Sara Thompson Band strutted their stuff at the British Beer Company’s Manchester, New Hampshire location this afternoon. Playing for the BBC’s Sunday Bloody Brunch show, Thompson and three pro players went into some rock and roll, R&B, and blues to keep drinkers and diners entertained for three solid hours. Even audience members who didn’t know the band, and likely didn’t know there’d be a band in the room, received them with enthusiastic applause at the end of each number.
Thompson delivered John Prine’s “Angel From Montgomery” with a honky tonk drawl and a tender application of her electric keyboard. The quiet ballad let the singer showcase her strong voice, hitting high pretty notes with seriousness and purpose. “Gimme On Reason” showed Thompson’s impressive, slightly raspy voice beautifully contrasted with some ultra cool electric guitar notes Scott Tarulli picked off with his fiery precision and sensitive touch. Soon after, Tarulli picked out a nifty melodic line, snappy and brittle, and infused with feeling. Thompson regained the vocal spotlight and belted a mighty cool vocal melody that made you feel what the song is all about.
“Chain Of Fools” gave Thompson a chance to show what she can do with the classic floaty chorus. She handled the bouncy hookyness well. More interesting though, was how Thompson finessed the verses, only giving enough to make the words glide and gently sail through the speakers with a classy self-restraint. Tarulli took over and did his Tarulli thing, making his peppy melodic notes skip around the beat like a man on a jaunty stroll through the park.
Aside from Tarulli, Thompson got her other jolt from the rhythm section of bass guitar player Chris Sublett and drummer Greg Settino. The two kept it deep and meaningful in the pocket. Their knobby, palpable groove made everybody feel like dancing. “Summertime” found Thompson caressing every subtle nuance note in her vocal melody. She conjured, easily, the breezy, seductive feeling of the Hoagy Carmichael verses, doing justice to the timeless masterpiece. Here, Tarulli made his melodic line fetching and alluring in the way he worked a few intervals of notes at a time.
On “Rock Me Baby,” Thompson was the sexy professor of cool, showing she can make a song her own while Tarulli, always a good guy to bring to a gig, brought his own shine to the number. His made his guitar cry out on a few notes and certainly added his own personal voicing with his soulful fret work. The more contemporary “You And I” by Lady Gaga let Thompson belt it out like the best of the best, and she made her presence felt throughout the room with a hefty, hearty, and adept expression. Tarulli played an edgier, more persistent melodic phrase, his spiraling notes ascending in an amazingly wide arc of tunefulness.
“Next To Me” rode on a bumpy, strutting groove that let Thompson emote beautifully over the surface. Tarulli, meanwhile, played a nimble riff and an appropriately tender guitar line.
Tarulli, after the break, lead the band back into its groove with an incisive guitar phrase. He had fun with the melodic phrasing, paying out a bright rhythmic bop over the hefty groove beneath him. The rhythm section followed him with their mellow groove. Bass player Chris Sublett brought things back to three-dimensional life with a thick low end so Thompson could do her thing on the ever popular “Some Kind Of Wonderful.” Tarulli . And boy, did Thompson come in with one hell of a belt. She could definitely be singing at the finest clubs in the world with that kind of exciting entry and over the top expressive sustains.
Thompson strutted her stuff on “Love Me Like A Man,” a perfect down tempo vehicle for her to show more of her tasteful self-restraint. Her raspy, honky tonk flavored belt turned this one into pure blues. Tarulli ground out a sparking phrase, peeling off his high-pitched notes, sprightly, greasy, free, fast, running with the driving force of a river. You could feel his notes crying out to you.
KT Tunstall’s 2006 hit single “Black Horse & The Cherry Tree” was an acceptable popular tune for a general audience. More importantly, it showcased Thompson’s ability to navigate her way through its edgy changes, suggesting she’s ready to record hit material.
The Ike and Tina Tuner rendition of “Rolling On The River” was a breezy number that let Thompson show what she could do in a mellow groove. After the expected tempo change, she easily glided into the faster, beat-driven second half, sounding off a series of blissful coos amidst the verses.
Tarulli played his meanest phrase of the afternoon on the perennial barroom favorite, “Shakey Ground.” He ground out wild, bluesy roadhouse notes that make you think his fingers must be on fire he played them so fast. The rhythm section here got to play as a duet of pulpy beats and chunky low end. They made the most out of their dollops of gorgeous notes and runs, milking each note from bass and drum set to create nuanced changes in feeling and tone, getting deeper it as they went along. The bass, in a series of brief instances, sounded like the hum of a motorcycle revving up, followed by an adept drum solo.
Thompson worked up some fun on her keyboard to close out with Stevie Wonder’s “Living For The City.” Like “Black Horse,” she showed how well could handle the twists and turns of this ear tugging number. With Tarulli backing her on guitar, Thompson’s band felt and sounded as fulsome as a much larger band.
Sara Thomson is a popular regional singer with the potential to bring her music to a much wider fan base. Even during this quiet restaurant gig, Thompson strutted her vocal chops, asserted voice, technique, and delivered it all with a soulfulness not commonly found in bar bands. It will be interesting to see how much mileage Thompson will get when she releases her debut CD.