By Andrew Poretz***Thespian Thomas G. Waites is one of those actors you’ve likely seen in movies for years (The Thing, Warriors), but perhaps you never caught his name. You may have learned he is also a singer/songwriter, but might have mixed him up with the more famous Tom Waits. Either way, he’s been there all along, and now, with a terrific band, 
fabulous arrangements and his excellent material, Waites is an artist whose time has come. (This writer spoke to Waites via Zoom in preparation for this review. To read it, learn more about Waites and view the video, click here.)
Waites has, for several years, teamed up with Tony Daniels, a Canadian singer and guitarist whose distinctive voice is in demand as a voiceover artist, primarily for cartoons. Notably, Daniels has supplied the voice of Tony the Tiger since 2004.
In addition to Daniel’’s excellent guitar chops, The Thomas G. Waites Band consists of Cedric Alan Hills on vocals, keyboard and cajon, Eamon Ryhn on bass, Antone Pagan on percussion, and vocalist Annie McGovern.
The band opened with a gorgeous, a capella rendition of “Don’t Look Away” in four-part harmony. Waites’ new song, “Raining in Richmond,” followed. His lyrics are reminiscent of the songwriters of the 60s and beyond who influenced him, including John Lennon and Bob Dylan. The line, “This old world will go up in flames,” seems like a stark warning, yet he offers, “What the children really need is love.”
Waites dedicated “I Live For You” to his ex-wife, Lisa. This lovely tribute has a catchy hook and was arranged in a very Beatlesque manner. “Everybody needs someone to live for,” he sang, sounding very influenced by Lennon’s vocals. In our interview, Waites had noted that “Tony’s arranged a lot of really cool harmonies, like ninths, elevenths, I mean, things you normally wouldn’t hear in harmony, and it works well with my music.” Notably, The Beatles famously made great use of those types of harmonies. (An apt comparison might be to imagine if The Beatles had evolved only thematically, still with their 1965-1966 sound.) Similarly, “Selene,” written about a “selenophile” friend who “believes in the moon,” could have passed for a lost early Beatles tune.
Cedric Alan Halls, whom Waites has referred to as his “secret weapon,” sang “Chemical,” a somewhat macabre, funny song about addiction. Halls, who simultaneously played cajon, has a stunning, ethereal voice, with an appearance that matches. He has a vibe like the folk singer Donovan, combined with a young Tommy James. He also wrote much of the song, with some lyrics by Waites.
Annie McGovern, a fine singer with a powerful voice, and a former flame of Waites, took the lead vocals for “Thank Your Lover.”
Waites turned to politics with his “little non-political political speech.” Declaring, “We need to listen and to learn to talk to one another,” he echoed thoughts he spoke of in our interview. “Mankind will rise,” he sang on “Don’t Look Away,” which had Beach Boys-like harmonies. Waites has the best attributes of a 1960s guitar-slinging troubadour with strong messages in his lyrics.
Later, Waites confessed that he “was not a good boyfriend” to McGowan, singing his funny “Allentown Hair.”
“Ride” is one of several songs performed from Target, a new film Waites wrote and directed. He composed the music, produced by Daniels. Waites cajoled the audience to “Ride, Ride, Ride,” and the responsive crowd sang back to him.
One of the most moving pieces was “Ode to Anne Margret,” Waites’ song for his oldest sister, who died during Covid. He cried while setting up the song and needed a moment to compose himself. “My sister wa
s always a fighter, a fighter with a mean right cross, a fighter that never lost,” he sang. This elegiac composition powerfully brought his sister to life.
Waites knows his history, and his “Macaire,” was derived from a play by Robert Louis Stevenson about a notorious French criminal who educated the Paris police on how criminals think. Though it was about as odd a choice for a song subject as “Mack the Knife,” it was one of the highlights of the set.
The finale of the band’s “The Weight” was the only cover song of the evening. Waites proclaimed its writer, Robbie Robertson, as one of his idols.
This was an excellent set. Waites is an endearing fellow with a big heart, vulnerable, with some great music in him. His excellent band took this to another level, thanks in great part to Tony Daniels’ arrangements along with some of the best harmonies this writer has heard in some time.
