GREENSBORO – The Glorious Leader, the solo project of Kyle Woolard, came to Greensboro on June 7, where he gave a mesmerizing performance, along with guest artist Jess O’Brien, at the Highland Center for the Arts.
In his original compositions he combined vocals and playing on the guitar, ukulele and small electric keyboard, melding with a background pre-recorded soundtrack. This was visually reinforced by a rhythmic, abstract light show by Cavin Meese, projected on a number of vertical boxes onstage, all seamlessly coordinated; quite a technological feat.
Woolard wore an elegant light blue jacket with gold braiding appropriate to his persona as Glorious Leader. He had a commanding stage presence throughout the evening, to which the audience responded enthusiastically.
Jess O’Brien started off the session with a fine song of her own, “These Days,” the title of her recently released CD. The well-written lyrics from the heart spoke to the celebration of being released from a dysfunctional relationship, no longer walking alone, crying or losing sleep, but now “I wake up and I’m smiling.” Her voice is beautiful, naturally pure in tone and clear in her enunciation.
The second piece was likewise optimistic, where things were getting better and the refrain was “Hallelujah.”
“Old War” was a powerful lament for the victims of endless wars where children die prematurely and survivors dig dead loved ones out of the rubble. “Rock My Soul” spoke to the sadness of a love gone south, with the audience joining in the refrain, “rock my soul.” “Mary” was the story of an alcoholic husband, with the repeated pathetic pleas to his wife, “Won’t you come downstairs, I need you.”
Kyle Woolard then came on stage and sang with his warm expressive voice, while playing on a small electronic keyboard, a piece with lines like, “Why does this feel like the end?” and “We are pardoned.” Altogether he performed 12 of his own works, but due to the volume of the instrumental background tape, it was difficult to hear the words of most of the selections. Thus it will have to suffice to give a few of the texts from numbers he sang as published in his fast moving and curious fantasy novel, “How I Made My First Million.”
The song “Wait” alludes to the roller coaster of romantic love with these verses: “What a shame that we don’t treat our lovers/ the same way we treat our friends/ but we take for granted in each other/ we’ll stick together to the end.” And, “we can take just so much sunny weather/ before we need a storm to hit/ to create some darkness in the heavens/ and make us miss the sun again.” And later, “What a grind, love turns into a mortgage/ but everybody settles in/ for the long ride, the payments get boring/ so let’s make a mess of it/ till there is nothing around anymore/ till there is no one around anymore.”
In “Can we don’t though,” an amusing title, emotional turmoil may be a spur to creativity for some artists: “tell me what you said/ I need the anger, the innuendo/ every pause, every crescendo/ I’ll lock it in my head/ I’ll replay it, analyze it/ add some chords and dramatize it/ give me something dark/ cause without it/ I can’t write again/ like Hemingway without gin.”
“I Don’t Wanna Wait!!!” explores something of the inevitable underlying uncertainty of living with anyone: “can I touch you? To that part of the/ arrangement? Where is the line/ ‘cause I sense you’ve got a finger on/ eject, and I can’t read your eyes/ I don’t want to wait till a moment too late/ to tell you what you mean to me/ but the second that I speak, we’ll wake up from the/ dream, and you’ll/ seem a million miles away.”
Woolard also gave two songs from South America. The first, from Brazil, was entitled “The Girl from Ipanema,” presumably after Antonio Carlos Jobin’s very popular composition, but the words and melody seemed very different from the original’s poignant evocation of unrequited love. After describing in some detail his adventurous trip to Equador, he sang a good tune about it.
Towards the end of the show Jess O’Brien returned to the stage and joined Woolard in a fine duet of their blended voices singing “Falling in Love With You,” a song Elvis Presley made a hit out of in the 1950s.
Woolard’s lyrics are quite sophisticated and reflect deeper personal experience, perhaps summed up by the observation that “there is no love without pain.” He is clearly a born entertainer, his musical experiments are imaginatively different, and his charismatic performances leave a memorable impression. He already has gathered a loyal following and the audience gave him a hearty standing ovation.
David K. Rodgers
David K. Rodgers is a writer, mason and card carrying dilettante, who dabbles and babbles in art. He has lived in East Craftsbury for the past 40 years.
