When critics describe Low Cut Connie’s live shows as “captivating,” “cathartic,” “charismatic” and “chaotic”—and that’s just the C’s—they’re not exaggerating.
Over the course of his group’s 15-year history, the freewheeling Philadelphia musician (whose offstage name is Adam Weiner) continually lives up to his reputation—time after time, tour after tour, night after night.
This Monday, Low Cut Connie plays the Ritz in downtown San Jose, with Annabel Lee opening the all-ages show.
Last November saw the release of Connie Live, an album that further justifies NPR World Cafe’s claim that Low Cut Connie shows can “change the molecule in the room.”
One of the secrets to Weiner’s sweat-soaked success comes from the artists who inspired him at an early age. A New Jersey native, he credits much of it to Bruce Springsteen.
“I grew up in New Jersey in the ’80s, so do the math,” he said in an early June interview. “Bruce is my guy. I grew up going to his concerts, and half of what I know about performing with a band I learned from Bruce Springsteen.”
In the years since, Low Cut Connie has gone on to headline the Stone Pony—the Asbury Park, New Jersey, venue where Springsteen famously started out—with a number of sell-out homecoming shows.
“Jersey crowds are amazing,” said Weiner, whose frenetic vocals, character-driven songs show off his devotion to gutbucket blues, rocket-fueled rockabilly and wild-eyed rock & roll. “They let you know how they feel. If you’re doing it wrong, or you’re not giving it 110 percent, they’re gonna let you know. But when you’re nailing it, they’re with you, and they push you to be better. So it’s a good test. If you can please a Jersey crowd, you’re going to be all right pretty much everywhere else.”
And Low Cut Connie does play most everywhere else, with live shows that also give him a chance to show off his instrumental chops.
While Springsteen concerts find The Boss alone in the spotlight, Weiner shares center stage with Shondra, a battered $50 upright piano that’s put up with his antics from the beginning.
Borrowing from the piano-punishing theatrics of rock and roll pioneer Jerry Lee Lewis, Weiner frequently drops to his knees, hunches over the keys, and dances on top of his piano. Granted, he doesn’t set his piano on fire the way Jerry Lee did, but he does pound out rhythms on the keyboard with his feet.
“After a while,” Weiner deadpanned, “your hands get tired.”
And then there’s Iggy Pop. Seeing him during an Iggy & The Stooges reunion tour was a life-changing experience for Weiner. It taught him how to connect with an audience, whether it’s at an international festival, aboard a cruise ship or in a roadside dive bar.
“It’s a scalable show,” he said. “The music that I make, and the way we put the show on, it’s entertainment that is designed to please, meaning I don’t need you to come to me. I’m coming to you. As Iggy Pop has said, I’m not a chef, I’m a short-order cook. I’m looking at people saying, ‘What do YOU need? What do YOU need? What do YOU need?’”
All of which means changing the approach and the material depending on where they’re playing.
“Every night has a different set list. It has a different energy,” Weiner said. “But the point is to entertain those specific people that are in front of me on that evening or that day. I want everybody to have the time of their life and to feel uplifted.”
All of which makes Low Cut Connie’s current single “Livin’ in the USA,” which was released in late May, an unprecedented departure from his usual repertoire. A personal and political commentary on the state of the nation, it has a moody Americana feel, with a sparse arrangement that includes a prominent string section.
The opening line, “Livin’ in the USA, but it’s not my home,” is repeated twice, while subsequent lyrics include “Screaming in the midnight, don’t you take my child away.” To draw a Springsteen comparison, it’s a lot more Nebraska than it is Born to Run.
“Between my band and my solo concerts, I’m traveling nine to ten months out of the year, every year, for many, many years,” Weiner explained. “I am exposed to so many people, little towns, big cities, rural, urban, red state, blue state. I meet people. I talk to people. I see how they live, and people are terrified right now.”
Not surprisingly then, Weiner was one of several artists who ended up canceling their date at the prestigious Kennedy Center after it was taken over by the current administration.
“It was part of a social impact series of artists whose performances and music who they said were promoting positive social change. And they used the words ‘diversity’ and ‘inclusion’ in the mission statement. I was really honored that they thought my weird little rock & roll band is creating positive social change in some small way, and that we embody diversity and inclusion, which I very explicitly try to do. And, you know, I try to make our shows a safe space for everyone.
“I love my country. I have hope for my country. But things are going wrong in many different ways, and there’s a lot of people that are suffering,” he said. “And although I like to put out music that’s uplifting and inspiring, sometimes you just have to acknowledge that people are feeling scared, and I felt like I should write a song about that.”
Low Cut Connie and opening act Annabel Lee play at 7pm on July 7 at the Ritz, 400 S 1st St, San Jose. $25 advance, $30 day of show. theritzsanjose.com
