Thursday, October 30, 2008 12:00 PM EDT
May you be Forever Young
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Neil Young tribute concert at Courthouse Center for the Arts
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 “Forever Young” performers are, from left to right, Pete Vendettuoli, Becky Chase, John Fuzek, John
Amitrano, Phil Hicks, Mark Cutler, and Dan Lilley. |
Her idols may be Lucinda Williams, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen, but Becky Chace has been thrilled to be able sing some Neil Young with the surprise hit group “Forever Young,” a mix of Rhode Island singers and songwriters who first got together a year ago to pay tribute to the Crazy Horse bandleader.
Conceived after Mark Cutler, Jon Fuzek and Dan Lilley performed the Neil Young classic “Powderfinger” for the Rhode Island Songwriters Association, Forever Young put their first show together a year and a half ago at the Courthouse Center for the Arts in Kingston. They’ll be back there Nov. 1 for another round.
“That was the first one,” Chace says of the March 2007 gig. “We started off as just a bunch of singers getting together who said, ‘let’s do a songwriters-in-the-round show, and we’ll do all Neil Young songs.’ It was really cool, we just went around in a row and we each did a Neil Young song, and we had a guy sit in on banjo and mandolin, and usually the others would join along at some point.”
Forever Young took off from there. “We decided to do a bigger show, and we got a drummer and guitarist,” Chace says. “Now it’s a seven-piece band, and it’s a real tribute band. We played at Lupo’s in February, and we did the Sustainable Living Festival, and we played at the Narrows Center for the Arts in August. We get together about once a month or so now to do this.
“No one is trying to imitate Neil Young; what we do is just an appreciation of his music. When we first did it I was kind of shocked at how much good material he has. Since then I’ve also been shocked at what a cult following he has; we’ve gotten great crowds at all our gigs. We play some really cool deep cuts from Neil Young and these people know them all, they love to hear them. I was always a fan of Neil Young; you can’t be a musician and not be a fan of his work, but this sort of amazes me.”
Along with Chace, Cutler, Fuzek and Lilley, Forever Young includes John Amitrano, Phil Hicks and Pete Vendettuoli. All are longtime staples of the R.I. music scene. Drawing on the 40- year career of Neil Young, the group take turns on lead in many of Young’s most popular songs, as well as some more obscure numbers.
“We do a cool and different version of ‘Pocahontas’ that I sing the lead on,” says Chace, “and we do a three-part harmony on ‘Ohio’ and we make a really rocking version of that. I also love to be able to be a background singer, and not the lead on everything, so it’s especially fun for me. All the guys are great musicians; Pete is a terrific banjo and mandolin player, and Mark Cutler tears it up at the end on his guitar.”
Later in the month, on Nov. 21, Forever Young will perform at the Blackstone River Theater in Woonsocket. “That’s going to be really different,” says Chace, “because we’re not going to be doing the Neil Young set. Everyone in the band writes their own original work, and so each of us is going to do three or four of our own songs, and then we’ll accompany each other. Who knows what will happen?”
Like all the musicians in Forever Young, Becky Chace has been singing and writing songs in R.I. for many years. She lives in Barrington, plays the coffeehouse circuit, tours regularly around the country, and has eight CD’s to her credit. Her voice has been compared to that of Bonnie Raitt and Melissa Etheridge, and she aligns herself with Dylan, Springsteen and other hard-edged folk-rock independents.
She works solo on occasion, but mostly sings with guitarist Brian Minisce, and they also work in a four-piece band. “We go up to Portland a lot,” Chace says, “and we’ll be traveling around the region this fall and winter. We just shot a video in Ithaca which will be coming out in 2009; that’s a phenomenal place, with a nice music scene, very progressive. We both play and we both sing, and Brian is a phenomenal lead guitarist. We write a lot together, and we also write music separately.”
Chace says she’s been “singing since I was a kid, professionally for about 12 years. It seems that no matter what, I’m always showing up to do music somewhere, somehow.” When she’s not singing, Chace has “a variety of day jobs. One of them is sailing.” She works on the crew of a 12- meter sloop out of Newport, which “takes people on cruises and does team-building exercises for corporate types, that sort of thing.”
Chace has been chosen the Best Local Female Vocalist five times by the readers of the Providence Phoenix Best Music Poll, and according to the New Haven Advocate she has “the voice of an angel who just got her heart ripped out by the devil.”
She feels rejuvenated as a part of the new Forever Young band. “I was born and bred in Rhode Island and we’re all Rhode Islanders, and everybody in the band has a lot of ties to each other. We’ve all been fans of Mark Cutler’s for years, and Mark’s brother John is the bass player. I’ve known Phil, the drummer, for years and years, and Pete’s got a music store and a recording studio that we all use. It’s a community, and that’s definitely what the band has been. It’s just a fun gig for everybody, and it’s easy to be good when you’ve got this quality of musicians all working together.”
