Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Lilly Bee & The Johnson Three update

Lilly Bee & The Johnson Three, a collective group that played its first gig about six weeks ago, will be sounding off in several places early in the new year.

First, group members will be interviewed and will perform in this Sunday's (1/8) Local Live program by TAGSGF. The interview/live music portion is from 8-9 p.m. on KBFL 99.9 FM/1060 AM. You can watch live on tagsgf.com and podcast the shows there or on iTunes, Brett Johnston of TAGSGF said.

In the near future, the band plans to perform two local gigs in the span of less than a week. I am working on a story for The News-Leader about these performances.

In addition to the great grooves, the band stands out as a collective in which all members have a hand in making creative decisions. The band's original songs are generated as a group effort.

Here's what I wrote about the band in my post from late November, with edits to accurately reflect the collective nature of the group:

Cheers for Lilly Bee & The Johnson Three for their debut gig, opening for Speakeasy. LBJ3 featured all-original songs, created collectively by group, that sounded like unfamiliar but great B-sides from Motown and other 60s-70s repositories. I like the way Melissa Henderson remained relatively calm while belting out these tunes. The sound was a little muddy, somewhat restricting our appreciation of her voice. Dan Maple's use of electric piano, making it sound much like a distorted guitar, reminded me of Keith Jarrett's work in Miles Davis' electric bands that made Live Evil and Live at Fillmore East — squiggly, smeary sounds.

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