St. Lawrence Arts: Munjoy Hill, Portland, Maine

Seth Warner and Band present Running on Empty tribute

St. Lawrence Arts
Portland, ME

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Seth Warner and Band present Running on Empty tribute

Portland, Maine based musician Seth Warner will lead an All-Star band in a complete live performance of Jackson Brownes 1977 record Running on Empty at St. Lawrence Arts, 76 Congress Street, Portland, Maine on Thursday, June 15th @ 7:30pm. Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 Day of show and are available at www.slawrencearts.org

Running on Empty is both a standout among the large field of live recordings of the 70s and represents a distinct turning point in Jackson Brownes career. Recorded while on tour in the summer of 1976, the LP features the unusual choice of presenting all new material captured in a variety of settings including the concert stage, dressing rooms, tour buses and motel rooms. Of this process, Mr. Browne has said that in his years of touring he finally felt confident in the stellar line up of backing musicians that made up his band so confident that he thought it would be a great way to capture the live energy, challenges and spontaneity of life and brand new music on the road. The end result has a wonderful sense of balance and variety with an organic flow of the material. Stand outs include the title track along with The Load Out/Stay but many of the albums greatest rewards are to be found in the tasteful and finely wrought covers that are included. The running themes of constant travel, being away from loved ones and boredom are balanced nicely with double entendres, odes to friendship, poking fun and the joys of a multitude of distractions available on the road.

Since 2015 Warner has led a series of Complete LP events at venues throughout New England, in each case assembling a collective of musicians to perform and celebrate record albums of unusual merit, historical significance and above all else - great music. The albums presented so far have ranged from a pair of incredibly strong sophomore releases in Back to Black by Amy Winehouse - which featured the phenomenal Maine based singer, Stephanie Fogg - and the brilliant yet eclectic Pontiac by Lyle Lovett. Last year Seth and the band presented Neil Youngs 1973 masterpiece Tonights the Night which dealt with the addiction related deaths of his close friends and bandmates with equal doses of grief, grit and humor.

Prior to the band playing Running on Empty at St. Lawrence Arts, Seth Warner and Portsmouth, New Hampshire based musician Marc McElroy will start the evening with a set of acoustic Jackson Browne material selected from the course of his entire career. Marc is a seasoned and soulful singer, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist. He leads the band Elroy and operates the Electric Cave recording studio in Portsmouth. Seth and Marc started performing music together in the fall of 1990 at the University of Maine, and have collaborated, recorded and harmonized off and on, ever since.