WHAT Forever Young, Neil Young tribute concert
WHEN: Saturday, November 1
WHERE: Courthouse Center for the Arts 3481 Kingstown Road (Route 138) West Kingston
COST: $15
FOR MORE INFO… (401) 782-1018 or click here to visit the Forever Young web site.
Conceived after Mark Cutler, Jon Fuzek and Dan Lilley performed the Neil Young classic “Powderfinger” for the Rhode Island Songwriters Association, Forever Young put their first show together a year and a half ago at the Courthouse Center for the Arts in Kingston. They’ll be back there Nov. 1 for another round.
“That was the first one,” Chace says of the March 2007 gig. “We started off as just a bunch of singers getting together who said, ‘let’s do a songwriters-in-the-round show, and we’ll do all Neil Young songs.’ It was really cool, we just went around in a row and we each did a Neil Young song, and we had a guy sit in on banjo and mandolin, and usually the others would join along at some point.”
Forever Young took off from there. “We decided to do a bigger show, and we got a drummer and guitarist,” Chace says. “Now it’s a seven-piece band, and it’s a real tribute band. We played at Lupo’s in February, and we did the Sustainable Living Festival, and we played at the Narrows Center for the Arts in August. We get together about once a month or so now to do this.
“No one is trying to imitate Neil Young; what we do is just an appreciation of his music. When we first did it I was kind of shocked at how much good material he has. Since then I’ve also been shocked at what a cult following he has; we’ve gotten great crowds at all our gigs. We play some really cool deep cuts from Neil Young and these people know them all, they love to hear them. I was always a fan of Neil Young; you can’t be a musician and not be a fan of his work, but this sort of amazes me.”
Along with Chace, Cutler, Fuzek and Lilley, Forever Young includes John Amitrano, Phil Hicks and Pete Vendettuoli. All are longtime staples of the R.I. music scene. Drawing on the 40- year career of Neil Young, the group take turns on lead in many of Young’s most popular songs, as well as some more obscure numbers.
“We do a cool and different version of ‘Pocahontas’ that I sing the lead on,” says Chace, “and we do a three-part harmony on ‘Ohio’ and we make a really rocking version of that. I also love to be able to be a background singer, and not the lead on everything, so it’s especially fun for me. All the guys are great musicians; Pete is a terrific banjo and mandolin player, and Mark Cutler tears it up at the end on his guitar.”
Later in the month, on Nov. 21, Forever Young will perform at the Blackstone River Theater in Woonsocket. “That’s going to be really different,” says Chace, “because we’re not going to be doing the Neil Young set. Everyone in the band writes their own original work, and so each of us is going to do three or four of our own songs, and then we’ll accompany each other. Who knows what will happen?”
Like all the musicians in Forever Young, Becky Chace has been singing and writing songs in R.I. for many years. She lives in Barrington, plays the coffeehouse circuit, tours regularly around the country, and has eight CD’s to her credit. Her voice has been compared to that of Bonnie Raitt and Melissa Etheridge, and she aligns herself with Dylan, Springsteen and other hard-edged folk-rock independents.
She works solo on occasion, but mostly sings with guitarist Brian Minisce, and they also work in a four-piece band. “We go up to Portland a lot,” Chace says, “and we’ll be traveling around the region this fall and winter. We just shot a video in Ithaca which will be coming out in 2009; that’s a phenomenal place, with a nice music scene, very progressive. We both play and we both sing, and Brian is a phenomenal lead guitarist. We write a lot together, and we also write music separately.”
Chace says she’s been “singing since I was a kid, professionally for about 12 years. It seems that no matter what, I’m always showing up to do music somewhere, somehow.” When she’s not singing, Chace has “a variety of day jobs. One of them is sailing.” She works on the crew of a 12- meter sloop out of Newport, which “takes people on cruises and does team-building exercises for corporate types, that sort of thing.”
Chace has been chosen the Best Local Female Vocalist five times by the readers of the Providence Phoenix Best Music Poll, and according to the New Haven Advocate she has “the voice of an angel who just got her heart ripped out by the devil.”
She feels rejuvenated as a part of the new Forever Young band. “I was born and bred in Rhode Island and we’re all Rhode Islanders, and everybody in the band has a lot of ties to each other. We’ve all been fans of Mark Cutler’s for years, and Mark’s brother John is the bass player. I’ve known Phil, the drummer, for years and years, and Pete’s got a music store and a recording studio that we all use. It’s a community, and that’s definitely what the band has been. It’s just a fun gig for everybody, and it’s easy to be good when you’ve got this quality of musicians all working together.”
WHAT Forever Young, Neil Young tribute concert
WHEN: Saturday, November 1
WHERE: Courthouse Center for the Arts 3481 Kingstown Road (Route 138) West Kingston
COST: $15
FOR MORE INFO… (401) 782-1018 or click here to visit the Forever Young web site.
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