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| Musician |
I’m a huge fan of Christian Kane and his original songs but
I also really love his interpretations of other people’s. He puts his heart and
soul into anything he chooses to sing. Country music isn’t a big deal in the UK
so I often hear Christian’s versions of a song before I encounter the original
and discover that I don’t like it as much. Weird, because I’m usually someone
who’s a stickler for the original, for instance, Judy Garland – Over the
Rainbow; Frank Sinatra – Well, anything Frank did really. I don’t like the
watered-down, limp versions common in the charts today – usually by fey
songstresses with affected, insipid vocals, popularised by their ubiquity in
adverts: Ellie Goulding’s bafflingly turgid Your Song; Lily Allen’s total
crucifixion of Somewhere Only We Know; that awful, soulless Wherever You Will
Go by Charlene Soraia.* Whereas these seem to drain the life and
spirit out of the song, Christian Kane does the opposite. He invests them with
more emotion and verve, making the originals sound just a little colourless in
comparison. His voice is
a gift – unique but with echoes of Elvis, reverberations of Springsteen. It has a
depth and resonance that can reinvigorate an old song, making it seem contemporary
and new and real. And it appears totally effortless. His original material showcases his talents even better but that's another blog.
* Of course there are exceptions – Adele’s Make
You Feel My Love; the Byrds’ Tambourine Man; Timothy B. Schmit’s Caroline No;
the Eagles’ Ol’ 55, Poco's Magnolia.
Apologies if any of these aren’t the
originals you know. I’ve tried to put down the writer when I thought it
relevant. Links are in the words ‘Original’ and ‘Kane’ if you want to hear what
I’m talking about. Obviously Christian Kane has covered ‘ songs live that I
haven’t included e.g. Sweet Home Alabama, either because I haven’t heard them,
couldn’t find a good version of them or he hasn’t played them that often.
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| Actor |
Original: Tracy Chapman
Unstoppable rhythm and melody, compelling narrative. I love her deep voice. It has a certain intensity and immediacy.
Kane studio; Kane live: A little hard to listen to owing to the enthusiastic fans singing along and occasionally
drowning him out (he loves it). He still sounds tender and true. Plaintive and melancholy
but that natural growl lets you know he’s no pushover.
You got a fast car/I want a ticket to anywhere/Maybe we can
make a deal/Maybe together we can get somewhere/Any place is better/Starting
from zero got nothing to lose/Maybe we'll make something/Me myself I got
nothing to prove
Original: David Gray
I’ve got to admit that I’m not a fan of his voice,
thought he bleated like a lamb on his big hit This Year’s Love but this is
better.
Kane: ‘Somebody else wrote this but it’s one of my
favourite songs’. More rough tenderness, he always sounds as if he’s lived what
he’s singing. Passion and restraint.
Next wave coming in/Like an ocean roar/Won't you take my
hand darling/On that old dance floor/We can twist and shout/Do the turtle
dove/And you're the one I love/You're the one I love
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| Wary and suspicious |
Original: Prince
The single is bouncy, infectious, unputdownable although
I couldn't find it on YouTube.
Kane: This doesn’t completely work countrified (not sure about the fiddle) but it’s very lively and upbeat and it's plain CK identifies with the sentiment.
I asked her if she wanted to dance/And she said that/All she
wanted was a good man/And wanted to know/If I thought I was qualified/And I
said baby don't waste your time/I know what's on your mind/I may be qualified
for a one night stand/But I could never take the place of your man
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| Mid-party? |
Original: Ray LaMontagne
Low-key, breathy, mournful but, combined with his very
deliberate phrasing, it sounds a little affected.
Kane: ‘It had so much to do with my life – I just fell in love
with it’. In Christian’s earnest, heartfelt rendition, there’s a memory of
anguish, hard times and misguided youth that makes it affecting.
I found myself face down in the ditch/Booze on my hair/Blood on my lips/A
picture of you, holding a picture of me/In the pocket of my blue jeans/Still
don't know what love means
Kane: There’s palpable joy in the energy and exuberance in his
version.
Thanks for the joy that you've given me/I want you to know I
believe in your song/And rhythm and rhyme and harmony/You've helped me
along/Makin' me strong/Oh, give me the beat, boys and free my soul/I wanna get
lost in your rock and roll and drift away
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| Part cowboy |
Original: Toby Keith
I can't really fault this. Jaunty and upbeat, a country no.1 in 1993.
