On the surface, it can seem like an anomaly that someone like Baby Dee could come out of Cleveland, Ohio. At a glance, Cleveland looks like a blue-collar town that’s lagging ten or twenty years behind the times. People in Cleveland still think the Michael Stanely Band is a big deal (Dear Clevelanders – No one outside of northeastern Ohio has heard of the Michael Stanley Band. I know. I’ve asked). But when you dig into Cleveland, pushing aside the curtain of low self-esteem that the city has blanketed itself with, you find that it’s a complex, layered place. In this regard, it makes complete sense that a town like this could produce a performer like the singular Baby Dee.
When I first learned of Baby Dee, she seemed like a slightly eccentric but mostly unassuming musician, but when I began to dig, I discovered that she has been a member of the Coney Island Sideshow, has been a tree climber and has worked companionably alongside such artists as David Tibet and Current93, Will Oldham, Andrew WK and Marc Almond. This is just a hint of what Baby Dee has done.
Baby Dee’s music is just as complex. She is an accomplished musician (playing harp, piano and accordion) and a fearless performer with an indelible sense of humor. Baby Dee’s oeuvre ranges from theatrical cabaret numbers to quietly touching ballads, all performed with a naked heart, on display for all to see. That is probably what draws people to her the most. To see a person, a fellow human being, put herself out there in the way that Baby Dee does – in a way that so many of us might want to but can’t – is captivating.
Baby Dee promises us a new album this March, and she will begin a European tour on February 22 in Newcastle, England, working her way back to our shores in April, making an appearance at the Beachland Ballroom in Cleveland on April 15 before continuing to weave her way around the States and Canada.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EuLuhYWPfU]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRJIbvKy-1g]
Baby Dee Official Website
Baby Dee MySpace
Baby Dee photo by Rose
I like! A unique sound. If I were a local filmmaker, I’d want these songs in my movie. I don’t know why I thought that, but I did.
-Rob