Evento

Maurice Tani and 77 El Deora

Oaksong Music Society Artistic Director Pete Angwin first discovered Maurice Tani and 77 El Deora three years ago at a showcase at the Far West Folk Alliance Conference and immediately booked them for a show in Redding in 2014. Although Im not a huge country music fan, Tanis hard-edged guitar, haunting tenor and incisive lyrics immediately grabbed me and didnt let go until his set was over. He was definitely the highlight of the conference. Maurice Tani and 77 El Deora is now set to return to Redding for a second show, with the addition of singer Margaret Belton, who will provide additional energy to an already electric show.

Hailing from San Francisco, Maurice Tani has been a fixture on the local alt-country scene for more than a decade with his band 77 El Deora (which includes Mike Anderson on bass and Randy Craig on keyboards), and in the 80s and 90s sang and played guitar for the seminal Motown-style party bands Zasu Pitts Memorial Orchestra and Big Bang Beat. The San Francisco Chronicle recently praised his twangy modern country sound and called his songs wry yet romantic, tender but aggressive.

Maurice Tani & 77 El Deora represents the best in Americana: smart without making a fuss about it. The lyrics are worldly but universal. The musical ideas hit home. The playing is as good as youre going to hear this side of Austin. Above all, the band covers a lot of ground, from wistful ballads to hard driving honky-tonk rock, from personal meditations to satirical cultural observations, from electrified twang to down-home acoustic. Once in a while, they even find new shades of meaning in some cover you thought had been long since played out. This band is different. This band is special.

All in all, possibly the best indie Americana band to come from the Bay Area . . . ever . . . period.
- Paul Olguin

Maurice Tanis latest album, The White Water, is a new high water mark for the artist. Tani explains that he wanted this new album to combine the live/studio sound on his previous album The Blue Line with the intimate acoustic duo atmosphere that he captured on his earlier album Two Stroke. The album succeeds on both counts. Tanis uniquely evocative voice and deeply personal songwriting in the tradition of Merle Haggard shines through on every song.

By the way, in case you were wondering, the El Deora was a custom, after-market variant of the Cadillac Eldorado in the 1970s. It was the gaudiest, most over-the-top automobile you could buy, but somewhere along the way it crossed over into cool. Said Tani, If I had a garage, I'd have one, and if I had one, it would likely be pouring smoke out the rear, -or up on blocks in the yard with weeds growing out the fender wells. A car like that speaks to fallen aspirations, shattered dreams, bad checks. It's my kind of country.

http://www.77eldeora.com/