Northampton, MA 2024 by Jimm O’D

Peter J Newland is at a juncture- not an impasse, certainly, as many others might be; and not what could be called a turning point, either, as his is a path that is full of them. This is more an inflection point, one of those times when a person of particularly (incorrigibly, even) leonine nature grabs that sucker by the shorts and directs how that shift will occur and where it will take us all.

FAT’s annual holiday show, held once again at the similarly storied (and newly renovated) Iron Horse Music Hall, continues the current trajectory that has been careening well in control for the most recent of very nearly six decades of development. Following the band’s Big Bang event a few months back, the identity of this collective as a going concern is now re-established… again.

Pete and Guy Devito started pulling from the pool of FAT human resources some time before the turn of the millennium to play the occasions of their own choosing, presenting and enjoying  the kind of now-and-again reunion celebrations that all the great bands offer the old fans- and everybody else.

When they re-convened as ‘The Original FAT’ some ten years ago, Newland and company cemented, once and for all, the group’s standing as rock’s greatest local living legend this side of Boston. The only thing remaining at this point will be a new performance of the classic 1969 RCA album, as the leader of the band tantalizingly teased tonight. The crowd damn near blew the roof off.

One major key to this concept is Jim Kaminski, positively infamous original guitarist and singer-songwriter who started the band along with Pete and their partner Michael Benson. Guy has been with Newland and Company through the years, while becoming just about the busiest bass player in all the area; even aside from projects with Pete and Jim K, Guy has established eminence. William ‘Benji’ Benjamin stands (or sits, rather, behind the drum kit) as the remaining member of the original lineup to return to the FAT fold recently.

As with any band, players have come and gone and come again periodically, particularly brother Christopher Newland, who is like as not to join the group whenever he is back in the States. The stalwart and stoic Mark Pappas stays on as Pete’s number one accomplice over many years, and the guitarist may well be the only non-original individual to continue inclusion in the band as a bona-fide member; and Valley veteran Chet Pasek usually doubles on drums.

As observed a moment ago, any band is bound to ‘morph,’ even aside from the customary changes in personnel; and this is where we find the present perspective of one Peter J Newland to be profound beyond any ordinary vision.

This is the expanding FAT. The genius of this particular band-leader, more than perhaps any other on the planet, is the workable melding of both original membership and ongoing association with the ensemble. The band is both established and evolving. At this point, Pete can pull off anything.

The name of Mitch Chakour is at the top of the record for regional artists who have achieved such substantial and superlative standing within and beyond the local music community. From Joe Cocker and J Geils to Tedeschi-Trucks and Warren Haynes, this guy is exactly what is meant by the phrase ‘remains relevant.’ His resume includes working with enough big names that to include them all would be to run the risk of seeming vainglorious, as some others can. Add to that his production credits and a position on University faculty, and….

Newland and Chakour crossed paths while living and working in Nashville, little realizing at the time that they and a couple of other top-tier players all hailed from the same area, even as Jim K was busy recording and releasing back home. And so, further on up the road, these and the others mentioned earlier would come together to answer Pete’s call for an expanded FAT.

In the calculus of a long career, the Big Bang event, held some four months ago at The Academy of Music, marks the point of inflection for this ongoing enterprise. Pete’s pet project for some time prior (along with writing a novel), the Big Bang presented the juncture at which FAT both affirmed their status as the utmost of top-tier legends and established themselves as the forward-moving, viable and vital entity that will now continue to reinforce their value.

Cliff Goodwin, another alumnus of Joe Cocker’s band (with a similarly expansive resume), guested with Chakour and others at the Big Bang event. Poco drummer Tim Smith, the last link in the Nashville connection and long-time drummer in Pete’s own Radio X, also made his first appearance with FAT. That night at the Academy was indeed a big one, charged with electricity and energy- and approval, too, arguably out-shining even hired headliner NRBQ.

One last repeat treat began both the Big Bang and the Lions in Winter shows, in the form of that beautiful soul, Jim Kaminski. The start of another wonderful tradition, one hopes, Jim K played a brace of new compositions in his now-favored Solo Acoustic format. This shows two kinds of brilliance, at least: Kaminski has long been known as one of the area’s very best six-string slingers; but with an acoustic guitar and a vocal mic, any who have been missing out on his more recent solo gigs are given this showcase for his exquisitely sonorous singing voice and his skill as a songwriter- with no diminishment in his dexterity for swapping out his axe. Almost as brilliant is the idea (custom?) of calling on him to open the show- Pete’s genius, surely.

