By Andrew Poretz***Vocalist Lauren Fox, who rarely performs in New York these days, reprised her acclaimed Laurel Canyon Folkies: Over the Hills and Under The Covers at The Cutting Room with her trio of pianist-music director Jon Weber, guitarist Peter Calo and bassist Jamie Mohamdein. But Fox is also something of a Renaissance woman. An entrepreneur, Fox and her sister founded the marvelous Alice’s Teacup teahouse (which she sold last year). She has multiple 
acting and writing credits and has won the Bistro, MAC and Nightlife awards for her tribute shows on the music of Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Laurel Canyon, Woodstock and rockstar groupies.
Fox has performed with Weber and Calo in her shows for more than a decade, while Mohamdein is relatively new to the lineup. They are not only outstanding instrumentalists, but excellent singers, providing many instances of multi-part harmonies. This was especially welcome for material by the likes of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, The Byrds, and the Eagles.
Fox came to the stage dressed like a 1960s “earth woman,” wearing a flowing blue and grey patterned summer dress and an inverted triangle pendant, with long, straight hair—and was barefoot. (Perhaps in solidarity, Weber also went shoeless.) In her performance, she was especially compelling in giving the feeling that she was somehow there and part of the scene, despite being some thirty years too young. She never impersonates singers like Joni Mitchell and Carole King, but has her own distinctive voice.
Fox interspersed a well-chosen set of 17 songs with background stories of the heady period in Southern California when some of the greatest names in rock history lived in the wealthy neighborhood of Laurel Canyon. Stars including Mama Cass Elliot, J
oni Mitchell, Stephen Sills, David Crosby and Jackson Brown wrote together, played together, and often shared lovers as well as riffs. This scene was also part of the backdrop to the Charles Manson murders (which occurred in 1969 in nearby Benedict Canyon).
While “A Child In These Hills” (Jackson Browne) helped set up the premise, “For What It’s Worth” (Stephen Sills) set the tone. The harmonies by the trio, along with excellent musicianship, helped make this the first of many show highlights. Fox used “So, You Want to Be a Rock and Roll Star” (Jim McGuinn and Chris Hillman for The Byrds) and “Twelve-Thirty (Young Girls Are Coming to the Canyon)” (John Phillips for The Mamas & The Papas) to evoke the rock stars and groupies that loved them. When Calo played the iconic opening riff of “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes”—the song Stephen Stills wrote after Judy Collins broke his hear—the audience knew what was coming: the arrangement was largely true to the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young recording, and it killed.
A powerful, four-song segment involved drugs, which played a big part in both the rise and demise of the Laurel Canyon music community. Fox set it up with the tragic story of Judee Sill, an obscure singer-songwriter whose extremely troubled life (and death by overdose at age 35) would make a compelling movie. Fox performed Sill’s “Jesus Was A Cross Maker.” The piece served as the perfect setup to Neil Young’s song about heroin addiction, “The Needle and the Damage Done.” With the backdrop of a kaleidoscope video, the trio performed a brilliant, nearly hallucinogenic rendition of The Doors’ “The End” (Jim Morrison, Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger, John Densmore) that brought the listener into the protagonist’s drug trip. with an arrangement somehow reminiscent of the climax to The Beatles’ “A Day in the Life,” along with ethereal harmonies and some stage smoke. Fox embodied Jim Morrison (if played by Grace Slick).
Surprisingly, the capper of “Hotel California” (Eagles by Don Felder, Don Henley and Glenn Frey) turned out to be about the introduction of cocaine and how it helped end the Laurel Canyon music scene. Calo’s guitar intro was his own, and the instrumental took a full two minutes before Fox sang the first word. Canyon Folkies was a well-crafted and performed show by Lauren Fox. Here’s hoping she makes another New York appearance sooner than later.
Photos by Andrew Poretz
