Two excellent female fronted Prog bands play The Sweetwater, 1/4/2025

Written by Jamison Smeltz
Photos by Cheryl Alterman
I worked with The Music Soup’s Cheryl Alterman once before, writing about the Steve Hackett show at the Palace of Fine Arts last year. We got a great response to that article, and I looked forward to another collaboration at some point. I’m passionate about music that inspires me, which is often material I have had a long history with. I love to see familiar music performed live; it’s like being read a favorite bedtime story, you know where it’s
going and how it will get there, but your own expectations help you to experience it with excitement and enthusiasm, each time it is somehow new and revelatory. I love the x factor of uncertainty in a live performance, in which one is never quite certain what one is
going to get. Live performance is always subject to the humanity of the participants, reacting in real time individually and collectively; all musicians have different levels of experience, technique, proficiency, and familiarity with the material, as well as each individual’s comfort with their own performance, which varies from night to night and show to show and even moment to moment. Yet each time I see a favorite song performed, I am delighted to be in the same space as this song and these people performing, as well as those attending the performance. We experience the unfolding of an old sonic friend, familiar and predictable yet unique to this particular moment.
Rush and Yes, two of my favorite bands, are known for (among other things) having a male lead singer who sings really high. (Meaning his vocal range, not that they get really high before they sing. Although that is certainly possible too.) Geddy Lee (Rush) and Jon Anderson (Yes) have both foiled numerous would-be front dudes who figured ‘I can do that’ before they actually try and realize that, no, they can’t.
We are graced to have three working Rush tributes in the area: Rash, R50, and Fred Barchetta. Fred B is a side-project of the prog-fusion instrumental trio Points North (Kevin Aiello, drums; Eric Barnett, guitar; Uriah Duffy, bass), plus the addition of powerhouse singer Darby Gould. Darby is, quite obviously, a woman. (For this Sweetwater show, the wonderful Jimmy Wells subbed on drums.) And there is one local Yes Tribute: Shine Delirious. They formed initially in 2012 to perform the iconic Yes album Fragile (1971). They were at that point nameless; the name arose from a clever re-jiggering of the chorus of Chris Squire’s Bass feature from Fragile called The Fish, where the band sings ‘Shindleria
Praematurus’ endlessly. (Hey, what’s Prog without a lotta pretension?) John Giambalvo, drums and vox; Jace Grey, keys and vox; Gorden Mack, co-founder, guitar and vox; Chris Meek, bass. (RIP, Gary Hobish, co-founder, bass and vox.) Originally fronted by JoJo Razor, the Jon Anderson-ian lead vocals are now in the ample lungs of Karla Downey. Karla is (also obviously) a woman as well, and caveat, the wife of this author.

I played with Shine Delirious once; they let me sit in with them at the Sweetwater in 2017, on the songs Long Distance Runaround and the Fish. On sax. They are good friends. When founding singer JoJo decided it was time to leave the band, they asked me if I knew anyone who could step into this daunting role. I immediately told them, “Karla could sing the shit out of this, but I don’t know if she would want to.”

Karla and I have been married almost 20 years; we are both professional musicians who have occasionally worked together but usually do our own thing. Although she enjoyed the music of Yes, she was not the serious fan like I have been since I was a teen. To my delightful surprise, Karla had been rehearsing with the Shineys a week before she told me she got the gig as she didn’t want my enthusiasm to get in her way. Fair enough.
I’ve been a fan of Darby Gould since the late 80s, when I would hang out in the Haight as a wannabe player and go to shows at the I-Beam, the Nightbreak, the Kennel Club, and the Paradise Lounge in Soma. She was in a group out of Santa Cruz called World Entertainment War, about as perfect a band you’ll ever find (even though they needed a sax). She went on to take Grace Slick’s place in the Jefferson Flying Vehicle thing, and now has been with Big Brother and the Holding Company about 15 (?) years or so, singing the crap outta Janis’ old stuff.
I find that both Darby and Karla are near-perfect in their roles as lead vocalists for these respective bands. I was inspired to write this article because of the interesting (to me, at least) fact that both of these bands have a female singer in place of the original male singer. Why is that interesting, I now ask? Would it have been interesting if one of the instrumentalists had been covered by one of a different gender? No. So what is it that I find fascinating about this, a chick singer singing a cock-rock role? (NB: That last sentence is solely intended to be humorous. Please forgive me if I offend.) I tend to walk the path of “woke correctness” (quotes being mine). I live just outside of Berkeley, CA, so it’s somewhat normal around here; for those if you who find this a problem, I hear you; but I’ll walk it anyway. I recently took a bandleader to task for introducing a singer as “X on Female Vocals,” as if her gender was not obvious or needed to be announced. I asked him, do you say “Y on Male Vocals?” We both had a laugh. So why is this an issue for me? I don’t know, it just sticks in my craw.
So why write a review of a show, with the premise being ‘woman sing dude part?’ Maybe to show that this is a fascinating consideration to a perplexing problem. A parallel solution. I play sax professionally; I have played many songs that have not originally had a sax on them. People might look at me askew when I walk up for ‘Kashmir’ or ‘Boddhisatva’ or ‘Red’ or ‘Song for America;’ but then, though sax is a different voice, it can cover a part in a clever and creative way, as the range (high to low) is similar to the part I am ‘replacing.’ Or ‘covering.’ Same with this here: Darby and Karla are covering a part, that their voices and experience and styles allow them to be truthful to the source, while not being so pedantic that it doesn’t allow their own personalities and styles to bubble through.
I asked them both a few questions at the gig:
1) what is your favorite Rush/Yes song to perform and/or listen to?
2) What other band or style of music do you love to perform or listen to?
3) How did you come to be in this band? Darby (aka Beddy Lee, yuck yuck)

