Turn it Down: Rod Melancon and Fareed Haque

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Rod Melancon

Thursday, June 27 @ The Loft, 414 E. Michigan Ave., Lansing. All ages, $10 door, $8 adv., 7:30 p.m.

Rod Melancon’s “Road to Pinkville” 2019 tour spans the United States and stops in Lansing June 27. Opening the show, a part of the “Country-ish” concert series at The Loft, is Evan Bartels.

While Melancon is now living in Austin,  his Creole roots helped him perfect his gritty, country-fried sound. Rolling Stone Magazine noted his backwoods songwriting style, stating: “Hailing from the farmlands of Louisiana, Rod Melancon sings with the cool, unhurried swagger of someone who’s grown up on Southern time.”

That deep-South upbringing is also well documented in the lyrics of his new LP, “Pinkville.” According to Melancon, his fourth album, is filled with “shell-shocked war Veterans, gun-wielding rock ’n’ rollers, and other down-on-their-luck characters,” making for a rootsy, yet shady brand of gothic Americana.

Lyrically pulling inspiration from novelists like Cormac McCarthy and Larry Brown, Melancon’s dynamic voice ranges from a deep croon, to bursts of spoken-word to guttural howls. Sonically, he veers from Keith Richards-esque riffs, to Freddy Fender and Tom Petty vibes — the tune “Heartbreakers” offers a blatant tribute to the late Petty. Overall, this emerging troubadour delivers an array of swampy, tremolo-soaked sounds sure to please both rockabilly cats and rock ’n’ roll purists. Or, as his label describes his new record, “‘Pinkville’ blurs the lines between roadhouse country-rock, Texas blues, Louisiana soul and all points between.”

 

Fareed Haque

Saturday, June 22 @ UrbanBeat, 1213 Turner St., Lansing.  16+, $15 door, $10 adv. 8 p.m.

Steeped in classical and jazz traditions, Fareed Haque is a modern, innovative guitar virtuoso. This weekend, he performs at UrbanBeat in Old Town. Since the ‘80s, Haque has recorded for a number of notable labels, including Pangaea, Warner Bros., Blue Note and Owl Studios. Born in 1963 to a Pakistani father and Chilean mother, Fareed spent ample time traveling and living in various parts of the globe, including long stays in Spain, France, Iran, Pakistan and Chile. As a child, he was exposed to an array of classical and world-music styles. Later, it was repeated visits to Von Freeman’s Chicago jam sessions that introduced him to Chicago blues and jazz traditions. The 1981 recipient of North Texas State University’s Jazz Guitar Scholarship, Haque spent a year studying with Jack Peterson, a legendary jazz guitarist. From there, he completed his classical guitar studies at Northwestern University and never looked back.

After befriending Paquito D’Rivera, Haque began a long relationship with the Cuban NEA Jazz Master. Several world tours and recordings followed. It was through D’Rivera that Haque met Sting, who’d just launched his record label Pangaea. Sting invited Haque to join the label and he released two critically acclaimed recordings, “Voices Rising” and “Manresa.” Haque toured for a short time with Sting, including extraordinary appearances at The Montreux Jazz Festival as well as NBC’s “Sunday Night with David Sanborn” but Haque’s career led him in other directions. In 1989, Haque joined the faculty at Northern Illinois University as professor of jazz and classical guitar, where he remains.

Over the years, he’s received acclaim from critics for a series of albums and live sets at a laundry list of noteworthy musical festivals. He’s also kept busy performing and recording with his trio featuring B3 virtuoso Tony Monaco, his jazz quartet as well as the Flat Earth Ensemble — his larger world music group. Catch him Saturday at UrbanBeat for an intimate performance.

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