Kane:‘I lost country for a while. This is the one of the songs
that brought me back.’ Part-cowboy, part-Cherokee, CK rocks out, breathing new life into this song.
I should've been a cowboy/I should've learned to rope and
ride/Wearing my six-shooter riding my pony on a cattle drive
Luckenbach, Texas
Original: Waylon Jennings (written by Chips Moman and
Bobby Emmons), a country no. 1 in 1977.Easy-listening, old-school country.
Kane: Christian reinvents this; it barrels along with enthusiasm
and gruff charm and something about his tone really reminds me of Elvis.
The only two things in life/That make it worth livin'/Is
guitars to tune good/And firm feelin' women
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| Part Cherokee |
Original: Garth Brooks (written by Tony Arata)
Sort of middle of the road, pleasant and inoffensive, Garth
has a nice, even tone that’s easy to listen to.
Kane: Only a tiny clip of this. I’d kill to hear more
as this is a great appetiser. There’s a depth of experience in the few lines we have here
and that twang of a Texan accent on the last word kills me. Also rate Scotty McCreery’s version which, despite his
youth, still has gravitas, although not the rueful quality of the Christian
snippet.
And now I'm glad I didn't know/The way it all would end the
way it all would go/Our lives are better left to chance I could have missed the pain/But I'd have
had to miss the dance
Redneck Side of Me
Original: Jamey Johnson (written by Jerrod Niemann)
The
instrumentation is wonderful (is that an organ at the beginning?) but
the vocal sounds sort
of creepy, like a bad uncle, someone you wouldn't want to meet on a dark
night and is too much on one level, there’s not enough drama. Great
accent though.
Kane: Again, only a tantalising snippet,. In a couple of minutes, he conveys a promise, a threat,
gentleness. Listen to the line: ‘I never hunted 'gators in the
Everglades’. The softness and timbre of his voice make my throat quiver.
I never was a roughneck pumpin' crude down the line/An' I
ain't logged no timber, sawin’ on them Georgia pines/I can't mix the best batch
of etouffee/I never hunted 'gators in the Everglades
(Aside from Wikipedia: Étouffée or etouffee is a dish found
in both Cajun and Creole cuisine typically served with shellfish over rice.)
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| 'Country music has always been first and foremost in my heart' |
I think my main point is that Christian Kane always sounds
more than credible because he chooses songs that mean something to him. And he
can sing anything. I’m mystified as to why he hasn’t had a huge hit although I
know that talent doesn’t always translate into success and am probably not the
best placed person to try to fathom the machinations of the country music
business. But he’s personable and appealing and let’s face it, fine-looking. By
rights, he should have ‘made it’ with any of his original songs, such as A Different Kind of Knight, America High, Rattlesnake Smile or with Let Me Go
(written by Casey Beathard and Tom Shapiro), which he begged to be allowed to
sing. Part of me thinks it’s because he has more than one string to his bow
being an actor too (maybe Nashville doesn’t like the fact that he isn’t solely
a musician, that he wants to have his cake and eat it too); part of me thinks
it’s owing to the extreme dedication of his fanbase (to some extent drawn from
fans of his acting that have got into the music) – it’s possible that this
contributes to the mainstream country/rock industry’s failure to take him
seriously; or perhaps he’s just refusing to play by the rules. I’ve been
watching Nashville and wondering why he hasn’t got one of the major roles.
Perhaps they wanted musical newcomers but he would be a shoo-in for a recurring
cameo of a roughneck country rocker, perhaps on the wrong side of the law.
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| Could it be? |
I’ll end with this exchange, which sort of sums Christian
Kane’s music up.
My Dad asked me what Christian Kane's music was like. I said
'It's country rock' and he said 'Like the Eagles?' I said 'More country' and my
sister added 'And more rock'.
Perhaps he’s just too much of each to be fully accepted by
either (having played to rock audiences at the Viper Room). But they say this
is The Year of Kane.
He also features in another blog of mine:
Another blogger’s take on CK live: http://bashfulbadgersblog.wordpress.com/2013/11/21/christian-kane-rocks-out-at-the-jazz-cafe-in-camden/.
Thanks to Wikipedia, Kane Nation, A-Z Lyrics Universe and CMT.
Christian Kane’s music is available from: www.ChristianKane.com.
He also features in another blog of mine:
Thanks to Wikipedia, Kane Nation, A-Z Lyrics Universe and CMT.
Christian Kane’s music is available from: www.ChristianKane.com.
