8PM, show at 7:30PM
$20/$12 students
San Francisco-born & based Maurice Tani is a twenty-year veteran of the West Coast Americana scene. Known for his wry/rye-to-romantic songwriting, agile guitar style and expressive singing, he has released eight critically acclaimed albums of original material over the past dozen years. “THIS IS IT!” is his second on the Little Village label, produced with Jim Pugh and Kid Andersen at Andersen’s Greaseland USA recording facility in San Jose, CA.
THIS IS IT! was recorded at the Freight & Salvage Coffeehouse in Berkeley, California, capturing the excitement and spontaneity of a live concert. With material ranging from dark, brooding and romantic to bright, clever and humorous, the completely acoustic instrumentation of guitar, grand piano, upright bass, drums and percussion serves up elegantly stripped-down versions of 15 songs from Tani’s broad-spectrum catalog with the writing front and center.
Tani uses the term, “Supercalifornographic” to describe his particular flavor of Americana. While (sometimes seemingly distantly) rooted in country music, Tani’s writing is centered on a West Coast perspective.
“Though much of my material is based on fictional characters and situations, I still write what I know. I’m not particularly comfortable or interested in the rural imagery of tractors, 4x4s or general agriculture common in much country music. I’m a Californian from a large metropolitan area and I write about the things that hold my attention. What attracts me most about country is the story telling side of it. My stories are more likely to be centered around an urban experience. I think of these songs as a sort of cinema for the blind – short musical narratives of life on the left coast.”