Grant Lee Buffalo und Grant-Lee Phillips

Grant Lee Buffalo were perhaps one of the most interesting bands of the 1990s. Although their themes seemed to suggest Americana and rustic folk as influences, their lush, cinematic sound suggested a far more varied sonic palette.

Over the top of it all is singer and songwriter Grant Lee Phillips, who possesses a dramatic multi-octave voice that's one of the most unique—still--in all of music.That's part of the joy of seeing Grant Lee Buffalo in concert. While bassist and keyboardist Paul Kimble helps create airy intricate melodies, it's frequently Phillips' soaring vocals on songs like the MTV hit “Mockingbirds” and “Honey Don't Think” that cause audiences to swoon.

It's one thing to use studio magic to record vocal performances like that on record, but quite another to hear someone singing that way live. Material from the band's last album, Jubilee, tends to be a little more oriented towards mainstream rock, with the song “Truly Truly” always a crowd favorite.

The band, who broke up in 1997, have recently been playing shows at summer festivals and one-off concerts here and there, and have promised more live gigs to come. Their unique sound (think of it as what you'd get if you combined bluesy alt-country with a heavy dose of Pink Floyd art rock) works incredibly well live, and the band seem quite energized and joyful to be performing much of their under-heard material in front of audiences again.

I’m an absolute sucker for multi-instrumentalists, and watching Grant-Lee Phillips perform live and switch between his guitar, piano, banjo, drums, and so many more is something that I’ll never learn to take for granted. His voice is also incredibly versatile, and hearing him transition from a rocky track into a dulcet folk tune is something that I’ve never heard a musician master before.

His support act was great, a little acoustic trio who sang country folk music, and they warmed up the cored nicely. When Phillips took to the stage, he walked out and sat behind his piano, and had a brief chat with us in the intimate audience before launching into his first track, Happiness. He held the audience in absolute silence, and then we erupted into applause at the end. He was great at getting us to sing on some of his tracks, so that he could add harmonies to the melody without his loop pedal.

He played through a great selection of his tracks, and played almost the entire Walking in the Green Corn album, which had everyone singing along throughout. It was a wonderful show and a great atmosphere.