There are a ton of tribute shows every year, but it takes a little something more to pull off a Roy Orbison tribute show. It takes a voice like Stephen Macdonald’s.
MacDonald will be serving as Roy Orbison Friday night (April 26) when Black and White: An Ode to Orbison takes place at Nietzsche’s (248 Allen Street, 9 p.m.) in Buffalo.
Buck Quigley, who will be “playing rhythm guitar and wearing a cool jacket,” as he puts it, has already written a bit about the show for the Sportsmen’s Americana Music Foundation’s JAM newsletter.
But, since the idea came out of the weekly happy hours featuring the Steam Donkeys, the band Quigley sings with, and he has taken the lead on promoting the show, we decided to ask him a few questions about the show.
The idea for it came out of Macdonald stepping up to sing with the band during its Nietzsche’s sessions – and nearly blowing the doors off the club’s front room. Macdonald’s skills range from opera to singing lead with the modern version of classic rockers Cock Robin.
“Steve had been coming down and hanging out at our Tuesday open mics,” Quigley said. “Somehow we were talking about Roy Orbison, maybe I’d played the beginning of the song or something like that. I was like, ‘Oh, Steve, I bet you could sing this,’ and he just comes on up and, boom, you know, freaking nails it.”
It turned out Macdonald had always wanted to do the Orbison song, “Leah,” but the Steam Donkeys never got around to learning it.
However Quigley credits Macdonald with putting together the show, which will be loosely modeled on “Roy Orbison & Friends: A Black and White Night,” a live concert originally broadcast on Cinemax in 1988 and featuring guests such as Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, Tom Waits and Jackson Brown.
The song list is filled with Orbison standards from his early Sun Records rockabilly days through his ‘60s heyday of operatic pop songs such as “Oh, Pretty Woman,” “Only the Lonely,” “Blue Bayou,” “In Dreams” and “Running Scared.”
It’s a 10-piece band, featuring Macdonald and Quigley, plus backup singers Dee Adams, Michele Ruffino, Maria Sebastian, and John F. Brady; Ryan Campbell on drums; Dave Kimball on guitar, Bruce Decker on keyboards and harmonica; and Patrick Jackson on bass. Jackson and Decker have served as music directors for the rehearsals.
Quigley’s own connection with Orbison goes back some 36 years. On Feb. 24, 1988, the Jacklords – with Quigley as one of their members – opened for Orbison at Kleinhan’s Music Hall on Symphony Circle in Buffalo.
“As a performer, he was really mesmerizing. All of those iconic songs,they’re kind of like arias,” Quigley said. “His voice is just kind of otherworldly.”
The Jacklords had played a 20-minute or so set that drew a “Well, I really enjoyed you guys. Best of luck,” from Orbison. Then Quigley got to watch from close up, leaving the backstage area to watch from stage right.
The performance lasted only about an hour – not counting the break for honey and lemon tea that Orbison took midset to combat a cold he was battling.
“He was so exhilarating to see, and to hear the music,” Quigley said. “The songs are just so uniquely and well constructed. There’s just so much to love about it.”
Following the show, Orbison posed for photos with the Jacklords. He signed Quigley’s guitar, simply, “To Buck. Roy Orbison.”
The guitar, a maple Fender Stratocaster, was later stolen, inspiring the title, “Songs From a Stolen Guitar,” for the Steam Donkeys’ first cassette tape.
After a seesaw career or incredible highs and lows, Orbison had seen a comeback of sorts in recent years, particularly through his place in the Traveling Wilburys, alongside George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne.
But less than a year later, on Dec. 6, 1988, Orbison died of a heart attack. The king of heartbreak died of – literally – a broken heart.
But the great thing about songs is that they can live on, so you can still hear them this Friday at Nietzsche’s, and – with Macdonald – from a voice capable of carrying them on.