Chris Trapper ~ 2012 May 31 ~ Club Passim, Cambridge, MA
Chris Trapper accompanying himself on two acoustic guitars and (on one song) ukulele
Set List
Summertime is Here - The Few and the Far Between - Millionaire - Not Normal - Into the Bright Lights [with Kristen Cifelli on backing vocals] - Still In Me - This Time - Tijuana [on ukulele] - Any Little Town [with funny story about hearing the song on the soundsystem at a CVS and blurting out to the bored clerk that it was him singing] - Freedom - Starlight - Here All Along - Wish I Was Cool ... encore ... Attack Ad - Avalanche - Keg On My Coffin
Scroll down past the videos for review; photo gallery to the right.
Videos
"This Time"
"Wish I Was Cool"
Review
I have seen Chris Trapper once before, opening for Graham Parker at a show at the Towne Crier in Pawling, NY, at which time Chris impressed me with both the quality of his material and his wit. I've tried a couple of times since to get to a show of his and finally succeeded, at the very comfortable folk venue Club Passim right in Harvard Square, Cambridge.
Chris in the past has been known as the guitarist, lead vocalist, and songwriter for Boston area indie band the Push Stars, but for the past several years he has been a solo artist, recording albums under his own name and performing as a traveling troubadour. This show was the first of two separate admission sets. Both shows were close to sold out, indicating that Chris has a good following in the greater Boston area.
As a performer Chris Trapper has many strengths. His well crafted songs vary from uptempo toe-tappers to beautifully emotional ballads. I particularly enjoyed the love song "Skin" from his new album, which I found very moving. He is a very accomplished guitarist as well, making good use of sweet harmonic tones. His singing is powerful and melodic. He has a fantastic wit and told numerous stories and had the audience laughing between songs. A couple of songs were singalongs, easy ones. During the singalongs he'd move away from the mike and nod slightly toward the audience to indicate when it was our turn to sing, and then he'd encourage us to sing louder by saying we sounded like a school glee club (or a folk audience!), which brought laughter, and louder singing, every time. The other end of his range as a songwriter was represented by the laugh-out-loud funny "Not Normal," also from the new record The Few and the Far Between. On one song Chris was accompanied on backing vocals by Kristin Cifelli, who sings on the new album.
Chris Trapper commands a good deal of respect in the music biz, as shown by the fact that he has some well-known guests on his new record, including Colin Hay and Matchbox 20's Rob Thomas. His beautiful love song "This Time" was used in the movie August Rush. Chris told a funny story about numerous covers of this song that one can see on Youtube, including one by a frighteningly unattractive naked man. (Trust me ... the story was funny when he told it ... I think you had to be there.) I had the good luck to video the song so if you'd like to see a good version of it on Youtube, scroll back up. (You can enlarge these videos to full screen, by the way, by clicking the little rectangle in the lower right, but you probably already knew that.)
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