New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Cutting loose: Bacon Brothers kick off tour in Ridgefield
It’s been a long 18 months but Connecticut’s live music fans finally get to lose their blues and cut loose.
The Bacon Brothers were scheduled to play the Ridgefield Playhouse in September 2020 but the show was deferred as COVID cases surged. In a milestone show marking their 15th performance here, the duo will return Sunday, April 3, kicking off the East Coast leg of their “Out of Memory” tour.
While Kevin and Michael Bacon’s hometown of Philadelphia holds their heart, Connecticut quickly became a favorite place and keeps them coming back to perform here.
“I came for a weekend from the city in 1983 and fell in love with Connecticut, bought the farm and it’s been an important place for our family since then,” Kevin said. Michael recalls their first gig was in Connecticut or just over the state line in New York.
“Our first radio show was ... probably in Sharon. I’d never seen my brother so nervous before,” he said.
Launched during the pandemic, Kevin’s Connecticut-based TikTok series, Goat Songs, is also quite popular, with some posts attracting over 650,000 likes. Kevin and his wife, Kyra Sedgwick, have a farm in the northwest corner of the state and it’s here his Goat Songs videos are filmed with him singing and playing guitar to his goats and alpacas.
And the band hasn’t been sitting idle. To borrow a line from “Footloose,” they’ve “been working so hard” and produced their 10th album in July 2020, “The Way We Love,” among other projects, both music and film-related.
Michael said what amazed him was the number of music videos they were able to produce during COVID. “I loved playing my cello in my stream and producing [the video] for ‘British Invasion’ [a song on this album], starring my niece Susannah. Now we have a brand-new EP coming out just in time for the tour.” Four of the songs on the fivesong EP will have their live debut at the Playhouse.
The duo, who began performing together in
1995, says the Playhouse is a favorite venue they enjoy returning to. “From the first time we played the Playhouse, we loved it. Great size, great sound, fantastic enthusiastic crowd and great staff,” Kevin said. “It amazes me how many times we’ve played here! We always feel so welcomed in Ridgefield,” Michael added.
“The Way We Love” is mostly an album of love songs, being in and out of love and exploring relationships that foster purpose and passion. His favorite song to perform, Kevin said, is “Picker,” which he wrote for Michael [nine years his elder] about his life on the mean streets of Philadelphia. “I love playing ‘Picker’ because I wrote it and I make my brother sing it!”
The Playhouse audience can expect a mix of old and new songs. “We like to have a good time. We all play multiple instruments; the stage looks like a music store,” Kevin said. “The songs are personal but, we hope, relatable and a familiar cover is thrown in. The real fun challenge will be folding new songs into the set.”
The Bacon Brothers will perform at Ridgefield Playhouse April 3 at 8 p.m. Visit ridgefieldplayhouse.org for more information.