Sandra Piller
Piller of Strength
The Gardenia, West Hollywood, CA, March 2, 2023
Review by Elliot Zwiebach
Sandra Piller seems to be at a good place in her life, as was shown by the joy she communicated to a responsive audience as she performed the songs that she grew up with in her show which looked back on her life’s journey.
Though the continuity of her between-songs patter was somewhat scattered, the key moments in her life still emerged: being raised by a single mother who was a Hollywood starlet; entering an early marriage that produced two children; experiencing years of happiness with a second husband (who died young); and finding success as a country-western singer-songwriter.
Among the evening’s highlights were a pair of songs relating to her second marriage that showed the joy, as expressed in a deeply felt “But I Loved You” (Gordon Jenkins), about caring about someone despite being opposites; and that showed the sorrow in “Why Can’t I Forget?” (J. Harris/J. Barron), a sweet love song about shared memories that ends with the lyric, “And then we said goodbye.
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The show started with Piller singing pop tunes from her youth with snippets of “High Hopes” (Sammy Cahn/Jimmy Van Heusen), “Tammy” (Jay Livingston/Raymond B. Evans), and “Hound Dog” (Jerry Leiber/Mike Stoller), plus a Beatles medley. These were followed by the teen angst and heartbreak of “The End of the World” (Arthur Kent/Silvia Dee), “God Only Knows” (Brian Wilson/Tony Asher), and “Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Crying” (Joe Greene). There was palpable excitement as the audience swayed in rhythm when she sang “More Love” (Smokey Robinson).
Reflecting on a later stage in her life, Piller brought depth and a darker shading to “Emotion” (Barry and Robin Gibb) and offered a sweet, sensitive reading of “Illusion,” a song about the magic of love written by her second husband, Michael Piller, with lyrics by his mother Ruth Roberts.
Piller recalled Roberts’ suggestion that she go to Nashville to try her hand at writing country music, and she illustrated her achievements with “Only in My Dreams,” a song about the power of dreams to hold onto emotions, and “Love Goes On” (co-written with Jane Bach), about the persistence of love despite the loss of the people we love.
Piller received solid musical support from Charlie Harrrison who did double-duty playing piano and left-handed bass, with Henry Newmark on drums.
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