This past Saturday I took a different path from my normal route of mainstream or high-profile concerts. I headed out to Kirkwood, Missouri for an evening of Neil Diamond music at the Kirkwood Performing Arts Center by The Traveling Salvation Show, a band that has gained a reputation for their electric performances and similarity vocal-wise. So, I had to check it out for myself.
The band gets their name from Neil’s 1969 song (and album) “Brother Love’s Travelling Salvation Show”. While the song wasn’t one of Neil’s biggest hits (it reached #22 on the Billboard Top100, not even cracking his top 25 songs) it is a perfect metaphor for what this band does so well. For those not familiar with the song it is the story of a travelling evangelist preaching from town to town. This is a good analogy of what The Traveling Salvation Show does, but they are preaching the music of Neil Diamond. I guess the spelling of “traveling” vs “travelling” is a symbolism of their separation from the actual song name, but it works.Ā And boy, do they have a devoted following.
Almost 500 faithful fans filed into the Kirkwood Performing Arts Center many of which had seen the band perform before, and many were new to the experience which was about to unfold around them.
The Travelling Salvation Show is headed by vocalist Jay Henke as “Brother Love”. Jay’s vocal inflection is unbelievably similar to Diamond’s, (fun note: I closed my eyes during “America” and I swear it was like I leapt back in time 30 years when I covered Neil’s show at The Arena in March of 1993.)
From the opening chords of “Crunchy Granola Suite” the energy was vibrant and the atmosphere was electric. Henke worked the crowd up with his smooth crooning and easy mannerisms, while the rest of the band (Piano/organist Dan Farroll, organist Jeff Pawlow, guitarist Sebastian Sronce, bassist Jeff Lewis, percussionist Rick Turcotte, and drummer Tim Ilko) was solid through and though.
Three backing vocalists, The Diamond Ladies (Leigha Sronce, Courtney Walker, and Liz Murphy-White) provided quality vocals to both compliment Henke’s vocals, as well as shine themselves. Each lady at various points throughout the show takes center stage to showcase their vocal talents.
A fun portion of the show occurs when Murphy-White takes the mic to conduct a Neil Diamond trivia contest. Armed with trivia (some of which even the hardest of hardcore Neil Diamond fan would stop to ponder) she invites audience members to yell out answers. I love trivia nights so this was a definite thumbs up.
The band is very close knit and likes to have fun. At one point during a duet between Henke and Walker, Henke came on stage after the first verse in some large Elton John-style sunglasses, much to the amusement of Walker. And that was the desired effect, an effect felt throughout the crowd as many laughed along with the gag.
But apart from the showmanship of the musicians and vocalists the music was what the main reason for the celebration of Neil Diamond was all about. From the haunting ballads of “Song Sung Blue”, “Love On the Rocks”, and “Holly, Holy” to the up-tempo beats of “Sweet Caroline”, “America”, and of course “Brother Love’s Travelling Salvation Show” each song was delivered with emotion and care that surely would make “The Entertainer” proud.
You can catch The Traveling Salvation Show on the road coming up this summer in Indiana, Chicago, and Belleville. Ticket information is on their website at salvationshow.com . If you are a Neil Diamond fan I would suggest you check these guys and gals out.
Also check out the gallery of images after the setlist below.