For those who missed singer-songwriter Aimee Mann’s performance at the Bama Theatre in 2008, she’s back with a new style. Tonight at 8 at the Bama Theatre, Mann will perform an unplugged version of her higher-volume shows — a change the event’s sponsors think audience members will enjoy.
“It’s like she’s playing in your living room,” said David Allgood, manager of the Bama Theatre and a huge fan of Mann’s music. “There’s no lull between the audience and the performers at her shows.”
Mann will be performing this acoustic version of her show with bassist Paul Bryan and pianist Jamie Edwards, and she is expected to play songs from most areas of her three-decade career.
Her musical career began in the 1980s when she sang and played bass for the rock group ‘Til Tuesday, whose video “Voices Carry” aired on MTV for quite a long time, Allgood said. She then began her solo career with the album “Whatever” in the early 1990s and has since come out with eight other albums. Mann’s songwriting is featured on all of them.
“It’s good to see original people come through Tuscaloosa,” said Bo Hicks, an employee of the Bama Theatre and writer for wellthatscool.com, one of the event’s co-sponsors. “So much of Tuscaloosa is predicated on cover bands, which breaks my heart. Aimee’s show incorporates not only good rock-n-roll but good songwriting as well.”
Hicks said he hopes Mann will play some songs from the soundtrack of “Magnolia,” which earned her Oscar, Golden Globe and Grammy nominations in 1999. Fortunately for him and other audience members hoping to hear specific songs, Mann is expected to take requests.
“From what I’ve been reading, she has been asking audience members to submit requests during the show. As long as no one asks her to play something really obscure, I’m sure she’ll play whatever the audience wants,” Allgood said.
Pink Box Burlesque member Mama Dixie said she particularly admires the active role Mann takes in her shows.
“She’s very down-to-earth. You feel like she’s actually participating in the show with you, which makes it more enjoyable than shows where the artist just stands there,” she said.
The Pink Box Burlesque team liked Mann’s 2008 show so much, Dixie said, they decided to co-sponsor the event this time.
“She’s such a great artist, great singer and talented musician that we couldn’t resist doing it,” she said.
Mann is also expected to perform some newer songs written as additions to her 2005 concept album “The Forgotten Arm,” which is in the process of being turned into a Broadway production, Allgood said.
“It would be a tragedy to miss this performance. There aren’t very many artists out there who carry on the Beatles tradition of pop songwriting, and Aimee Mann is one of them. Students would really get a lot out of the performance,” Allgood said.
The show is co-sponsored by Pink Box Burlesque Productions LLC, wellthatscool.com, and Chuck’s Fish. The doors of the Bama Theatre will open at 7 p.m., one hour before the concert begins. Tickets are $26 and can be purchased at pinkboxburlesque.com/aimeemann.
