In the 1970’s and 80’s, Walt Atkison made a name for himself
in the Rochester area — and the tour stops along Interstate 90 — as the one-man
band. Using an Echoplex and a tambourine he’d kick around with his boots,
Atkison played solo shows at almost every Rochester venue of the time, from the
Elmwood Inn to the Wine Press and Red Creek.
“The patrons were there; everyone was there,” Atkison says of
the music scene. “It was always festive. It was a wonderful music town, so many
just fantastic players everywhere you look.”
While Atkison would regularly gig solo, he occasionally
collaborated with other musicians, and in the late 70’s, he met guitarist Kinloch
Nelson and bassist Bernie Heveron. The three clicked well and by the early-80’s,
were routinely playing together, even holding down a weekly slot at the Elmwood
Inn for some time. But as is usually the story, people leave town, move on to
new things, and those regular shows become a thing of the past.
On Sunday, August 24, Atkison, Nelson, and Heveron will perform
together at Tango Café, 35 South Washington Street. This will be the first time
the musicians have publicly performed together as a trio in close to 15 years
— they have stayed in touch and have occasionally played in various pairs during
that time.
“When I started working with [Nelson and Heveron], and a few
others, it just opened up brand new avenues for me to write,” Atkison says. “They’re
both such wonderful teachers as well as musicians. I was like a student band
member for a lot of years.”
During the Tango Café show, the trio will revisit some of the
older material they played years ago as well as new material written by
Atkison. The singer-songwriter recently released a new album, “Carry On.”
Born and raised in Texas, Atkison picked up the harmonica
when he was 8 years old, and began playing the guitar at 10. His dad would hold
the harmonica for him so Atkison could play guitar and the harp together.
“He eventually made a little [harmonica] holder out of some
wire,” Atkison says. “He was devastated when he saw Bob Dylan doing the same
thing. He thought Dylan stole his idea for a harmonica holder.”
After a stint in the military following high school, Atkison
settled in Rochester and began his solo career in 1970. Using the Echoplex — a
tape delay machine that looped sounds recorded live — Atkison set out on his
one-man band act.
“I may hear some conversation that it’s someone’s birthday or
something, so I would mention their name in a song and it would loop back,”
Atkison says. “So everyone knew that it wasn’t pre-recorded music.”
“Walt almost had an orchestral approach to harp playing,”
Nelson says of Atkison’s approach to the folk music he created. “There aren’t a
lot of notes you can do on a harmonica, but he would find ways to max out on
them.”
Atkison met Nelson and Heveron separately during the late 70’s.
“New Year’s Eve going into 1980, I was invited to play with
[Atkison] at Elmwood Inn,” Heveron says. “Kinloch had been playing with him, by
then, for a little bit too. The three of us ended up getting a regular
Wednesday night gig at Elmwood and played it for quite a while. That’s when it
all took off. Walt had his singer-songwriter, one-man band going on, but he
extended his gig to Kinloch and I to experiment and go wild. He gave us lots of
leeway and lots of room for improvisation.”
Heveron describes how one night the three were going to dive
into the Harry Nilsson song “Coconut,” but after Heveron started out the bass
riff, Atkison experimented with the track. The jam turned into “A Groove &
A Rut,” which became a popular song for the trio.
Atkison eventually moved out of Rochester in 1998. He now
lives in North Carolina and continues to record and perform. All three
musicians express their excitement to perform together again.
“That’s the beauty of their abilities,” Atkison says about
picking up old songs again. “It’s nice to just launch into a song, and they
just pick it up and have beautiful parts.”
This article appears in Aug 20-26, 2014.
Science defines synergy as the creation of a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. Rochester, or at least those in the overflowing crowd that attended the Walt Atkison/Bernie Heveron/Kinloch Nelson concert last evening at the relocated Tango Café were treated to an all too rare example of musical synergy. The three talented musicians, who hadn’t played together in over a decade, after Walt Atkison moved to North Carolina, recombined for an evening of old and new Atkison songs that left the audience craving more, even as the second hour-long plus set drew to a close.
Atkison leads with a Cheshire-smiling, raspy firecracker voice, in between fast-train harmonica wails, and guitar riffs punctuating his songs. Though he’s a one-man band on his own, the space and wide-net he gives his band mates, Kinloch Nelson on guitar and Bernie Heveron on guitar and bass (both stand-up and folk) easily brings out the
best of each of them. And when the band is having that much fun, so is the audience. Paul Ruske sat in on hand drum and tambourine, adding a subtle rhythm. The elegant room and the perfect summer night air outside the open windows was filled with music from the first note.
“Before You Accuse Me” and “Microwave Blues” heated up the crowd, and transported enthusiastic fans back to the days when the three musicians had a large and devoted following in Rochester. The audience sang along with familiar and favorite lines, and the joyous hoots and shouts of the crowd punctuated the end of each song. When the band, working seamlessly, launched into Summertime, Atkison’s voice brought home the depth of the lyric and the end of the song came too soon.
The ever affable Atkison’s lighter side shone brightly on songs such as “Saturation,” “I Don’t Think You Know You Know Me,” “Cha Cha Cha,” “Blue Tatoo,” and “Craven You,” a song title triggered by a cigarette brand in Troronto called Craven A.
Rochester was represented not only by the musicians but the songs as well. Cadillac Hotel was a stand out with unmistakable references to the city Atkison once, and Heveron and Nelson still, call home. The trio, sounded as though they had spent the last decade practicing for this concert, yet each taking solos throughout the evening also showed their personal musical chops. For some, it was a return to the days when the trio would fill the Elmwood Inn each week, for others it was what they now hope was the first in a long series of concerts by this group. Almost three hours after it started, the evening was over all too soon for the audience. As one fan put it, “I cannot think of a musical event that I ever enjoyed more than this.” That seemed to be the unanimous sentiment of all in attendance.
submitted by
lou faber & elaine heveron