Son Little w/ Jade Bird at Turf Club, St. Paul (18 Nov 2017)

“I’m wearing this coat in protest”—

Son Little would soon after shake off the outside cold, start taking off layers, and get down to a spirited and soulful appearance of new magic at the Turf Club in St. Paul, on a crisp late fall evening.

The night began with a short opening solo performance from London alt-country singer-songwriter Jade Bird in support of her first EP, Something American (Glassnote Records) , released in July. 

Bird has a delightful and somewhat cheeky demeanor, with a vocal twang similar in parts to Jake Bugg (enough so that they should collaborate and call themselves A Bird and a Bugg) and started with the strumming ‘Run and Hide’ and bluesy ‘I’ll Be There’. 

Her Pixies cover that melded a high-speed Drake rap was vocally revelatory, mashing her siren-like wails against machine-gun verse and radio hit ’Cathedral’ (that first dazzled us seeing her on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert) soared to heights beyond the venue’s rafters.  At just nineteen and with the unreleased songs sounding equally strong, her future is bright and one worth watching.

The music of Philadelphia’s Son Little simmers with a slow burn, an ideal elixir to warm the enraptured crowd on a chilly weekend evening.  AKA Aaron Livingston, the alt-soul/R&B singer-songwriter took to a darkened stage (not dark enough for his guitarist apparently, who still wore sunglasses) with no fanfare, beginning his eighty-minute set with the new ‘Miss Ona Henrietta’, from third full-length, New Magic (Anti- Records).

New album opener ‘Kimberly’s Mine’ exploded with a brash guitar flourish to finish and ‘O Me O My’ exposed Livingston’s son of a preacher roots with its gospel, blues backbone. 

The audience crooned “ooh baby” on cue for the soulful ‘Bread and Butter’, ‘Demon in the Dark’ brooded before expanding into an epic instrumental, and the crowd clapped along double-time for the poppy ‘Blue Magic’ (“that was fun” Livingston demurely said following).

With a style of soul/blues music often hazy and curiously wandering, building from a whisper, Son Little’s music demands full attention, whether it be on main set closer ‘Charging Bull’, or the encore opening ‘Loser Blues’. 

Country club transformed to juke joint for the evening’s closer, 2015’s ‘The River’ as sharp guitar licks drove alongside an accelerated rockabilly bass and drum beat, to end the night with a firecracker.

Able to get past the outdoor chill and ably warm up the Turf Club crowd, Son Little showed St. Paul that both soul and blues can be hot as well as cool, and there’s also still some new magic in the genre, to keep it thriving.

Remaining tour dates:

Son Little Tour Dates 11/25/17 Wolverhampton, UK Civic Hall 11/27/17 Newport, UK Centre 11/28/17 Bristol, UK Colston Hall 11/30/17 Manchester, UK Albert Hall 12/01/17 Manchester, UK Albert Hall 12/02/17 Liverpool, UK Echo Arena 12/03/17 Manchester, UK Soup Kitchen 12/04/17 Birmingham, UK Hare & Hounds 12/05/17 London, UK Omeara 12/07/17 Cologne, Germany Club Bahnhof 12/08/17 Berlin, Germany Bi NUU 12/09/17 Hamburg, Germany Indra Club 64 12/11/17 Paris, France La Maroquinerie 12/12/17 Reims, France La Cartonnerie 12/13/17 Rouen, France Le 106

12/14/17 Brussels, Botanique Wiltoof Bar 12/15/17 Amsterdam, Nl Bitterzoet 05/19/18 Gulf Shores, AL Gulf Shores Public Beach Jade Bird Tour Dates 02/28/18 Bristol, UK The Louisiana 03/01/18 Norwich, UK Waterfront 03/02/18 Nottingham, UK Bodega Social Club 03/04/18 Brighton, UK The Green Door 03/05/18 London, UK Village Underground 03/06/18 Birmingham, UK Hare & Hounds 03/08/18 Glasgow, UK The Poetry Club 03/09/18 Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK Think Tank 03/10/18 Salford, UK The Eagle Inn 03/11/18 Leeds, UK Oporto 04/27/18 Stagecoach California’s Country Music Festival