Local lyricist and vocalist Shana Gray brought her quarterly concert series/large ensemble, Ladies of the Canyon, to Chicago’s Martyrs on August 8th for a spirited tribute to the music Kate Bush.
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Ladies of the Canyon: Tribute to Kate Bush
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 Entertainment
Art
Martyrs
Chicago, Ill.
August 8, 2007
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Featuring a stellar line-up of some of the city’s finest folk, fusion and alt.country musicians, Ladies of the Canyon’s stage show (nearly 20 musicians and singers) is well-suited to the respectful and acoustically sound Martyrs.
The evening began with a handful of short solo sets of (mostly) original music performed by a few of the scheduled vocalists. Ingrid Graudins was especially impressive on a mournful reading of Blind Faith’s “Can’t Find My Way Home” and Stephanie Rogers proved to be a harbinger of the night to come given her Kate Bush-inspired vox.
For those unfamiliar with Bush’s work, the reclusive English performer first came to international attention after cutting a demo on the recommendation of Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour in the mid-1970s. She built a devoted following and scored a number of top ten U.K. hits throughout the ‘80s and is perhaps best known in the U.S. for “Don’t Give Up,” a duet with Peter Gabriel, and the oft-covered “Running Up That Hill.”
While both of these songs were performed by LOTC, covers of some of Bush’s lesser-known work proved to be the real highlights.
Powerhouse vocalist Rikky McRae was decidedly full-throttle on the rousing “Babooshka” while Kari Chronopoulous sang tenderly on a spare piano and strings-driven “The Man with the Child in His Eyes.” Gray stepped front and center for “Cloudbusting” and the tricky avant rock of “Pi,” while Graudins was positively breathless on “This Woman’s Work.”
The musicians in attendance, including mandolin player Chris Siebold, guitarist Tim McCarthy, cellist Erica Lessie and drummer Gerald Dowd, were solid throughout the evening, especially so on a barking mad “Hounds of Love” and the multi-vocalist jams “Love and Anger,” “Rubberband Girl” and “Big Sky.”
The evening turned out to be not only a tribute to the artistry of Kate Bush, but to the hard work of Gray, who is about to relocate to Los Angeles. Let’s hope that her “Ladies of the Canyon” continue to bring Chicago many more nights of lively entertainment.
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