Music Preview:
Livin' on the Wrong Side of Nashville
by T.E. Lyons
LEO
June 28, 2000
Joe Pagetta says he
wants to close doors, but his best asset may be the ways in which he can't. His
press biography talks up his recent work in Nashville, where the singer/songwriter's
Jersey roots and Greenwich Village performances are supposed to be relegated to
the background. That said, correspondence with him is laced with reference to
the smells and flavors of the Northeast's all-night diners and open-before-dawn
bakeries, where white bread is shied away from in favor of more ethnic ingredients.
Pagetta yearns for pignola cookies. He fondly recalls his last sandwich served
on a hard roll.
Similarly, the whole of his experience and all the little flavors come into Pagetta's
songs, which will be on display at Twice-Told Coffeehouse on Thursday, June 29,
at 8 p.m. His recent release Recollections of Maybeville (Fully Dressed Records)
was supposed to be the door-shutting for his New York recordings, from '96 to
'98 -- but Music City's session pros and mentoring-cum-competitive atmosphere
started to have an effect on the 28-year-old. As a result, Maybeville was honed
down to an EP of the six songs that spoke to a complete miniature world of restive
contemplation and filled-out melody. The remaining songs are not left behind,
though, as will be seen onstage in his all-originals performance.
"Always & Forever" and "Wrong Person" are filled with wonderful observations
on how doubt works as a force within personal relationships. But Pagetta is a
low-key singer/songwriter and not one of those acoustic guitar-strummers who call
their work folk songs though the only folk being talked about is themselves. So
"Born As We Speak" and "Heaven Said" effortlessly head out into weighty matters
like fate and religion. And "Don't Lift Me Up" has a toughened attitude and right-sized
rock format that should please any John Mellencamp fan.
On this trip to Louisville, he'll likely balance off the two-guitar versions of
these songs with newer material that's upbeat and by turns irreverent and tongue-in-cheek.
Nashville's association with country novelty hits probably isn't the complete
inspiration for a song where an Elvis poster functions as a matchmaker. This is
more of a twist on "Portrait of Dorian Gray" than a sing-along goof-off aimed
for the singles charts. Pagetta's "Ebenezer Scrooge" finds the untold tales from
famous fictional icons, and so gives us a back-handed approach to finding the
under-appreciated sides to anyone we've developed an attitude toward.
Given his reticence to issue all sides of his prior recorded output, Pagetta's
got a few under-appreciated sides himself. This may be the best opportunity you'll
ever have to influence which songs from a new artist actually make it onto his
upcoming album. He's shown a lot of depth in the few songs that have made it through
so far. Let him know which songs really should see the light of day soon and which,
if any, should have the door closed on them. And if you could sneak a Philly cheesesteak
or a Taylor ham-and-grilled-cheese backstage, you'll have one ecstatic Nashville
transplant.
