Fri 11/7 @ 8PM
Ryan Humbert is one of the energy forces of the Akron music scene. It seems like he’s always bringing together some his musician friends for a special show of some kind of another, whether it’s a Bob Dylan tribute or one of his annual Christmas benefit shows. He was responsible for encouraging popular ’80s new wave singer Tracey Thomas to start making music again.
In addition to being a catalyst, he’s also one of the area’s most gifted singer/ songwriters. His tunes have passion, energy, relatability and timelessness. So it’s a pleasure to have a brand new album from Humbert, his first since 2012’s Sometimes the Game Plays You. He’ll celebrate the release of the 12-track Half Way Home at the Kent Stage this weekend, where he and his six-piece band will play tunes from the new album as well as Sometimes The Game Plays You and 2010’s Old Souls, New Shoes.
The new album won’t shock or startle long-time Humbert fans. As usual, he blends his folk, pop, rock and country influences seamlessly into songs you feel like you’ve known forever, including five co-written with Thomas. Several — like album standout “If I Change You Mind” with its irresistible swaying melody and its dark undertone that matches its dark lyrics and the equally infectious “Weathering the Storm” — hark back to the early ’70s power pop era when bands like the Raspberries and Dwight Twilley were hailed as the great hopes of rock and roll.
Other tunes, like the album’s title tune, “Leave” and “California to Ohio,” feel like songs country artists would be snapping up if the entire genre hadn’t been co-opted by party songs about hot chick, cool beer and pickup trucks. They’ve got those easy, friendly melodies and emotional, universal lyrics that used to make country so appealing to so many people.
A lot of the tunes are classic singer/songwriter stuff: personal and intimate with acoustic underpinning embellished with arrangements that fill them out without being overwhelming. “Only Goodbye,” for instance, pushes beyond coffeehouse boundaries with lush, thick vocal harmonies.
And occasionally you even hear a little of that Bob Dylan influence peeking through on songs like “Blue Eyes” and “Space Enough” with its deliberate pace and soul/gospel-style background vocals by Nashville quartet the McCrary sisters, who have sung for Stevie Wonder and Dylan. Humbert will never sound that much like Dylan though, given his bright, pure tenor.
The Strange Familiar, featuring vocaist Kira Leyden and guitarist Jeff Andrea, formerly of Akron’s Jaded Era, will open will an acoustic set.
Tickets are $10 in advance, $14 at the door.
thekentstage.com/ryan-humbert-half-way-home-kent/
