ZZ Ward Brings the Blues to Berkeley
he Bay Area was treated to an evening of soulful blues this past week at The Cornerstone music venue located across the Bay in Berkeley. ZZ Ward was the headliner, a seasoned performer who first took the stage at the age of eleven to sing in her father’s band. Now balancing her career as a mother of two, she delivered a solid set in support of her latest album release “Liberation”. This is ZZ’s first independent album after walking away from the constraints imposed by label contracts. ZZ has long been an advocate/ally for the LGBTQ+ community, and embodies a powerful presence in the Blues genre onstage.
ZZ opened with “My Baby Left Me”, as the title suggests a classic blues theme delivered with a punch that had the audience moving right away. She followed immediately with the Elmore James classic “Dust My Broom” before moving on to tracks from her new album that included “Mother”, "Liberation”, “Sinner’s Prayer”, and “Naked in the Jungle”. The lyrics in “Mother” give voice to the challenges of parenthood, musician or not - “Come do 24 hours in my shoes, Yeah just 24 hours and see, How it feels to be totally selfless, Say goodbye to your moment to breath”. Between songs ZZ added reflections on her career path along with some perspectives behind her songwriting. This served to create an intimate feeling with the crowd, many of whom were clearly longer term fans. She was onstage with her band for an almost 90 minute set, a generous serving of quality blues.
The evening's opener, Stephanie Anne Johnson, was a commanding presence onstage though performing solo with just their acoustic guitar for accompaniment. Stephanie’s voice is an amazing instrument, powerful with a pure tone and impressive range. They infused each song with the sort of sincere emotion that moves the audience to respond in kind. The evening’s crowd expressed their enthusiasm accordingly. After the event, Stephanie stated "I'm grateful to have played at Cornerstone last week and appreciate their support of the LGBTQ community! I'm a non-binary performer from Tacoma, WA and I perform at LGBTQ events anywhere in the country when asked. My new album 'Sing, baby!' is very heavily themed around this as well."
The Cornerstone hosts occasional LGBTQ+ centric events, recent examples have included Club 90’s ‘Heated Rivalry” night, and ‘Pop Girl Pride Drag Dance Party’. It's a great event venue with good pre-show dinner options, so keep an eye on their calendar for future offerings.
