South African singer-songwriter Jesse Clegg will be opening for The Johnny Clegg Band at the Lebanon Opera House tonight. Clegg, who just released his third studio album, is a platinum-selling success in South Africa and his performance will be part of his North American tour.
Clegg will play a stripped-down acoustic set with bandmate Gavin Shea, with Clegg playing the acoustic guitar and singing the lead vocals. Shea will be playing a combination of acoustic guitar, pedalboard, synthesizer, MIDI drums, as well as singing.
“It’s quite a unique combination of acoustic and electric, and it’s really been working really well. We’ve been getting a great response,” Clegg said.
According to Shea, while the performance will be acoustic, vocal and harmony driven, the added electronic elements will allow the set to more closely align with the sound of the full album.
“It’s an acoustic set but we brought in elements from the new album,” Clegg said. “Sort of the electronic elements and the synthetic sound to make it fit in the way the album was recorded and how the songs feel on the album.”
Clegg’s set list primarily consists of songs from his new album, which he finished the day before he left for America and has not yet been released in South Africa. The North American tour is the first time he has played these songs live and is the first time he has sold his new album at shows.
“People don’t know this album, and we can play whatever we like from it. I’m playing stuff that maybe I wouldn’t necessarily be playing in South Africa. We got free reign to present the most musical moments on the album without worrying about which songs have gotten the most exposure,” said Clegg.
Clegg describes his new album as being a change in sound from his previous two albums. His third album is less guitar driven and rock-oriented, and more contemporary as he used some of the newer technologies now available to musicians in the studio.
“Nowadays you can use the studio as the instrument,” Clegg said. “I was using a lot of synths, electronic drums, a lot of modern technology that I’m hearing in music now that inspires me.”
As the son of the widely-popular and iconic South African singer, Johnny Clegg, Clegg grew up surrounded by music. He spent the first six years of his life on tour nine months out of the year with his father, and his childhood experiences gave him a glimpse of the positive and negative realities of having a career in music, he said.
“I think it was a good education for me and it definitely inspired me to want to do it, but do it for the right reasons,” Clegg said.
Although Clegg’s music career has indubitably been influenced by his father, Clegg also emphasized the importance of individuality in his music.
“For me it was very important when I went into music that I wanted to do my own thing, so I tried to find my own roots,” he said.
After receiving acclaim in South Africa for his first two albums, Clegg brought his music to the international stage in 2014. Although his popularity in his home country allows Clegg to play at larger venues to audiences who are already familiar with his music, Clegg enjoys the challenges that playing overseas brings.
“Every time we do overseas stuff, we’re starting to introduce people to the music,” Clegg said. “It’s playing to crowds who haven’t heard you, which is actually an exciting challenge because you really have to convince them.”
Adam Lewis, who works to promote Clegg’s music to college and non-commercial radios across the United States and Canada, described Clegg’s music as appealing to audiences of all ages.
“Musically the record was solid,” Lewis said. “There’s a lot of good songs on there, and good songs never go out of style, no matter what age, and that’s what attracted me to work on his album.”
Shea is excited to introduce Clegg’s music to Upper Valley residents for the first time.
“We have to make sure we vibe with them, but everything’s been going really well,” Shea said. “At the core of all the songs we’re doing are just great songs with great melodies. We just give it glitter and glitz.”
As a songwriter as well as a singer, Clegg stresses the importance of honesty and sincerity in his music.
“I think audiences respond to an honest performance, someone who’s trying to get a message across,” Clegg said. “Music is an act of communication, and I think that audiences pick up on that sincerity, first and foremost.”
After his North America tour, Clegg plans on returning to South Africa to launch his new album.
