After a few months off for the birth of son Aidan, the dynamic songstress returned to the stage with authority as part of the Rubin Museum of Art's Naked Soul program. The intimate acoustic concert, which started a wee bit late due to maternal necessity, not only showed she hadn't lost a step, but instead seems recharged and more entertaining than ever.
Dana swiftly set the tone with a vigorous rendition of Otis Rush's "Nobody's Fault But Mine," then cast aside the planned setlist in favor of songs she wanted to sing and the audience wanted to hear.
Naked Soul strives to combine the power of music with the glory of art. Each musician picks out pieces from the museum collection that he/she feels drawn to and details the connection felt toward them. For Fuchs, who admitted she's been on an emotional roller coaster the past couple of years with the passing of her sister, parents and two brothers, Buddhist works have resonated strongly. She explained to us about true enlightenment coming when there is no fear.
Dana certainly didn't display any at the show, engaging the audience at every turn, saying she pictures faces from her audience when practicing her material. She surprised longtime producer, guitarist and co-writer Jon Diamond by wanting to perform the new song "Callin' Angels" as her second offering of the night. The ballad contains verses for each of the family members she lost in chronological order of their departures, and the audience wound up as choked up by the words as Fuchs was on the stage.
The evening also included a number of covers, from Randy Newman's "Guilty" -- which Dana said she hadn't performed live since her early days in New York City to "Love Hurts," best known by Nazareth but originally performed by The Everly Brothers. Fuchs admitted she often channeled Koko Taylor when performing Etta James' "I'd Rather See You Blind," and also belted the Beatles' song that has brought so many fans in the door, "Helter Skelter," from Across the Universe. One of Dana's many strong suits has been making covers her own, presented in her unique voice and style. There wasn't a false note -- or feeling -- in any of them, which begged comparisons to how she drew inspiration from the works of art on the screen behind her as well.
Can I call her and Jon's attempts at performing "Bad Seed" a highlight? See, they never actually executed the song. It's been about a decade since they played it during a show, and even with an audience member trying to help Diamond find the key by queuing the song up on her cell phone, it was not to be. Fuchs did promise to deliver it at a later concert. (We'll be holding you to that, Dana. I've been waiting to hear it for years.)
But we did get a glorious "Nothing on My Mind" and the ditty lent itself well to some Buddha shorthand. As Fuchs explained, the country song at its heart is about attachment to a partner who ends up leaving ... and then karma when the person who did the leaving gets left. She quipped Buddha was probably rolling over in the proverbial grave with her oversimplified explanation.
Dana told us some charming and lighthearted stories about motherhood, but quickly added she wouldn't become one of those artists who obsesses on that experience. And then she performed a song that drew a nice parallel. Her mother wanted her to write a love song. She thought long and hard about that, and then delivered a tune that was about as close to a love song as she thought she'd ever get -- "Misery." I expect Fuchs' life as a parent to be expressed in her music in much the same way, not with ribbons and bows, but cutting straight to the heart of it all the way she always does -- with keen insight in lyrics, some catchy riffs and a voice that drives us there.
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