Saturday, May 1, 2010

Dylan-inspired: The Brains Behind Pa

For a few days, I've been feeling remiss about not adding a post -- before I'd added a post on the Tad Robinson CD release party show from last Friday night -- about The Brains Behind Pa, an Indianapolis band I'd seen and photographed a week before Tad's show.

The show, on April 16, was at the Wheeler Community Arts Center in Fountain Square, where on April 3 I'd seen national country-blues performer Rory Block. The Block concert was an intimate show; the Wheeler is a relatively new (and apparently little known) venue, and it's a couple blocks away from the heart of Fountain Square, so I guess that's why attendance was sparse. But it's an interesting venue for a show of this sort.

"Intimate" also describes the atmosphere for the April 16 show by The Brains Behind Pa, a three- and sometimes five-person side project of Indianapolis musicians Bill Price and Gordon Bonham since 2000. Their songs and sound are inspired by the works of renowned folk-rock legend Bob Dylan. In fact, the band's name is lifted from a line in the Dylan composition "Maggie's Farm" ("Well, when she talks to all the servants about man, and God, and law, everybody says she's the brains behind pa").

"Gordon and I both have a love of Dylan's music and much that inspired him," Price explains at his website, "so we started a side project to kind of explore that music." The results include the CDs "Old Hat" and "Better for the Deal." Also performing with the group are bassist Jeff Stone, accordian/mandolin/keyboard player Garry Bole and drummer Jeff Chapin. On the night of the April 16 show, Chapin couldn't make it, so Jamey Reid sat in for him.

These images are from that show. To view a full gallery of images from the show, follow the link in this sentence. 


Gordon Bonham


Jeff Stone


Bill Price


Gordon Bonham


The full band, The Brains Behind Pa


Bill Price


Jamey Reid

Garry Bole

The shoeless foot behind, er, of Garry Bole

No comments:

Post a Comment