Arriving at The Bitter End at 955pm for a set by singer songwriter Ernie Halter, I catch the last two songs of Kerri Leigh – a big blowzy country blues belter, is knocking the Bitter End on its ass. I didn’t particularly care for the last song she played but UNDOUBTEDLY the encore was made for what happened at the end of the set. The audience was banging on the floor and crowing for another.
Kerri Leigh is why it is important to keep the encore a purely spontaneous act. Sometimes a singer just flaws em, kills em. And Kerri did and deserved to play one more song. Another lousy song, “Novocaine” though Kerri raises so far above this lame material it is inspiring. She just slaughters the song, tears into it with gusto, and throws down the “no no no”s like a pro.
Give Kerri some songs better than the two I heard and we are talking.
So then an interminable wait with the time ticking by fast before I have to bolt for the Mercury Lounge late night gig, and finally… Joshua Stedman walks out. Er? Some mistake here. Apparently I was given the wrong time for Ernie.
Joshua is a talented fellow playing jazz soul hybrid with a great band particularly the horn player who is all over it. This sorta stuff should insure Miami Beach based Joshua a long career. “Tangled Up In Taboo” was pretty good but, again, the material could use a tweak here and there.
Three songs in and I book to Mercury.