Tone Tanner

Tone Tanner – Museum After Hours 27/8/21 On 27th August 2021, Worcester City Art Gallery & Museum hosted Tone Tanner as part of our ‘Museum After Hours’ events. ‘Museum After Hours’ is an evening event that is held mostly once a month during summer to give visitors the opportunity to view our collection out of normal opening hours whilst enjoying a cocktail and some fab local musical talent. A decent crowd (the biggest of the season so far) attended, with some sitting in the activity area, the remainder sat in the balcony area, or just wandering round taking in the sights. Tone set up in gallery four currently showing our Worcester Life Stories exhibition, complete with a projector / screen along with two resonator guitars and some foot drums. Starting at 6pm, the first set performance commenced with a brief, rather terrifying projection homage to a 1950s film intermission advert, but it was thoroughly enjoyable (a small child’s parent was warned in advance!). Shortly after, the projection became a spooky moving woodland scene, along with a tanpura drone and warzone sounds, to which Tone played the guitar instrumental “War Bride”, a riveting performance. Next were a couple of up-tempo slide guitar rock and roll / boogie tunes “I’m No Slave” and “Too Much Alcohol”, all with foot drums, which were both very well received. Despite being assured that he wasn’t too loud, the remainder of the set was rather quieter, including tunes such as “Changeling”, “As The Crow Flies”, “Out On The Western Plain”, “Titfer Blues”, “Leave That Place”, “Friend”, and finishing with a superb rendition of “Glory Box”. At 7pm, after the intermission, Tone started his second set - a much more up tempo affair, including standard and contemporary blues tunes such as “Shot”, “Empire State Express”, “Dry People”, “Can’t Be Satisfied”, “Flipping Epic”, “One Sunny Day”, “Stagger Lee”, “Don’t Wanna Work” and “Milk & Alcohol”. Tone’s final song was the groovy “Maybe Later”, and he came back for an encore of the classic “Pull Up To The Bumper”. It's fair to say that after refreshments and seeing the sights, the crown had thinned somewhat for the last few tunes, but those remaining were treated to a great finale. All in all, Tone put on a great performance – the slide guitar and finger picking was phenomenal, the vocals were excellent, and the tunes were wonderful. It’s quite amazing how he manages to play guitar, sing and play drums all at the same time. The lighting and projections were a fabulous addition, and the songs (most of which were self penned) were thoroughly enjoyed by the appreciative audience. Tone’s work can be accessed just by googling Tone Tanner. Julie Stevens Visitor Services Officer (Events) Worcester City Art Gallery & Museum [email protected]

Worcester Museum and Art Gallery, 27th August 2021 I always try to see Tone Tanner when he performs in my neck of the woods, and on this particular Friday evening the resonator maestro gave us two 45-minute sets in the unlikely setting of Worcester's museum & art gallery. The show began with his own composition 'War Bride', a haunting and beautifully sad instrumental piece perfectly suited to the resonator guitar when played so sensitively, and subtly accompanied by pre-recorded sound effects (the only use of pre-recorded material in the evening). After this deceptively gentle start Tone raised the tempo and volume with songs showcasing his trademark skillful guitar, foot-pedal percussion, and expressive vocals. These were mostly self-penned works including the excellent 'Shot', 'Don't Wanna Work', 'Changeling' (another fine instrumental), and the cheeky 'Titfer Blues' poking fun at people wo dress the part at blues festivals. An eclectic sprinkling of covers included Tony Joe White's bluesy 'As The Crow Flies' to Grace Jones' funky 'Pull Up To The Bumper'. The show was laid on as part of the annual Worcester Festival and some of the audience were simply museum & gallery visitors enjoying an unexpected musical treat. Duncan Cameron