Concert Review—

Cyndi Lauper Trades Pop For Blues On Her Latest Tour

By John Voket

There is a big difference between musical artists who try and reinvent themselves as a calculated move to keep them in the media spotlight, and artists who explore new musical directions because they are truly inspired to do so.

Ninety-nine out of a hundred times it is the latter, not the former, who end up creating something truly inspired in the process.

Such is the case with ‘80s pop diva Cyndi Lauper.

For those who can only remember her for the explosion of hits generated from Lauper’s solo debut, She’s So Unusual, it may be hard to envision the leather-clad 57-year-old with a shock of orange hair alternating between sassy and soulful traditional blues songs. Or even more galling, altering her intensely formulaic trademark single, “Girls Just Want To Have Fun,” into a bouncy but decidedly different sounding R&B ditty.

But that’s just where Lauper is at these days, and for the most part, audiences appear to be loving it.

Far from driving away even her most rabid core base with this decidedly drastic change in creative direction, Lauper’s latest, Memphis Blues, may have stuck gold again. This latest project, like She’s So Unusual back in ‘83, may very well end up earning Lauper a Grammy. It was recently announced that Memphis Blues was nominated for the Best Traditional Blues Album, representing her 14th Grammy Award nomination.

Her 11th studio album entered the Billboard 200 at #26 earlier this year, becoming the third highest charting album and the fifth top 40 album of her career. Memphis Blues also debuted at #1 on the Billboard Blues Album Chart, ruling atop the chart for 14 consecutive weeks.

Recorded this past March at Electraphonic Studios in Memphis, the album features appearances by such great artists as B.B. King, Jonny Lang, Allen Toussaint, Ann Peebles and Charlie Musselwhite.

“This is the album I’ve wanted to make for years,” Lauper said in an advance. “All of these beautiful songs, and all of the great players on the album, were carefully chosen because I’ve admired them my entire life. And I knew from the moment Alan Toussaint hit the keys in ‘Shattered Dreams’ that we were creating something really special.”

A Welcome Reception

Based on the welcome reception she received at a recent stop at Waterbury’s Palace Theater, Lauper the blues crooner is already a big winner. Backed by an authentic ensemble of deeply rooted blues players like harmonica god Musselwhite, Steve Potts on drums, the original Soul Man Archie “Hubbie” Turner on keys, and Charles “Skip” Pitts on guitar, Lauper ran the full gamut performing each of the tunes from her new release.

Kicking it off by introducing her players, she counted out four and launched into “Just Your Fool” like she was cranking up a big V8 in a road weary old Cadillac. Following up with a pair of late night honky-tonk jams, “Shattered Dreams” and “Early In The Mornin,” she put the brakes on for just a moment to conjure up the spirit of Big Momma Thornton.

As she stepped and kicked her way through a raw, original sounding version of “Hound Dog” the audience began to witness the transformation, or at least the characterization, of Lauper into something a little more serious and even devoted, than ever before.

Coming right out and admitting as much a few minutes later, Lauper told the Palace crowd that if they came to the show that evening expecting a greatest hits package, there was going to be a problem. At the same time she validated why she was so proud of her latest project, and bore no qualms about ditching her most familiar arrangements for reinvented versions.

“I’m not a blender,” she said. “I tried to blend...”

Over the course of the next hour, Lauper turned the Waterbury venue into a classroom, and she was giving the whole group a crash course on what she described as the most original vein of American music.

“It’s really what all of rock & roll is based on,” she offered at one point.

The balance of the show turned the spotlight on each of the lead performers in turn, with special kudos for picking “Down So Low” to unleash the full awesome talent of Musselwhite, and letting Pitts off the hook to cook up some of that fat, sassy axe work on “How Blue can You Get,” which featured Johnny Lang on the Memphis Blue cut.

Ultimately Entertaining

Probably the most entertaining aspect of the show came by Lauper’s astuteness at spotlighting various solo players throughout the program and in turn, being able to play more shorter, and therefore memorable numbers. It wasn’t a dozen long, drawn out jams with a solo for everybody in every number.

At the same time, Lauper never fell back on her band, letting someone else drive the bus. Make no mistake, every song no matter how good the instrumental backing, was designed to maximize Lauper’s tribute to the material’s originators.

“Don’t You Cry” even got the audience involved with Lauper conducting a percolating shout back that intensified as she up-shifted into the first unfamiliar bars of her reinvented “Change of Heart.” But as soon as the fans caught on, it was nothing but cheers and dancing in the aisles.

Being so close to the holidays, Lauper unwrapped a honkin’ “Merry Christmas Baby,” a quick and perky “Three Ships,” and an a cappella “Silent Night,” with the crowd caroling along in hushed tones.

While another blusified hit, “She Bop,” was about the best song of the night – perfectly blending the best of the “old” Cyndi with the new Cyndi, she did give the most un-inducted audience members a pair of hits that were virtually sound-alike from the originals.

Both her affecting “Time After Time” and the poignant “True Colors” brought Lauper alone to center stage with nothing to prop her up except her dulcimer — and she proved that even without a band, she could wrap up a couple thousand fans around her bejeweled finger even for just a few moments.

Of course it was a Cyndi Lauper show, so there was a dose of activism mixed in. She took the opportunity to invite the Waterbury audience to visit and chat up her latest effort, the Give a Damn campaign, the first independent project borne from her True Colors Fund, a non-profit seeking to inspire and engage everyone, particularly the straight community, to become involved in the advancement of LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bi- and Transgender) equality.

Lauper’s Give a Damn Campaign employs an extensive and innovative online public education and awareness initiative, and she invited the crowd to visit on-line, read, learn, listen to a few stories, and perhaps leave one of their own.