Jim K Opener:

After his intimate opener, Jim K stepped away and then returned with the band, trusty Tele in hand. “House on the Corner,” the classic first track from that classic first album, kicked off the show proper, followed by a mini-set of long-time favorites from that original long-player. “Over the Hill,” as tongue-in-cheek as always- and especially ironic nowadays- led into “Duck Sweat,” and “Black Sunday” served as the showpiece for the early set. “Country Girl,” the heaviest and most un-country-ish song from that (or any) time, played it out.

Black Sunday:

“When Will I Meet You,” probably the most poignant and effective ballad to have come out of the Newland/Benson catalog in the later 70’s and (most thankfully, one might add) included as B-Side to their 1982 single, carried the crowd forward. In a curious aural twist, the delivery stands somewhat apart from the rest by presenting a more open sonic quality- which is also true of the original recording. One might suppose that just the fairly rare inclusion of Pete’s acoustic guitar, with the right mix in both cases, could account for this.

When Will I Meet You:

“Footloose,” the title track from the self-produced mid-70’s album, followed in fitting fashion, bringing the energy back up with what may well be the band’s ‘Greatest Hit.’ Having previously issued from the pen and mind of Jim K, the song has remained a staple over the decades and even appears on more than one album. The original album track introduced the smooth and slick stylings that came with brother Chris joining the band before receiving the rougher re-versioning as it did during the Criteria sessions in Miami with Felix Pappalardi.

While those recordings sadly sat ‘in the can’ for a number of years after the tragic passing of Producer Pappalardi, they would eventually lead to the release of another FAT album. The first Jim K album followed soon after, and Pete’s “Nomad” closed out the decade. Guy DeVito, ever the band’s bastion of fidelity, had meanwhile taken charge of the remastering and added a couple of Benson-engineered later tracks to fill out the “Past Due” album.

A pair of those latter-day numbers from the catalog came next, namely, the raucous “You Don’t Know Nothin‘bout Love” and the even more powerful “Scandal’s Child.” This led to the production portion of Lions in Winter.

Footloose:

As one particularly astute observer said when witnessing a Peter J solo set a number of years ago: “This is what a ‘show’ used to be, back in the days when an LP record, which had to be flipped half-way through, was like a suite, or a pair of movements, with the sequence and moods carefully arranged.”

Shifting into his master-of-ceremonies persona, Pete passed the baton and the vocal mic to Mitch for a thirty-minute set with Cliff. After jamming out a piano-boogie, Mr Chakour switched to his six-string, offering a few words of commemoration and playing one for the great Joe Cocker. As it happened, this was the very night of Mitch’s and Cliff’s long-time band-leader’s passing ten years past. A few minutes of fusion-y interlude led into what must certainly constitute the evening’s pièce de resistance, an extended electric exercise in 70’s style dueling guitars with the Clapton classic “Let It Rain.”

Let It Rain:

And so tribute is paid to a time of profound importance, the double-album era of Cocker and contemporaries- besides Clapton, the year of FAT’s debut produced masterpieces by Delaney & Bonnie, George Harrison, Derek & the Dominoes, that would set the precedent of swapping like-minded musicians in an over-arching collective that is reinforced and celebrated by this very next generation of artists. FAT, Mitch Chakour, Jim Kaminski and so many others were cutting their teeth and making their first forays into the marketplace and the recording studio just as they were all about to rub elbows with the Allmans and all the other greats. And so it went for a while in those favored days.

A couple more songs from the Footloose album, the funkified “Dirty Money” and the downbeat “Down Home Girl” were punctuated with one last from the last album, “I Don’t Need It”. “Red Skies” brought it almost home, but it ain’t a wrap till the big man sings that anthemic single A-Side, “Livin’ Like An Outlaw.”

Any FAT show over this last decade has included an element of tribute to all those times, without over-playing their own part in it. All of these guys have perspective. To come together in this way, simultaneously full-circle and in honor of tradition, while still- even now, after all these years- moving forward, and then calling the whole affair “Lions in Winter”- confirms the intelligence and intention of the king of beats, bringing together such a full complement of constituents, compatriots, cohorts… and possibly a partner in crime or two.

Peter J Newland and Company go in style, neither burning out nor fading away.

Most of the selections mentioned, some treats, and a couple of clips can be found together in one place by clicking on this single link to a YouTube playlist:

Any issues with the videos (yes, there are some), blame ‘em on your humble scribe and aspiring photojournalist, who keeps trying out different devices for audio/video captures in a continuing effort to contribute content to the cause.

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