Music Forecast 2.5–2.11: Scott H. Biram, Jim Lauderdale, Ben Howard, and Kina Grannis
Scott H. Biram
Anyone wont to romanticize the Wild West is likely to fall in mad love with Austin, Texas’ Scott H. Biram. This one-man band, with his grizzled whiskers and tough-guy tales, is the stuff of cowboy movies. He even has the voice of a railroad villain, gruff and sinister. His songs manage to find an unlikely common ground between blues and metal, and he plies his sound with devil-may-care ferocity. On his latest full-length, Nothin’ But Blood, Biram confesses brazenly to sins and then somberly (though not soberly) reflects on them, but he never slows the ride. If you don’t hang on, you’ll get left behind, choking on dust.
Thursday, February 5, RecordBar (1020 Westport Road, 816-753-5207)
Jim Lauderdale
Leagues of wannabes would sacrifice a limb just to be able to write one song the way Jim Lauderdale does. In addition to his own albums, the Grammy Award–winning Nashville singer-songwriter has penned hits for George Strait and Patty Loveless, and even one for the Dixie Chicks. On his recent I’m a Song, though, Lauderdale takes a bit of a break. The 20-track album features a few Lauderdale originals that he never got to sing — such as “The King of Broken Hearts,” which Strait made famous in the 1992 movie Pure Country — but he also covers songs by friends and collaborators. It’s a shame that Lauderdale doesn’t share Strait’s enormous fanbase. But then again, if he did, we’d never be able to enjoy him at a venue like Knuckleheads.
Friday, February 6, Knuckleheads Saloon (2715 Rochester, 816-483-1456)
Ben Howard
In his native England, Ben Howard is a big deal: two Brit Awards and a Mercury Prize since his debut album, Every Kingdom, in 2011, plus sold-out shows and media love. Stateside, Howard is known to many but is received with somewhat less enthusiasm than, say, fellow English imports One Direction (sigh). Last October, Howard released I Forget Where We Were, a solemn, delicate album with about a third of the volume of Every Kingdom (and none of the Sunday-morning vibes delivered by his hit “Only Love”). At times, the songs seem to come from somewhere underwater, thanks in part to his ethereal tunings. It’s an album in which to get lost. You can delve in when Howard stops at the Uptown Friday.
Friday, February 6, Uptown Theater (3700 Broadway, 816-753-8665)
Kina Grannis
Kina Grannis has a voice so pure and sweet that you’d assume the only things she ever sang about were unicorns and puppies and tender walks on the beach. Yet she’s less annoying than such a not-entirely-false notion suggests. On her latest album, Elements, the 29-year-old California native lets her voice soar over a collection of songs that float into one’s eardrums as easily as the feather-light pop on which she was raised. If you can’t make Valentine’s Day with your sweetheart, Tuesday night at RecordBar offers a self-romancing alternative.
Tuesday, February 10, RecordBar (1020 Westport Road, 816-753-5207)
