Live Review
Ken Valdez (Acoustic)
Southside Music Café – Burnsville, MN
December 27, 2003
by Dave “Doc” Piltz
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"Keeping the Blues Alive Award" Achievement for Blues on the Internet Presented by The Blues Foundation
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After my first review of Every Little Lie, the current CD release by Ken Valdez, I have looked for an opportunity to hear to this talented young singer-songwriter perform live. Since Valdez splits his time between Wayzata, Minnesota and his native Santa Fe, New Mexico, it has been difficult to find a time when my schedule matched up with one of Ken’s Minnesota appearances. Fortunately, on the weekend following Christmas, I finally got an opportunity to see Ken perform an acoustic set at the recently opened Southside Music Café in Burnsville, Minnesota.
During his 90 minute set at the Southside, the 26 year old Valdez proved a couple of things to an appreciative audience. First, he is a very talented musician and songwriter; offering a set that was predominantly made up of acoustic versions of his original material from Every Little Lie and his debut recording Approach. Valdez willingly responded to audience requests for songs like “American Hero” and “Room To Move” from Approach without a problem, despite his comments that he had never played the songs without a band to back him up. Second, Valdez proved that he can also work a crowd, developing a rapport with his audience and displaying a nice stage presence to win over new fans of his music. The set went quickly, with Ken even surprised that his time was done. In fact, Valdez played a couple of songs beyond his 6:00 p.m. ending time, indicating that he didn’t want anyone to go home disappointed.
Ken Valdez is an emerging young musical talent and one who is hopefully destined for bigger and better things in the future. With a sound that combines elements of blues, rock and soul, Ken has created a nice sound that should continue to attract more and more people to his music. To find out more about Ken Valdez, check out his performance schedule or to pick up his CDs, visit his website at www.kenvaldez.com. I guarantee that it will be worth it!
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