Do you want to know who is hot?
Posted December 14th, 2007 by MichelleDavid Gray.
I had the wonderful experience of attending KFOG’s Concerts for Kids last night in Oakland, with David Gray and KT Tunstall. (Never mind that I think KT Tunstall sounds like it should be on the periodic table.) KT was really surprising. Her “Big Black Horse and Cherry Tree” song I’ve always found pretty annoying, because it seemed like she set out to write a song that would do a certain thing, and that song does that certain thing, and it just sounds formulaic and annoying to me. But last night I got to hear the rest of her music, which has folk, country, rock, just about everything mixed in, and I was pleasantly surprised. By the end of the night, I was pretty sure she had grown up on the Housemartins, XTC, Beatles, and maybe even Joni Mitchell. And she’s got a totally rockin’ voice.
But, oh, David Gray. I always thought he was older, by the sound of his voice. Now, I really don’t care how old he is. He is absolutely delicious. It’s not just that he’s hot. It’s that I was pretty sure he was going to break his neck and left leg by his ongoing thrashings as he was powering out a ridiculously emotional and energetic set. It was wonderful to behold. And I’ve always loved his song “Babylon”. It too may be formulaic, but the formula works on me, and the man can shred. And for that particular song, he had only three electric/acoustic guitars to accompany him, one of them a twelve-string, and he just sang the crap out of it. Three-part men’s harmony, three guitars, and him sharing this incredible song with everyone in that room.
I need to see more live music. I need to have more experiences like that one. And I need me my very own David Gray.
I always thought KT Tunstall was an invention. When VH1 “honored” her as their artist of the month, I was like, “When the hell did VH1 start with the ‘artist of the month’ thing?” and sure enough, I don’t think they’ve had one since. I think Viacom invented her to try to sell some ricords.