Local Artist Series: Dwayne Haggins Band Feat. Kebbi Williams

He’s been described as ‘the love child of Hank Williams and Otis Redding.’ “The John Legend of rockabilly.” And even, the ‘what-took-you-so-long?’ fusion of Elvis Presley and Marvin Gaye.’ At every performance, whether in a venerable metropolitan concert hall or a grimy dive in an anonymous strip mall, Dwayne Haggins is always at work. Adding new subtleties to an obvious melody line. Reinterpreting a time-worn lyrical cliché to imbue it anew with genuine feeling. Unleashing a gentle cascade of vocal acrobatics when least expected (and hence most effective) – never for show alone, but always to express a likewise unanticipated nuance of feeling: a whisper of love, a curse of anger, a groan of pain, a whoop of joy that feels, paradoxically, both surprising and inevitable at the same moment. Dwayne Haggins grew up in many places, but when he talks of “home” these days, he means Framingham, Massachusetts.