image courtesy of Flick user, Funky Tree Town
Cat Power and Dirty Delta Blues played in Savannah last night for the first time. It was an interesting show, something totally out of the ordinary. Having never seen Cat Power but knowing her something of her story and her music, I came expecting a character, but not the one I saw. Ms. Power, also known as Chan Marshall, was all over the stage. Her white flats were magic slippers allowing her to float. She bent down on one knee, flirted with her keyboard player, coaxed several adjustments from her mixing board man, drank from a Starbucks cup, coughed a lot and sang songs loaded with emotion.
When her keyboard player announced her mid-set, he said, “The woman you all came to see–Chan Marshall–the world’s greatest soul singer.” That description seems not quite right. Yet, Marshall does have a lot to offer. She puts herself out there, unfiltered, and that’s not easy to do. You need guts to do that.
The show was opened by Dex Romweber Duo. According to Jim Reed at Connect Savannah, Romweber is “an intense—and at times unhinged—guitarist and singer whose pioneering psychobilly/surf/garage combo The Flat Duo Jets came to prominence in the mid-’80s thanks to a mind-blowing live performance in the cult documentary Athens, GA Inside Out.” Romweber is also an inspiration to Jack White of White Stripes.
See more photos of Cat Power at Underground Bee.