Toni Price, 30 songs and 30 shots…
Austin resident, Toni Price, hit the stage last night in Nashville, at the Douglas Corner Cafe. The dimly lit venue, with it's brick lined walls and green tinted lighting, was a quaint compliment to the singer's sultry voice. The evening, which started as a low-key acoustic session, quickly morphed into a whiskey driven walk down memory lane for Price and her audience. Reminiscing about late night jam sessions, Price became not only the evenings entertainment, but an instantaneous friend, drawing her audience in like a moth to a flame.
Known as "the queen of the back-porch blues," Price belted out songs about the blues, life, love, and learning, with numbers like "Cats and Dogs," "Lucky," "Like the Sun," and "Moonlight Blues," many of which were written by Gwil Owens, who provided last night's acoustic guitar. Each song was followed by a shot of whiskey, making the bar tender a permanent part of the act.
Price's voice is definitely what draws people to her. A self confessed talentless songwriter, she laughed and slurred, "if I had to write my way out of a paper bag, I'd still be in it." Owens, on the other hand, is better left to the writing and playing, as heard in his attempt to throw in background vocals on a couple of songs.
Dressed in a nude-pink shimmering dress, that came inches above the knee, Price posed and smiled through many of the more upbeat songs, while drunkenly weeping through the sadder ones. Her performance, though whiskey fueled, was nonetheless a delight for all in attendance. She joked that she was going to write a memoir entitled "Who the Hell Remembers?," which seems ever so appropriate, and explained what "irons" are. According to Price, "irons are tiny pieces of irony." which was followed by a wave of laughter, as were many of her interjections.
Price appears as a cross between Emmy Lou Harris, Sheryl Crow, and Janis Joplin. The singer, now 48, resembles Emmy Lou, with her long flowing grayed hair, sounds eerily like Sheryl Crow, and drinks more whiskey than even Janis Joplin could have. With her red draped shawl, which she clung to in a manner that would make any burlesque fan proud, her tiny sequined dress, and unshaved "all natural legs," Price surprisingly came off as a sexy, sultry blues singer, worthy of any good Vegas lounge. It's no surprise that she has long been revered as one of Austin's diamonds, rough as it may be.
Price currently has seven albums available, all of which are available on Amazon.
For more info on Toni Price, visit:
www.toniprice.comAnd check out NPRs feature on Toni at:
http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/2002/feb/price/020218.price.htmlAuthor:
Rosemary Haskins, co-owner of
WaterWorks Entertainment