World Records packs weekend with shows
As it has done steadily for years, World Records, led by its tenacious, stalwart leader, Pat Evans, will bring some quality entertainment to town this coming weekend as part of its eternal No Stinkin’ Service Charge series of concerts.
The first is universally celebrated bluegrass chanteuse Rhonda Vincent and the Rage on Friday and smooth rocker Jim Messina on Saturday.
Let’s just go ahead and get this out of the way: Rhonda Vincent is fantastic. She has a clear, powerful, expressive voice and an engaging stage presence that draws you in almost immediately. Her backing band, The Rage, is no slouch either. Each member is a beast on their instrument and, when playing together, form this multi-headed bluegrass monster that is truly awesome to behold. Jacob Metz, the dobro player? Simply amazing.
Vincent’s upcoming performance at World Records will be a chance for local audiences to catch this Grammy Award-winning (for her 2016 live album “All the Rage: In Concert Volume One”), Grand Ole Opry member perform in our neck of the woods. If you’re a fan of bluegrass, you should have your ticket already.
I can almost guarantee they’ll perform their version of “Mama Tried,” because Merle Haggard’s 87th birthday, and the eighth anniversary of his passing, recently happened on April 6. Also because, well, Bakersfield.
I envision a day when Vincent, Dolly Parton and Alison Krauss join forces to form a female-led bluegrass supergroup that will end poverty, disease and inspire world peace. A man can dream.
Until then Parton and Vincent’s collaboration, with Val Storey, on Parton’s song “Firecracker,” off of her 2022 book and album “Run, Rose, Run” will have to do.
Vincent’s new single “Please Mr. Please,” part of her album in progress that will also include the No. 1 hit “City Of New Orleans,” will also surely make the set list.
She produced this new rendition of the Olivia Newton-John’s country hit while developing her “destinations” specialty project, meant to take listeners on a journey through different cities, states, and other places of interest around the country.
“I was working on the song ‘Four Strong Winds’ from our upcoming “destinations” themed album, and as I turned from working on that song, all of a sudden, out of nowhere, I started singing ‘Please Mr. Please,’” Vincent said in a news release. “There was something similar in the songs. My heart started to race, and I instantly thought, ‘This will be a great bluegrass song!’
“I couldn’t wait to tell the guys
in The Rage. When I mentioned it, none of them had heard the song before. This made it even better. I found that so many people have never heard of the song, and it’s like having my own original bluegrass song.
“We rehearsed it at sound check and then started performing it on our shows. I could instantly tell this song was special with everyone’s reactions, with many singing along, and best of all, people are now asking for it everywhere. I love that!”
There’s a reason Vincent’s been called “The New Queen of Bluegrass” by the likes of The Wall Street Journal. She’s that good and she will take your breath away. Her last album was 2021’s “Music Is What I See,” which was also nominated for a Grammy Award for best bluegrass album. It was her eighth nomination overall.
Steppin’ On the Grass will open the show.
Jim Messina will perform at World Records the next day and, although the musician might be best recognized as the less-famous half of Loggins and Messina, he was one of the originators in fusing rock and country during his time in Buffalo Springfield and especially Poco a few years later.
Messina’s work on Poco’s first two albums, “Pickin’ up the Pieces” (1969) and the self-titled “Poco” (1970), directly influenced the rise of Southern California country rock acts like The Eagles.
Messina left Poco in 1970 and formed Loggins and Messina with Kenny Loggins who went to achieve great success in the 1980s with his work on soundtracks to “Caddyshack,” ”Top Gun” and “Footloose.”
Messina’s penchant for genre bending continued with his 1979 “Oasis” and 1981 “Messina” solo albums, especially the mambo opening track “New and Different Way” off the former. “Stay the Night” and “Lovin’ You Every Minute” off of “Messina” were highlights off of that album with “Lovin’ Every Minute” still played at his concerts.
Both albums are worth the listen if you’re a fan of smooth rock with tasty musicianship and slick production, a la Christopher Cross and Boz Scaggs.
Expect the majority of the show, however, to be filled with his Poco and Loggins and Messina material, especially the L&M monster hit “Your Mama Don’t Dance,” which will probably outlive all of us. They were one of the biggest duos of the 1970s after all.
Messina’s 2021 album “In the Groove (Live)” is a very good representation of where he’s been heading artistically, armed with over 50 years of quality music and an acute musical sensitivity at the ready. Tickets to both shows can be purchased at World Records during business hours, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Friday. For more information, call 661-325-1982.