Live and Local - Redemption Road

Generational Rock.

I saw that on the post talking about Redemption Road playing at Ploughmans the first time I saw them a couple of years ago.

I didn’t know what that meant. Jeremiah, the male vocalist and general accompanist, is also – as it happens – a wonderful copy writer. He will tell you it refers to music that defined generations, across several of them from the 50s to today… I’m paraphrasing, but he’s got some juice when it comes to writing such things, I have to tell you. As someone who does a little writing himself, I can say from experience the guy puts in the hours and has some chops when it comes to the comms for this group. I’m tipping my Bill the Cat coffee mug to him as we speak.

So, I went with it…and not only do they not need a media/communications person, they’re really good, and interesting (not always the same thing), and their dynamic is like nothing else I’ve really seen before.

I’ve since seen Redemption Road about a dozen times over the last couple of years. I don’t want to oversell it, but I feel like we’re acquainted. There’s Jeremiah, a pastor and quite talented vocalist. He and Papa have the amazing ability to take some pretty complex songs and strip them down to a point where a single acoustic guitarist with no pedals and a singer can bring it off in a way that’s satisfying and represents a solid take on the song. He’s got a tremendous voice which he modulates well to the material without  doing an impression of the original singer (he catches the feel of it without resorting to that).

With simple percussion or background singing, he manages to hold the slot that would normally be taken up by a rhythm section, something that many of the songs they cover (quite successfully), would fall apart without. Toms Petty’s “ I wont back down” for instance.

Jeremiah is Cory’s spouse. If Cory is facing you when she’s singing, you better strap in, because she will sing your ass right back through the nearest wall. That is the very first thing you’ll notice. But she’s not just a vocal blast furnace, you’ll soon find. She has a tremendous instrument and is a consummate pro in the way that she uses it. She can be delicate and detailed, covering Stevie Nicks tunes, rhythmic and sharp in the background for Motown, like “Heard it through the Grapevine”. Her and Jeremiah’s musical knowledge and ability to adapt and bring such skills to bear is wonderful to see.

They’re also wonderful and patient people… virtually every time I’ve seen them, I ask cory to do Heart’s “Crazy on you” because I’ve never in my life seen someone who can cover Annie Wilson’s explosive style without it either turning into a caricature, or just failing at it. Cory brings the goods…they often close their show with it, and even if you’ve never heard the song before at all, you can’t help but feel uplifted by it.

So that’s Cory and Jeremiah… you’ll be happy to see them whenever you can. But, to repeat something I often say… I told you that to tell you this.

Because then, there’s Papa.

Papa Rick is a tremendously talented, experienced, and creative guitarist. The idea of driving the very dynamic and varied performance Redemption Road does with just a single acoustic guitar is far more impressive than you might think at first. Much like Neil Sollenberger from Neil and Shannon, the more you hear him play and catch the nuance and embellishments he puts into his playing, the more you shake your head and think, well, damn. That’s something. Working around cory’s lyrics with fills and detail, driving a heavy rhythmic like “Losing my religion” around Jeremiah, while making you tap your foot with no rhythm section at all, Papa still sounds musical and tight and completely in command.

Papa is also cool as the day is long. Been rocking stages for years, can tell you what kind of carb was on a 92 lowrider, and remembers the story of when Chuck berry punched Keith Richards in the mouth backstage at an awards ceremony. If there were an aspiring novelist around, and he ever creates a character based on a road riding rock and roll guitarist, you can bet your ass that character’s going to look at LOT like Papa Rick.

Sorry, Jeremiah…I know. Language.

Redemption Road plays a lot of songs you can hear from other bands around, but they do so in their own voice that makes it alive and interesting. Cory is a voice talent that I can’t believe you can hear for the price of a beer…she could be blowing people out the back of theaters or halls or conservatories. Jeremiah is masterful at pulling popular songs into the Redemption road idiom and knowing what works… and Papa, well, he’s a master, and among the coolest people walking around town with a guitar.

See them more than once.