Concert #830 - Todd Albright and Sunny War at McCabe's Guitar Shop (May 27, 2018)

This is a brief write-up on a show I attended six months ago. 

The evening kicked off with a medium-length set by Sunny War, about forty-five minutes in all. She had just received some good press in the Rolling Stone magazine - being named as one of the "Ten New Country Artists You Need To Know" is quite a recognition and there was a palpable buzz in the air before her appearance at McCabe's. Whether or not I agree with Sunny being labeled a "country artist", now that's another matter altogether.

Sunny impressed me with her uniqueness - she is certainly not emulating anyone. I liked her voice, struggled a bit to embrace her singing style, but the one thing that is impossible to forget is her idiosyncratic guitar playing technique: she uses only her right hand's thumb and index finger, something I may never see again. Her original compositions are certainly not bad, but on the minus side, they don't have the catchy hooks that could bring her many more listeners.

In addition to a few of her own songs, among which "If It Wasn't Broken" and "Gotta Live It" stood out to these ears, Sunny played Elizabeth Cotten's "Freight Train" and a reworked version of "A Change Is Gonna Come" that even Sam Cooke, the song's composer, may have had a hard time recognizing.

Sunny War at McCabe's

Sunny War's set list

Todd Albright delivered an eighty-minute set that was quite good, but a tad too long for me. His passionate vocal delivery was top-notch and he sure knows how to play his 12-string guitar, yet his show suffered from a condition I would call "repetitiveness". It's not that all songs sounded the same, but old-school blues from masters such as Leadbelly and Blind Willie McTell was pretty much all he played, one song after another. Todd did a very good job of introducing his songs and, overall, I found his chatter between songs quite clever. I knew a few of his numbers and, as I write this, six months after the show, I still remember "Delia" and "Statesboro Blues".

Todd Albright at McCabe's

Todd Albright merchandise for sale at McCabe's