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EVENTFUL PRODUCTIONS PRESENTS GRAMMY NOMINEE
Marcia Ball
in her sole Willamette Valley appearance
Thursday, June 5 ★ 8:30 pm
WILD DUCK MUSIC HALL • EUGENE
New CD RELEASE S O M AN Y RI V ER S
Stacey Earle and
Mark Stuart play Café
Paradiso on Tuesday
T I C K E T S TicketsWest: 1-800-992-TIXX, at Safeway & other outlets & online:
www.ticketswest.com • CD World • Wild Duck Brewery
For more info: Eventful Productions, 541-928-2609
BY VANESSA SALVIA
Musical Marriage
Stacey Earle and Mark Stuart’s downhome folk.
S
The pair has one of those blessed partnerships that produce musical magic.
tacey Earle and Mark Stuart
have performed together on stage
since 1992. They’ve also been
married since 1993, yet they waited until
2001 to announce an official musical part-
nership. Those who have seen them perform
together before are probably not surprised
that they finally made this decision, as it
seems the pair has one of those blessed part-
nerships that produce musical magic.
Before the musical merger, they each
produced their own CDs, all released on
their own Gearle Records/Buoy
Publishing label.
Earle debuted with the delicate,
plain-spoken Simple Gearle in 1998.
Stuart released Songs From A Corner
Stage the following year, and Earle fol-
lowed up with Dancin’ With Them That
Brung Me in 2000.
If the name Earle sounds familiar to
you, it could be because Stacey is kid-
sister to one of back-porch folk and
rock’s most loved musicians, Steve
Earle. In fact, her husband formerly per-
formed with Steve Earle as one of his
Dukes. While Earle came to know the
powerful potential of the music in her
blood at a later age than her brother, she
is gaining fame and popularity on her
own terms and with her own style.
Stuart and Earle creatively mesh in
every aspect of their musicianship.
Even though a typical songwriting
credit might list only one name, chances
are that both have given their construc-
tive input. No matter who writes the
song, it gets filtered through the other,
and it’s that input from both talented
parties that gives an Earle/Stuart song
its depth and uniqueness.
They have recently released a live
CD celebrating their new partnership
entitled Must Be Live. This two-disc set
spotlights shining examples of the duo’s
most pleasing performances together
over the last few years. One thing many fans
love about Earle’s shows is that she gets in-
timate with the audience, chatting while on
stage and telling stories as if leaning over a
back fence. This CD captures much of that
charm and her gift for reeling in the crowd
with her endearing personality and twangy,
down-home vocal style. The couple will ap-
pear Tuesday at Cafe Paradiso.
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RARE SIMPSON
I
f “raucous, piano-based Dixie R&B
[full of] classic Southern songcraft and
passion” sounds like your thing, then
you definitely don’t want to miss Marcia
Ball’s upcoming performance.
Ball is celebrating the release of her
newest CD, So Many Rivers. She was re-
cently honored by two nominations for
2003 W.C. Handy Blues Awards, one for
Contemporary Blues Female Artist of the
Year and the other for Blues Instrumentalist
on Keyboards. The 2002 award for Blues
Album of the Year was hers and hers alone
for her first Alligator Records release,
Presumed Innocent.
Ball comes from a family in which every
female played piano. She’s been playing,
initially at her grandmother’s side, since she
was 5 years old. Her three decades of expe-
rience show in the quality of her music.
So Many Rivers still features Ball’s
trademark boogie-woogie vibe, but she also
includes influences from a wider variety of
genres and song structures. Six of the songs
are her own compositions, and all highlight
her powerful piano skills.
Ball drives all over the musical map on
this CD, from New Orleans-style R&B to
Delta Blues to heart-wrenching ballads. The
stripped-down and soulful ballad “Give Me
A Chance” is right at home with the road-
house rhythms of “Foreclose On The House
Of Love,” while the brisk “If It Ain’t One
Thing” closes the CD on an energetic note.
Ball performs Thursday, June 5 at the
Wild Duck.
ew
JUNE 5, 2003 41