- Walking in Memphis, sitting in studio ... the man does it all
Any concert Cleveland-born singer-songwriter Marc Cohn gives these days is a blessing. The Beachwood High School and Oberlin College grad survived a gunshot to the head during an attempted carjacking a few years ago. His last album of original music, 2007’s Join the Parade, delved headlong into this life-altering event with quite a bit of solemnity. After taking stock of his life and airing some predictable world-weariness, Cohn’s latest album, Listening Booth: 1970, comes across like a summer breeze by comparison. Cover records can be a terrible idea, but Cohn reworks a set of 40-year-old classics with real gravitas. Highlights include versions of Cat Stevens’ “Wild World,” Paul McCartney’s “Maybe I’m Amazed,” Badfinger’s “No Matter What” (with Aimee Mann), and an intrepid take on Van Morrison’s “Into the Mystic.” Still, Cohn will always be known for “Walking in Memphis,” which earned him a Best New Artist Grammy in 1991. Always great in concert, we’re guessing Cohn will light up the intimate Kent Stage this week and save his most popular song for the encore. Marc Cohn plays the Kent Stage at 8 p.m. Tickets: $30. —Peter Chakerian
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