IN CONCERT
What: Allen Stone with Diamond Cafe
Where: Capital Ballroom, 858 Yates St.
When: Thursday, Dec. 13, 7 p.m.
Tickets: $32.50 at Ticketfly.com and Lyle’s Place
Allen Stone has played famous stages around the world and collaborated on projects with a range of well-known artists. But what the Spokane, Washington-based artist most enjoys doing is playing for people who know little to nothing about his music.
“I love going on tour as the opening act, where none of my fans are in the audience, and try to win over the headliners’ fans,” Stone, 31, said during a recent tour stop in Colorado.
“That’s my favourite moment in music — playing before a fan base of people that don’t know any of my songs, and are there to see the band after me. To win over those crowds is always a really fun thing.”
Stone, who is originally from the small Washington state town of Chewelah, will have his chance to convert crowds this summer during a 45-date tour with Train and the Goo Goo Dolls, two acts Stone appears to have little in common with.
He’s up for the challenge. “Music is touring. I love playing live. I get a thrill out of it. But I wish I was Dave Matthews, where I could do one big headline tour a year and then be fine for the rest of the year. But I don’t sell out Red Rocks [amphitheatre near Denver, Colorado]. I’ve got to play a lot more frequently.”
Stone’s voice, a buttery, elastic instrument — think a huskier version of Jay Kay from Jamiroquai — is not what one would expect from a lanky, long-haired white singer sporting over-sized glasses and a permanent smile. Stone loves that disconnect.
“I honestly think it’s best when people see me live,” he said. “The biggest champion that I have in my corner is that I don’t look like I sound. When people see me sing, it connects a little bit easier than on a record.”
Stone, the son of a minister, was raised in a fairly conservative Christian household, so it wasn’t until his late teens that he was given the chance to explore secular music (he attended Bible college briefly, but dropped out to pursue music).
There’s a direct link between Stone’s music and that of Stevie Wonder, both in style and substance, but he has been expanding his palette. From collaborations with British funk-phenom Jamie Lidell and Seattle duo Macklemore & Ryan Lewis to tribute-show appearances at Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry (in celebration of Ray Charles), New York City’s Carnegie Hall (feting Aretha Franklin) and on reality show American Idol, he’s rapidly broadened his appeal with audiences.
Ellen Degeneres and Conan O’Brien were among the first on board, and booked Stone on their respective shows when he was a virtual unknown. He has played a broad spectrum of venues and cities in the years since, and now believes he has found his unique voice as a performer.
Stone has also found his comedic chops — at Sea-Tac airport in Seattle, he outlines instructions for travellers with pre-recorded bits that run on a loop over the airport’s public address system. It’s part of an initiative the airport launched six years ago to feature local musicians on everything from overhead music to safety announcements.
“It’s my biggest hit, honestly,” Stone said, with a laugh. “More people hit me up, saying: ‘Bro, I heard you at the airport the other day!’ But I wish they would have used the outtakes, because some of them were pretty funny.”
He never appears to be taking anything seriously: Stone sells bobbleheads of himself on his website and once hosted a 20-minute comedy video that was used to sell producer Ryan Lewis’s $7.45-million waterfront estate near Seattle.
“The music part is a lot of fun, but I try to enjoy myself as much as possible,” Stone said. “There are always fun ways of doing it, getting opportunities like that.”
Stone said he doesn’t write well on the road, so his followup to 2015’s Radius has been three years in the making. He has gone off the grid in the past to find the quiet he needs to access his creativity: In 2014, Stone and his wife briefly moved into his family’s cabin on a secluded lake near his hometown, which resulted in songs that made it onto Radius. The new album, which was recorded at Sound Emporium in Nashville, Tennessee, is more traditional in terms of where it was recorded, but the range of sounds is much more pronounced, Stone said.
“It will definitely sound a lot different from the last one. It’s all over the place. There’s folk, there’s hip-hop, there’s [Washington] D.C. go-go, there’s Nick Cave-style songs, there’s straightforward funk. I feel like my records all sounded cohesive. This record sounds cohesive because it was all recorded in the same scenario, but the stylings are all over the place.”
Stone and his wife are expecting their first baby in March, a date Stone has had circled on his calendar for months.
Stone believes it will be the start of a new beginning as an artist and person, and he’s eager to see what surprises that will bring.
“It’s bonkers. It doesn’t feel real. I’m all of the emotions. I’m excited, slightly terrified, curious. It’s going to be all of that at once. The semblance of routine and lifestyle that I have currently is drastically going to change come March 23.”
