Dark was the Night, Cold was the Ground:

Jeffrey Foucault at One Longfellow Square, Portland

Sunday, November 4, 2007

By Bob McKillop

At Left: Jeffrey Foucault

 

 

Jeffrey Foucault understands that, while it’s far from easy to be a great entertainer, it’s not complicated. Be an astonishing performer.

Foucault took the stage for his set at One Longfellow Square on this autumn Sunday night looking young and sharp in sports coat and jeans, shirttails, and dark, short-cropped hair and beard.  He tuned his diminutive ’48 0-18 Martin in a way that made some of us think for a moment that he had actually opened with a blazing instrumental lead number.  I watched him center himself, and then launch into his first tune, “Mesa, Arizona”, a touring musician’s lament about missing his lover, with some poignant social commentary woven into the fabric of the lyric. 

Foucault and his guitar and his music became one, and then they became the song.  He was not thinking about chord changes and lyrics, he was simply lost in the integrated physical, emotional, and creative processes that he has brought into the world and which he, alone, owns.  With this freedom from the need to “perform”, he was able to focus his psychic energy on communicating the deep essence of the song to the audience.  He plays and sings like he breathes and walks.  It’s a natural, elemental part of his biology, and it comes from a thousand rehearsals and a love for the material and the job.

Jeffrey Foucault’s ability to find this high-bandwidth channel into the hearts and souls of his live audiences explains his success in engaging those audiences completely for the entire duration of a 75-minute set and an encore.  His creative and sensitive use of dynamics, and his strong sense of balance and coordination between his guitar work and his vocals, keeps the texture of the songs interesting.  His compositions and arrangements are not complex structurally, melodically, or harmonically.  He achieves variation through his interesting chord voicings, his creative use of a capo, his extensive pallet of strumming patterns, and his fearless, flawless, rapid-fire finger picking technique.

It also doesn’t hurt that he has written some killer songs. His set on this night was comprised mostly of tunes on his latest CD, “Ghost Repeater” (Signature Sounds, 2006).  He delivered the disc’s title track midway through the evening’s set.   It’s a folksy Mellencamp-style anthem with lyrics that reminded me of Dave Carter’s work; they are driven by images and moods and feelings that don’t tell a story, but instead invoke the listener’s natural tendency to question and puzzle and work out some meaning on their own.

Later on, He gave us a break from his dark, intimate offerings with a jazzy, funny tune about living in New England and missing the mid west “every now and then”, despite the region’s quirks and cultural inertia. 

Foucault did perform some other upbeat tunes.  “Americans in Corduroys” is a honeymoon travelogue, a love song with a quick picking accompaniment, and optimistic lyrics despite some wry observations on American culture.  “One For Sorrow” speaks to the satisfaction of finding love and leaving sorrow behind, with a bright strumming rhythm and a bunch of romantic, hopeful predictions for the couple’s future.

For covers, Foucault did a nice, sensitive interpretation of Greg Brown’s tune “64 Dodge”, and he and his opening act, Hayward Williams, had some fun with a duet on the Beatles tune “I’ve Just Seen a Face”.

Speaking of Williams, his opening set was perfect for getting the crowd in the mood for some great music.  He was very personable and humorous on stage, and offered a strong, gutsy, melodic voice reminiscent of Bruce Cockburn or Garnett Rogers.  His tunes were strong on lyrical content and metaphor, and accompanied by simple chord progressions and competent, well-though-out rhythms.  Foucault and Williams have a long history of touring together, and were obviously friends and colleagues.  Foucault went out of his way to give Williams ample time in the spotlight and generous praise, both well deserved.  Williams has a recent album release, “Another Sailor’s Dream”, on an indie label from Wisconsin, Machine Records.

It’s great to see this room open again, and booking great acts on a nicely crowded schedule.  Tom Rota is the venue manager, and runs a great show.  He and his crew make everyone welcome, with a friendly, informal style that makes the audience feel included in the fun of putting on the show.  It’s a comfortable, accessible room with great sound.

Jeffrey Foucault is spending November and December touring the southeast and Midwest.  He’ll be back in New England soon, and hopefully, back in Maine.  Don’t be a “ghost” when Jeffrey Foucault decides to be a “repeater” in Portland.

http://www.jeffreyfoucault.com/

http://www.haywardwilliams.com/

http://www.onelongfellowsquare.com/