Okla. singer-songwriter to perform in Plainfield
Friday, April 16, 2010
By ART EDELSTEIN Arts Correspondent
Barre Montpelier Times Argus
April 16, 2010
The opening track of K.C. Clifford’s CD “Orchid,” the song “Broken Things,” had this writer thinking he’d put a Nanci Griffith album on the player by mistake. Clifford, who hails from Oklahoma, has a southwestern twang in her voice, and is a fine singer-songwriter. She sounds a lot like Griffith and that is not a bad thing. On this her fourth album, Clifford shows herself to be a mature writer. The especially poignant “Blue Bonnets” was a real tear-jerker.
The Occasional Concert series will present Clifford and her guitar-playing husband, David Broyles, on Sunday at 6:30 in Plainfield, and judging from their performance on record, this is one very talented duo.
Clifford plays guitar and mountain dulcimer and displays a wide vocal range. She has a very plastic soprano voice couched in a country style. Besides Griffith, I thought I heard some Shania Twain, Dolly Parton and Eva Cassidy in Clifford’s delivery.
Clifford’s songwriting displays maturity and thoughtfulness, in the style of Mary Chapin Carpenter. While the album could hit the country charts given the right promotion, there is no anti-hero stance in the lyrics, nor “down-on-my-man” side to Clifford. I suspect that she will become a much better known performer in the near future so this house concert may be a rare opportunity to hear a very fine singer in an intimate setting.
That Clifford is coming at all is to the credit of the folks at the series. Mary Trerice is one of the three who put on these concerts to help the White Light Scholarship Fund in memory of Burlington singer-songwriter Rachel Bissex. Trerice said she met Clifford two years ago at the Kerrville Folk Festival in Texas.
“We love the new folk competition and she was a finalist in that. We got to meet K.C. and she is just delightful and we became friends,” said Trerice. “… I love her lyrics and her voice. She knows how to use that voice.”
If you haven’t attended a house concert, know that they are not a new phenomenon and there has been a revival of this type of performance in recent years. They are, said Trerice, “very important to touring singer-songwriters and other lesser-known musicians.”
House concerts provide hospitality, food and a bed.
“It gets performers off the road for a night or more. It’s very personal,” she explained. A house concert is where performers often try out new material, and can schmooze with the audience.
At most house concerts food is involved and attendees can talk with others and the artist. Trerice calls it “community building around music and, performers say they really enjoy playing for an audience where they know everybody is listening.”
Requirements for the typical house concert include a comfortable room, decent acoustics and arranged seating for 20 to 80 people. To present a concert one needs to have some way of generating an audience.
“You are inviting people into your home so it tends to be through connections and social networking,” explained Trerice. But, she added, “We want people to know it’s not an exclusive club.”
What people like about this type of venue is that there is no sound system to get in the way of a pure acoustic sound.
“The artists like it they aren’t tethered to a microphone and they love the freedom,” she said.
At Occasional Concerts there is seating for up to 40 people and parking isn’t an issue as it is along the road.
To get an audience, said Trerice, don’t give the address in advertising but do send out e-mails or give your phone number so people can contact you for the address. Trerice said potential presenters can learn more at concertsinyourhome.com.
“For us it’s like throwing a good-sized party,” Trerice said. “We do six to eight a year.”
http://www.timesargus.com/article/20100416/FEATURES02/4160304/1011/FEATURES02
