FAMILY CIRCUS

Denver power-pop act Dressy Bessy on punk-rock parenting

BY ADAM PERRY

In the fall of 1995, Tammy Ealom only knew two chords — open E and open A. She met a guy named John Hill, guitarist for the Denver indiepop institution The Apples in Stereo, and he gave her a Hagstrom Electra for her birthday, just before leaving for an Apples tour with Oklahoma alternative psych-rock outfit The Flaming Lips.

“I taught her bar chords and left her with my four track [recorder],” Hill says. “And that was all she wrote.”

By the time Hill got back, Ealom had written roughly 10 songs, and the celebrated power-pop band Dressy Bessy was born. Within a few years, Hill was playing guitar in the group — and falling in love with frontperson Ealom, now his wife, to the soundtrack of their favorite songs.

“When we first started dating, we were listening to a lot of ’60s stuff, like bubblegum pop,” Hill says. “Coincidentally, we were both just starting to get into that — The Monkees and The Hollies, and of course The Beatles and The Kinks and all that sort of stuff, but we had the Nuggets [Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965–1968] box set. That’s kind of where we were coming from, but I come from more hard rock — AC/DC and punk rock, Buzzcocks, Talking Heads, that kind of stuff.”

Ealom’s musical path eventually led to the ’90s college rock of bands like Pavement, Liz Phair and R.E.M., cutting through pop alleyways of Prince, Michael Jackson and Egyptian Lover along the way. “We’re just a mix of everything,” she says. “We’re kinda hard-rocking sometimes, but it’s groovy too. Groovy and dance-y.”

More than eight albums and 25-plus years later, the husband-wife duo behind Dressy Bessy have plenty to hang their hats on. That includes working with famed DIY labels like Elephant 6, Kindercore, Yep Roc and more — playing countless shows all over the world; contributing music to various TV shows and movies; and performing on major late-night talk shows, like Late Night with Conan O’Brien

Building A Legacy

Along Dressy Bessy’s journey to stages across the globe, the pair have also stayed busy as parents, and now grandparents. Fittingly, Dressy Bessy will play the fifth-annual Punk Is Dad benefit concert at Oskar Blues in Denver on Saturday, June 17.

The show continues a tradition of raising money for the Dorian De Long Arts and Music Scholarship — named after a local punk-loving father, Thornton High School teacher and activist who died in 2015 — awarded to graduating Colorado high-school students who intend to pursue advanced education in the arts.

Looking back on how the couple balanced musical and family life during their daughter’s younger years, Hill says he and Ealom were so busy making records and playing shows, just trying to survive, that they didn’t stop to think how the whole DIY punk life might be teaching them parenting lessons.

“We just kind of took it as it came,” he says. “We were taking it one day at a time, and we’re still kind of living that way too. When you have a regular job, you just go to your job 40 hours a week, and you know what you’re gonna make. We didn’t have that. From tour to tour, one tour you might come home with $1,000 each, and the next tour you might have to pay $500. We had a certain amount of success, and still do, but we weren’t Aerosmith, you know?”

Ealom also says that doing short tours, coming back home repeatedly instead of getting stretched too thin on the road, helped the couple stay sane — and have something like a normal family life for their daughter, who was a key inspiration.

“It gave me [the] drive to [think], ‘Oh, OK, there’s a way I can, like, build a legacy and have a chunk of something for her later after I’m gone,’” she says. “And I’ve done that, basically.”

ON THE

Punk Is Dad 5 with Fast Eddy, Dressy Bessy and Jaguar Stevens.

7 p.m. Saturday, June 17, The Black Buzzard at Oskar Blues, 1624 Market St., Denver. $20

The ‘Queen of R&B’ gets her due in the world premiere of ‘Miss Rhythm: The Legend of Ruth Brown’

BY TONI TRESCA

Even if you don’t recognize Ruth Brown’s name, chances are you know her voice. Dubbed the “Queen of R&B,” the legendary singer incorporated popmusic styling into traditional rhythm and blues music across numerous chart-topping singles like “Mama, He Treats Your Daughter Mean,” “Teardrops from My Eyes” and “5-1015 Hours.”

Although Brown died in 2006, her music lives on in the world premiere of Miss Rhythm: The Legend of Ruth Brown at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA) through Oct. 15. The cabaret show uses songs from Brown’s illustrious catalogue to trace her quick rise to fame from modest beginnings in Portsmouth, Virginia. Based on the 1996 book Miss Rhythm: The Autobiography of Ruth Brown, Rhythm and Blues Legend, by Brown and Andrew Yule, the show was co-created by local artists Sheryl McCallum, who stars as Brown, and music director David Nehls.

Even for audience members unfamiliar with the specifics of Brown’s life, the script ensures that you under- stand at least the SparkNotes version. Although the majority of the evening is spent blasting through 17 songs from her deep discography, the musician’s history is loosely recounted between songs in a series of brief monologues delivered by McCallum, interactions with the five-piece live jazz band and video clips of the reallife Brown sharing details from her past.

Directed by Kenny Moten and staged in the DCPA’s cozy nightclubstyle Garner Galleria Theatre, Miss Rhythm has the atmosphere of a live concert. Unlike other biographical jukebox musicals that focus on bringing the artists’ stories to life on stage, this experience is primarily a vehicle for Brown’s toe-tapping tunes and McCallum’s transfixing talent.

Instead of trying to perfect an impersonation of the musician, the creative team made the wise choice to have McCallum’s portrayal of the title role function as a meta-theatrical embodiment of Brown. This decision allows McCallum to interact with the audience and demonstrate her skills as a dynamic storyteller. Each tale is interwoven with a thoughtfully curated song, allowing her to delve even further into the character.

Moten skillfully stages these musical moments against the dreamy scenic design of Lisa M. Orzolek, who transforms the Garner Galleria into a swanky swing-band setup. The show’s balanced technical elements are completed by the luscious lighting from Charles R. MacLeod, sound design by Max Silverman, subtle costuming by Meghan Anderson Doyle and projections by El Armstrong.

Whether you’re a die-hard fan of Brown or a curious newcomer, Miss Rhythm’s 75-minute runtime provides a succinct showcase of the artist’s “Body and Soul” through the music that made her famous. The must-see show is a long-overdue tribute to Brown’s iconic music that lingers long after the curtain falls.

ON STAGE: Miss Rhythm: The Legend of Ruth Brown by Sheryl McCallum and David Nehls. Various times through Oct. 15, The Garner Galleria Theatre, 1101 13th St., Denver. $46