Dancers. A horn section. Backing vocalists. Hotshot guitar.
Prepare to hear and see Huntsville music blown up big, like it rarely is.
Kelvin Wooten and Deqn Sue have cooked up quite the production for their Sunday set at First Waltz, this weekend’s concerts celebrating the opening of Orion Amphitheater. “I just really wanted to showcase the great talent we have in Huntsville,” Sue tells AL.com.
Following a Friday and Saturday boasting headliners and legends like Jason Isbell, Brittany Howard, Mavis Staples and Emmylou Harris, Sunday is “local” day at First Waltz. Sue and Wooten aren’t strangers to major moments though.
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An alternative-pop singer/songwriter, Deqn Sue has opened shows for R&B legend Gladys Knight. Time magazine has written about Sue’s music, and her track “Bloody Monster” was featured on the Netflix show “Orange Is the New Black.”
Wooten is an accomplished keyboardist and Grammy-winning producer. His studio work, for artists ranging from H.E.R. and Jazmine Sullivan to the Bee Gees and Eric Clapton. And on keys, Wooten’s performed at the Hollywood Bowl and on TV’s “The Late Show with David Letterman” and “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” backing the likes of singer Anthony Hamilton and Tony! Toni! Toné!.
“A lot of the musicians that will be playing with me (at Orion), it’s nothing new to them either,” Wooten says. “But for those local artists (on the bill) that haven’t had that opportunity, this is good exposure to that type of environment. And I think it helps those that aspire to do big venues.”
The Wooten/Sue set goes down at 4:45 p.m. Oakwood University choir The Aeolians close out The First Waltz weekend at 6 p.m. Support acts today include conscious-rap trio The N.E.I.G.H.B.O.R.S. at 2:25 p.m. and R&B collective Element XI at 3:05 p.m. Hip-hop talent Translee takes the stage at 3:45 p.m. Huntsville Community Drumline kicks the whole thing off at 2:05 p.m., with their youthful percussion.
The son of a NASA aerospace engineer, Wooten is a Jedi at fusing future and vintage sounds. The Johnson High grad’s influences include Stevie Wonder, Quincy Jones, Steely Dan’s Donald Fagen and gospel music.
Sue draws inspiration from both musos like David Bowie and Chaka Khan and visual artists like Keith Harring and Jean-Michel Basquiat. A former Oakwood student who grew up in California, she’s also the daughter of actor Rod Perry, known for his ‘70s cop TV show “S.W.A.T.”
At Orion, Sue and Wooten will perform their vibrant bold collabos, like outré-dance cut “Magenta.” Her lyrics on that one include the line, “I dream in Technicolor.” The 2021 song “Trickyman” grooves easy but cuts deep. They’ll also do material from Sue’s upcoming EP titled “Mars.” The song “Therapy” features fellow First Waltz performer Translee.
In a golden coincidence, another song on the EP, produced by Wooten, is titled “Orion.” “We had done the songs way before we even knew the name of the amphitheater,” Wooten says. “It’s kind of crazy.”
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The entire three-day First Waltz lineup has been Alabama-focused. Heavy on North Alabama. Orion general manager Ryan Murphy wanted a local flavor for the opening of the venue, soon to welcome stars like Chris Stapleton, Dave Matthews Band and Black Keys. Murphy recently told me it was crucial First Waltz “finished with something that feels very, very Huntsville.”
Sunday’s lineup isn’t just all-Huntsville. It highlights local Black artists. As impressive as the city’s Black musical talent is, that talent is vastly underappreciated. And too often underrepresented on local stages. “My thing is inclusion and diversity,” Sue says. “That everybody has the same opportunities.”
Wooten adds “I’d rather have venues be open to all types of music,” citing Stovehouse as a local spot that does diversity right, “than to just have a venue that’s only for Black music here. Because that’s the world how I see it, outside music, when we all come together. If you listen to me and Sue’s music, it’s not Black music, it’s not white music. It’s just music. All my friends … it’s just music.”
The First Waltz wraps up today at Orion Amphitheater, address 701 Amphitheater Drive N.W. Sunday tickets are $10 plus fees. More info at theorionhuntsville.com.
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