Dean Benner
Country Jukebox
Don’t Tell Mama, NYC, November 24, 2019
Reviewed by Jerry Osterberg
Had the original “Man in Black,” Johnny Cash, converted the Highwaymen from a quartet to a quintet, he might well have recruited Dean Benner to join up with the rest of the legendary singer’s men in black: Kris Kristofferson, Waylon Jennings, and Willie Nelson.
This was not the first time Benner has channeled country. Indeed, the names of his earlier cabaret shows are a dead giveaway: Honky Tonk Moon, Still Cookin’, and Night-Time Man. The current offering, Country Jukebox, opening with Merle Haggard’s “Workin’ Man Blues,” a Number-1 hot country hit for Haggard in 1969, was no exception. It was a smart beginning to a fabulous store of well-known songs, many of them portraying a narrator who’s a hard drinking, torch carrying, outlaw cowpoke who thrives on lovesick drama, and is not “afeard” to wail about it.
Benner, a graduate of The Singing Experience (TSE), is brimming with confidence and stage presence. He’s clearly comfortable with the material, delivering songs associated with several of the biggest writers and performers in country music, each of whom discovered gold: Stuart Hamblen, Alan Jackson, Waylon Jennings, Bob McDill, Willie Nelson, Mike Schermer, Billy Joe Shaver, Randy Travis, and Bob Wills, to name a few.
Just as every song, country or otherwise, needs to have an inspired combination of elements to make it to the top, a good vocalist appreciates that he or she needs to be supported by great musicians. Benner’s Director was Linda Amiel Burns, with Music Director Richard Danley, Peter Calo (guitar), Jack Bashkow (reeds), Jonathan Russell (violin), Mike Campenni (drums), Matt Scharfglass (bass), and guest vocalist Christine Shuler, who has appeared in every one of Benner’s shows. Shuler, another alumna of TSE, had performed in a variety of styles, before turning her attention to cabaret. The Chicago native demonstrated competence and flair in the country mode, joining with Benner for a number of duets, and contributing excellent solo performances.
For those steeped in the world of country and some who are not, Benner’s material created an authentic atmosphere that allowed every song to blossom. Most inviting were “It’s All Going to Pot,” associated with Nelson and Haggard; “She’s Got the Rhythm (And I Got the Blues),” a star turn vehicle for Jackson and Travis; “Bring It on Down to My House,” a winner for Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys in 1936; and the hilarious “Prop Me Up Beside the Jukebox (If I Die),” a tale of a lovable rascal who’s not quite ready to leave all the fun behind and go gently into the night.
Besides her fantastic rendition of “Two More Bottles of Wine,” recorded by Emmylou Harris, Shuler joined Benner for “I’m Just an Old Chunk of Coal,” “Down by the Riverside,” “Crying, Waiting, Hoping” (a Buddy Holly composition the Beatles loved so much they recorded it three times), and a sweet “Two Sleepy People,” written by Frank Loesser and Hoagy Carmichael, who, like Benner, was born and raised in Indiana.
Among other country tunes, many associated with famous performers, were “Sick and Tired,” a quick tempo success for Fats Domino in 1958, containing the recurring lyric “…baby, whatcha gonna do…”; “(Remember Me) I’m the One Who Loves You,” recorded by icons Kitty Wells and Patsy Cline and by Dean Martin during his late-career country phase; and a deep-in-the-woods “Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man,” a number-1 hit in 1973 for Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn and one of five of their recordings that topped the charts, the jewels of an eight-album collection. In a program that featured numerous wonderful harmonies by Dean Benner and Christine Shuler, it was one of the evening’s best.
