10 acts from near and far to interpret Buckley’s songs
Rebecca Baruc, Uncommon Ground’s new talent booker (formerly of The Den Theatre), says for this year’s edition of the tribute shows, “I reached out to a lot of my favorite musicians who might be interested in adapting and trying something new.” Of the 10 acts, there is Eleanor’s Room, a piano-based act coming all the way from Rome, as well as eclectic local indie rockers Thin Hymns and Chicago’s ethereal folk darling V.V. Lightbody, both of whom “already seemed to embody the sound and spirit of Jeff Buckley,” says Baruc.
“I remember searching through an old friend’s CD case and finding a burned copy of ‘Grace.’ It was right after I moved to Chicago and I drove around listening to it, only to learn later about the praise behind the record and Jeff ’s story,” says Lightbody who makes her first tribute appearance this year. “‘Grace’ matched my feelings of moving to the city, and I’ll easily admit to the amount of times that I’ve cried alone listening to ‘Lover You Should Have Come Over’ after a breakup. I was 4 years old when the record came out, but it hit me at the emotional age of 23. … Learning a few of his songs has made me come to respect his songwriting even more.”
Roberto Cipolat of Eleanor’s Room is an example of just how global Buckley’s music has become: The tribute will be his first time in America . “I have always wanted to join the tribute concert, and this year I decided to send a video audition to Uncommon Ground with my friend/ bandmate Giovanni Lonati at the piano. It’s like a dream come true to perform [Jeff ’s] music at such an event. Jeff ’s music has became a constant in my life, and I think there’s still a lot of him still in today’s music.” Lonati adds, “It’s been very interesting to rearrange [Jeff ’s] music in this completely different form. Although the original versions wouldn’t seem reconcilable with a piano-vocal rendition, they have actually offered new means of interpretation.”
Michael Albert of Thin Hymns says one of the biggest compliments he’s received came from a drunken Scottish woman who told him that his voice reminded her of Buckley’s. “[Jeff ] was one of those pivotal artists for me. I never really identified with the hyper masculine/aggressive rock singers of that [‘90s] era, so it was instantly refreshing to hear a male singer express such dynamic vulnerability and sensitivity. I think people still relate to his music because of that vulnerability in his voice. Whether or not the song was his or not, he sounded sincere in capturing the song’s intent.”