YOUR AD HERE »

‘Trashcan blues’: G. Love brings latest album to Harrah’s Lake Tahoe

Lake Tahoe Action
G. Love and Special Sauce performs in the Harrah's Lake Tahoe South Shore Room this Saturday, Jan. 30.
Courtesy photo |

If you go

What: G. Love & Special Sauce

When: 7 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 30

Where: Harrah’s Lake Tahoe

Tickets: $32.11 plus fees

Info: http://www.ticketmaster.com

G. Love & Special Sauce will bring its “fullest realization of the hip-hop blues” to Harrah’s Lake Tahoe this weekend.

The Philadelphia-based group released its 10th studio album, “Love Saves The Day,” in October and plays Harrah’s Lake Tahoe Saturday, Jan. 30.

In an announcement for the album, G. Love (born Garrett Dutton) described “Love Saves the Day” as the most rock ‘n’ roll record yet for the trio, which has described its sound as “trashcan blues” in the past.



“Although ‘Let’s Have A Good Time,’ along with the catchy, power-of-love ode ‘Peanut Butter Lips,’ rank as the lighter tunes on the album, the overall lyrical mood, as G. Love easily admits, tends to favor the darker side. Even the seemingly optimistic title track turns heavy towards the end. Standout cut ‘Back To Boston,’ which examines a troubled relationship, was written on a drive from New York City to Boston,” according to the announcement. “Longtime fans will recognize the tune from the acoustic EP ‘Bloodshot & Blue,’ but G. Love wanted to give it the full-band treatment, with the new version showcasing frequent collaborator Mark Boyce’s jazzy organ work. The rough-hewn performances on tracks like ‘That Girl,’ ‘Pick Up The Phone’ and ‘R U Kidding Me…!’ further reflect the lyrics’ raw emotions, with the sharp-tongued ‘Dis Song’ representing the peak of, as G. Love calls it, ‘pissed-off-ness.’”

The band formed in the early 1990s after drummer Jeffrey Clemens discovered Dutton playing in a Boston bar and brought in upright bassists James “Jimi Jazz” Prescott to complete the rhythm section.



“Their self-titled debut, featuring the hit ‘Cold Beverage,’ wound up going gold,” according to the announcement. “The band became known for their live shows and performed around the world. G. Love has played with and without Special Sauce over the years, but now the trio is back together and it feels right. G. Love believes the current manifestation of the band is stronger than ever and is riding a creative high, adding, ‘And we didn’t want to kill each other.’”

After several years apart, the original trio reformed in 2014 with the return of Prescott. G. Love & Special Sauce performs between 150 and 200 shows a year.

“G. Love proudly describes himself as a road dog who ‘will be touring until I fall off the earth’ and plans to keep on pushing with Special Sauce from stage to stage,” according to the announcement. “Whether ‘Love Saves The Day’ makes one dollar or a million isn’t a big concern to him. It stands as a huge success because he made the gritty, honest album that he intended by ‘keeping it raw, keeping it immediate, keeping it real.’ It’s an approach that he has honed over the years: ‘be original and be true to what you do.’”

Harrah’s Lake Tahoe is located at 15 U.S. Highway 50 in Stateline.

More information is available at http://www.ticketmaster.com.


Support Local Journalism

Support Local Journalism

Readers around the Lake Tahoe Basin and beyond make the Tahoe Tribune's work possible. Your financial contribution supports our efforts to deliver quality, locally relevant journalism.

Now more than ever, your support is critical to help us keep our community informed about the evolving coronavirus pandemic and the impact it is having locally. Every contribution, however large or small, will make a difference.

Your donation will help us continue to cover COVID-19 and our other vital local news.