Sunday Street concert at the Long Island Museum to pay tribute to the songs of Jimmy Webb
By Rita J. Egan
Local musicians are preparing to celebrate the music of a Long Island songwriter, composer and singer.
WUSB’s Sunday Street Concert series at the Long Island Museum in Stony Brook on Oct. 15 will showcase the music of longtime Nassau County resident Jimmy Webb.
The singer/songwriter has enjoyed worldwide success with hits such as “Up, Up and Away,” “By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” “MacArthur Park” and more sung by iconic singers, including Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Art Garfunkel, Linda Ronstadt, Tony Bennett, Josh Groban and countless others.
The only artist ever to have received Grammy Awards for music, lyrics and orchestration, Webb was inducted in the Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame in 2018.
Co-producers Charlie Backfish and Pete Mancini have lined up Long Island musicians Gene Casey, Caroline Doctorow, Andrew & Cole Fortier, Delaney Hafener, Claudia Jacobs, Brian Kachejian, Ray Lambiase and Tom Moran for the concert titled The Songs of Jimmy Webb.
Mancini, who has worked with Backfish and Webb, is a singer and musician who will also perform two of Webb’s hits, including “Met Her on a Plane.” His favorite rendition is from country rock/folk rock musician Iain Matthews, who recorded the song on his album Journeys from Gospel Oak.
“I’ve been kind of modeling my version after his just because it’s guitar-based and his vocal is incredible,” Mancini said. The musician described learning about Webb’s discography as a “mind-blowing experience.”
“There are so many tunes that go under the radar,” he said.
Caroline Doctorow said she was thrilled when Backfish called her. Among her favorite Webb songs is Wichita Lineman, sung by Glen Campbell.
“To my ears, it’s still one of the best records I’ve ever heard,” she said. “It has that very iconic electric guitar part. A lot of people have sort of borrowed from that sound.”
She described Webb as a “master” comparable to Bob Dylan and folk singer and songwriter Nanci Griffith.
“When you study their songs, there’s a lot of magic to them, and you can’t quite dissect them in terms of songwriting technique,” she said.
Doctorow is working on “If These Walls Could Speak” and “Galveston.” She said the key to singing an iconic song is picking one that fits the singer’s voice and listening to other versions to get an idea of what one likes and doesn’t like.
Gene Casey said when asked to perform, he knew he wanted to sing “By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” a song he has performed in his solo acts.
“I always marvel at the fact that Jimmy Webb was like 23 years old, or around that age, when he wrote a very, very mature song,” he said. “There are thousands of songs about people being left behind, but it’s rare to find a good song about the person who was leaving. I’ve always been attracted to what a great song that was.”
He said he was surprised when Backfish called again and asked if he would consider performing “MacArthur Park,” too. Backfish told him about the Waylon Jennings version. Casey described it as a “stripped down and more countrified” version compared to Richard Harris’ song with orchestrated strings.
“A good song is a good song. It doesn’t matter what arrangement is used,” Casey said.
Backfish described Webb’s music as “a catalog that transcends different genres” and said he is looking forward to hearing what the musicians have planned.
“Each artist will pretty much put their own stamp on a Jimmy Webb song, so it may not be exactly the way it initially was recorded, but it will be an interpretation of it, which I think makes it an interesting evening,” he said.
The Long Island Museum, 1200 Route 25A, Stony Brook presents The Songs of Jimmy Webb in the Carriage Museum’s Gillespie Room on Sunday, Oct. 15 at 5 p.m. Tickets are $20 in advance at www.sundaystreet.org, $25 (cash only) at the door.
