By LORNA CHEROT LITTLEWAY
THE EMILY DUFF BAND closed out the spring/summer portion of the Roots and Shoots concerts series at the Spencertown Academy of Arts, Saturday, July 8. The rockabilly quintet consists of Ms. Duff, lead guitar and vocals; Danny Ray, saxophone; Benny Landa, electric guitar; John Hamilton, bass guitar/background vocals; and Kenny Soule, drums/background vocals. The group is a tight band. Ms. Duff describes their performance as a “musical conversation.”
A Queens, New York, native, Ms. Duff is a handsome woman – lean and long: arms, legs and neck. She sported a cowgirl look in shades of black and grey with rose-colored glasses. A twang completes the image of “urban cowgirl.” The singing songwriter told an enthusiastic audience that she writes “at least one song a day.”
The 19-song set consisted of uptempo works and ballads mainly from two of her albums “Razor Blade Smile” and “Born on the Ground.” The Duff Band music runs the gamut of soul, blues, funk, punk and rock influences. Ms. Duff said that she occasionally includes a rendition of another songwriter’s work and offered up a very funky version of Carole King’s “Too Late Baby”.
Some favorites from the evening include: “Nicotine and Waiting,” “Done and Done,” “Don’t Hang the Moon on Me,” “We Aint Going Nowhere,” “Give Me Back My Love,” “Daddy’s Drunk Again,” “Another Goodbye” and “Misery.” The music was punctuated with amazing electric guitar and saxophone riffs.
Ms. Duff lamented that in the age of Spotify, a Swedish digital audio streaming service, “we [musicians] don’t make any money” recording. But “I’m going to do what I love to do.” She thanked the audience for coming out and “supporting original live music.”
The Spencertown Academy press release noted that the Emily Duff Band is not well known in the Hudson Valley. Here’s to hopin’ that Duff and company keep comin’ around.
