Stumblebum Kicks off Village Square Concerts

Rain put a stop to for Lindenhurst’s in the , but cleared the area in time for a rocking appearance by local group Stumblebum Saturday night.

The evening was punctuated by plenty of power drive, and the tone was set from the outset, kicked off with a hard-rocking cover of One Way Out, the Elmore James/Sonny Boy Williamson II blues tune mainstreamed by the Allman Brothers.

This versatile piece has been arranged and recorded in a number of different ways.

The original James version has a 50s bluesy feel to it. Williamson never seems to have recorded it the same twice – there are versions in which he’s singing the song to a New Orleans sawdust shuffle, to a Gary and the US Bonds-type blackboard jungle sound, and a version with a raunchy R and B baritone sax.

(One ought to also mention the Al Kooper/Mike Bloomfield version, with its infectious choo-choo rhythm, recorded live at the Fillmore East.)

But it is the Allman Brothers’ version which has entered the pop music vocabulary, and Stumblebum provided a flawless cover of it.

The drew a relaxed and friendly crowd to the village square, as well as listeners who stood on the far side of North Wellwood Avenue in storefronts and on the sidewalk to catch the music.

Fronted by vocalist Todd Brennan (with tambourine, but sans harmonica), the hard-driving, five-piece band rocked downtown Lindy with its powerful sound well into the night, offering a surprising range of songs – from Led Zeppelin and the Doors to Lynard Skynard, and from Aerosmith to the Talking Heads.

Stumblebum consists of Brennan (vocals), Ray Corbe (drums), Jimmy DeRosa (lead guitar), Tom Uhl (rhythm guitar) and Dave Buchter (bass).

The band was solid throughout. Though the big drum set dwarfs drummer Ray Corbe physically, he’s the master of it, and the beatific look on his face as he plays is winning.

The solid and unpretentious core was provided by bassist Dave Buchter and Tom Uhl on the rhythm guitar, while lead guitarist Jimmy DeRosa ripped confidently away in an isolated corner of the stage.

Decidedly the front man, with incredible locks of long blond hair and a convincing wild man look in his eyes, Brennan urged the Lindy audience on between numbers, drawing from an apparently deep well of showmanship to get the job done.

He carried most of the vocals solo, and seemingly without effort, relying on his clean, forceful and on-target tenor voice to power the band through number after number.

And though they playfully sang Here Comes the Bride as local church-goers across the LIRR tracks turned the corner from South Wellwood east on Angelina in a candlelight parade, the had the good grace to pause respectfully in the proceedings.

Take a peek through the Lindy Lens at the concert highlights.