One of the best concerts I ever saw was Leon Redbone. Redbone is a mysterious character, and nobody seems to know his true identity, but this only succeeds in ramping up the atmosphere at his gigs, which are always legendary. They say he was born in Cyprus to Armenian parents, but like everything else about him, this fact is unverifiable. The artist himself usually mounts the stage, using an ornate southern gentleman's cane, wearing a cream-colored suit, a straw boater and a pair of very dark glasses, thereby obscuring any attempt from curious fans to discern his inscrutable features. Rumors once spread that Redbone was in fact Frank Zappa, and there are those who once claimed he was actually legendary comic Andy Kaufman, both very plausible but sadly the deaths of those two performers ended the attendant rumors. Instead, we are faced with the simple enigma of Redbone as Himself, which is no disappointment by anyone's standards. He sits in his boot-lace tie, next to a small table upon which there rests a glass containing a measure of spirits of an indeterminate species. At the gig I attended, he was taking regular sips from some dark red stuff, which only succeeded in whipping up his gravel voice to new levels of blueness. For, you see, Leon Redbone, among other things, is a bluesman, a true bluesman in the old tradition. He is white, but if you never saw him you'd swear he was black and at least a hundred years old. As things are, his age is yet another mystery. It is impossible to tell if Redbone is forty five or seventy five, but one thing is for certain; he can play the blues and blend that sound with an old-style country twang like nobody on earth. When he isn't expertly strumming his banjo, he's blowing some kind of horn, often while simultaneously playing piano. In between songs he tells jokes and plays with the audience, much of which seems to be packed with devotees and cult followers, all of whom know every word to every song. If you want to catch this rare and excellent show, Leon Redbone is touring right now. His latest trek takes him from Pittsburgh, PA on February 7, to Bowling Green, OH on September 9. Dates in between include gigs in NY, FL, GA, SC, TN, VA, MD, and NC. Ticketliquidator may have tickets for these upcoming shows. check them out!
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