Maybe it just the day I've been having, but its currently pretty hard to think that the Afghan Whigs dropped
Gentlemen fifteen years ago. A lot has changed since then. For one, the Whigs are no more and Dulli has founded The Twilight Singers as his primary musical focus, with his Gutter Twins project batting clean-up. Much like The Hold Steady is an older, less sleazy Lifter Puller, The Twilight Singers reflect more of a post-snowstorm Dulli. There is still a fair amount of darkness, but there's a little bit less of the self-destructive nihilism.
Dulli released his first official solo record,
Amber Headlights, in 2005. The record had been recorded in 2002 and shelved in the wake of the passing of his dear friend
Ted Demme, but was released to a fair amount of success.
Live At The Triple Door isn't so much a solo record as it is a solo recording, if I may split a hair or two. Various Twilight Singers and long-time cohorts like Shawn Smith and Petra Haden back Dulli up, but this acoustic set is pretty Greg-o-centric. If you are into such things, Shawn Smith sings a couple tunes with Greg. It's great to hear them singing together again. The Brad shows at Highline earlier in the year were a nice tease, but I'd sure like to see more of SS on this side of the country.
Live At The Triple Door was recorded over two days in Seattle as a benefit for local youth charity
The Vera Project. The recording is available as a download only via Dulli's own Infernal Recordings. Check I-tunes and your favorite digital retailers. The set goes as far back as the AW chestnut, Tonight and along with a dozen or so other favorites spanning the last decade or so, including that Jose Gonzalez cover that all the young kids dig. If there is any shortcoming to this release, it's that there's not all that much Dulli stage banter, but I trust the average listener will live. I'd like to see a DVD of the set, but in the interim, download the set
here. You can keep up on all the other goings on in the world of The Twilight Singers
here.
My Jerusalem is the new-ish project from Mr. Jeff Klein, erstwhile Twilight Singers keyboardist, Newburgh native and all-around talented guy. Team TS is sort of the Ocean's Eleven of the up-and-coming set, what with Klein, Ed Harcourt and Joseph Arthur either currently or formerly tenuring in the fold helmed by Gutter Twins Greg Dulli and Mark Lanegan. My Jerusalem coalesced in New Orleans in Spring of last year, releasing Without Feathers and playing a handful of shows between NYC and the Midwest. The five songs here don't fall far from the tree, arriving darkly yet yielding strangely uplifting results. Sweet Chariot got some buzz early on and there was word of a twelve song full-length around the same time. No word on when the dirty dozen will be polluting our earholes, but My Jerusalem are playing CMJ on Saturday night at Fontanas around the 9:15 hour.
