Performances by Richard Buckner often resemble extended sessions of meditation more than standard rock or folk concerts, the burly singer-songwriter standing with his eyes tightly shut, reeling off song after song according to some deep internal rhythm. That was the case at Iota Sunday night, where Buckner played a long and stirring set rife with husky singing and the kind of allusory lyrics that make him a singular figure on the contemporary music landscape.
Appearing on this tour without his wife and drummer Penny Jo, Buckner played acoustic and electric guitars and some rudimentary organ throughout a set centered on his latest album “Impasse”, just released on Chicago’s Overcoat label. He drew freely from his four previous records as well, even fulfilling shouted requests for back-catalog numbers like “Surprise, AZ”. The evening’s highlights came when Buckner sang his rippling, poetic words with a rock and roll sensibility, backed up by his distorted folk guitar: “Boys, the Night Will Bury You”, “Blue and Wonder”, the gripping “A.D. Blood/”Oscar Hummel” and “Tom Merritt” (from his 2000 masterpiece “The Hill”) and new songs “Loaded at the Wrong Door”, “I Know What I Knew” and “Hoping Wishers Never Lose”.
Buckner, never a performer given idle chatter, actually opined his comfort in performing at Iota, even suggesting that the show turn into a sleepover, offering “I have jammies”. It was a rare moment of levity from Buckner, who proved himself the kind of performer who could actually make an all-night gig sound tempting.
Washington Post, 2002
