show at the World Café Live will start at 8 p.m. with tickets priced at $32.