Jamison: Hey, this is Jamison with the Music Soup and I'm here with Darby Gould, the singer with Fred Barchetta! How you doing?
Darby Gould: I'm pretty good!
Jamison: Nice to see you.
Darby: Getting ready for the show.
Jamison: You look great! Couple quick questions: How did you come to be in this band?
Darby: I met Eric Barnett, the guitar player, at a benefit for the Nepal earthquake in 2014, we played Crazy on You by Heart, together, and then we were in a sort of Supergroup of
another conglomeration for a benefit, and he was looking for a singer for this, and so...
Jamison: Wow! History was made!
Darby: Yeah, luckily Covid hit because I didn't know much Rush and so I spent that total shut-down learning songs!
Jamison: Three-four years to shed it!
Darby: It worked out, yes.
Jamison: Excellent! Wow that's so cool.
Darby: I did a lot of shedding.
Jamison: Do you have a particular favorite song to perform?
Darby: Anthem!
Jamison: Anthem! Anthem of the heart, anthem of the mind!
Darby: Exactly, that's my favorite, I mean when they gave me four songs to learn, I just, that's totally my style of music and I mean, I like all Rush, but that's my favorite.
Jamison: Uh huh, it speaks to you.
Darby: Oh totally, it's totally the style I love.
Jamison: And what would you consider like a favorite music to listen to or perform that's not Rush?
Darby: I sing a little bit of everything, I mean I grew up in the 70s, so you know, all 70s music, all different styles, but I guess I would say RnB and Classic Rock from that time period is definitely my favorite to sing just because I grew up with it! But I like and perform all genres, so... it's hard to pick when people ask me that, to narrow anything down like that.
Jamison: I hear you. I gotta admit, that I've been a fan of this lady since like the late 80s with World Entertainment War…
Darby: Don’t tell them how old I am!
Jamison: She was 8 back then.
Darby: Yes! (Laughs)
Jamison: The Kennel Club and the I Beam…
Darby: All the old haunts! Nightbreak…
Jamison… and Psychefunkapus, and Fungo Mungo, man, and
Limbomaniacs…
Darby: Yeah! Exactly!
Jamison: And Smoking Section…
Darby: Those were all old school!
Jamison: Well thank you so much! Have a great gig and kick some ass!
Darby: Thank you! Peace!

Shine Delirious, (Yes tribute band)...
Karla (aka Ann Jonderson, groan)
Jamison: Hey Karla Downey! I am your husband, but you knew that. How did you come to be in this band?
Karla: They asked me (laughs). The previous singer left, and after the Covid lockdown they wanted to get up and running again so they asked, and I said "Let me see if I can connect to these songs, vocally", and I needed my brain to fire up, and these songs fired me up!
Jamison: Yahoo! Previous singer being JoJo Razor, one of the co- founders of the band.
Karla: Yes.
Jamison: What is your favorite Yes song to a) listen to and b) perform?
(Three members choose Close to the Edge before Karla responds).
Karla: I already had that (CTTE) picked out, because it's so damn fun it's like an adventure, and it's just, it blows my mind to go through it has so many, um, segments that are just… epic! Yeah I'd say that's my favorite one to perform.
Jamison: What about to listen to?
Karla: To listen to? And You and I. It's a beautiful one.
Jamison: (That was our wedding song!) What other music is your favorite to listen to, and to perform?
Karla: Queen, definitely to play/perform. But I play drums on that, so yeah! I miss playing in a band that played all Queen music.
Jamison: Karla was a member of The Killer Queens before they disbanded, as their drummer/ backup singer.
Jamison: Also, she’s a total badass. You should check out her vocal work with Slinky Thing (Steely Dan tribute) and her drumming with Flock of Seagirls (Ladies of the 80s tribute!)
Karla: You didn’t really say that, you’re just writing that now.
Jamison: Then can I tell them about our new band Karla and the Flamboyant Kuddlefish, that we co-lead, playing our favorite songs from the 70s mostly?
Karla: No.
The gig was great, both bands sounding great, fantastic sound in the house, many happy fans singing along, old friends re-connecting, new friendships forging. The Sweetwater in Mill Valley is an exceptional place to see a show, I highly recommend it, and the food is fantastic if you want dinner before. Go see live music!
-Jamison Smeltz, 1/18/2025
Fred Barchettas RUSH Tribute band...
Shine Delirious, Yes Tribute band...
Fred Barchetta and Shine Delirious random interviews:
Eric Barnett and Jamison:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/7ne6osgbnhutk664rtfrr/2025-01-04-18.41.38.mov?rlkey=xm2z8xw955js3qd8h6u1t63q2&e=1&dl=0
Jimmy the Drummer:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/eng3wuqr2nhc2u6ocu494/2025-01-04-18.50.55.mov?rlkey=dmcl83a4jovsut6gdho98aiys&e=1&dl=0
Hooked on Prog!
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/luf8qux4y0n4ovis21568/2025-01-04-19.38.50.mov?rlkey=hngebyjwbyumtl34n2qnqcq4i&e=1&dl=0
© Cheryl Alterman Photography 2025
© Cheryl Alterman Photography 2025
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