Concert Review: Dane Stauffer and Dan Chouinard at Crooners Supper Club

Dane Stauffer singing, and Dan Chouinard at the piano, at Crooners Supper Club on January 25, 2020. (Photo by Mark C. Taylor)

On Saturday night, singer Dane Stauffer and pianist Dan Chouinard entertained patrons at Crooners Supper Club. (I reviewed Stauffer’s August show with George Maurer here.) This January show celebrated singers and songwriters who were born in January. The list is certainly a long one: Elvis Presley, Dolly Parton, Kenny Loggins, Ethel Merman, Jerome Kern, Roger Miller, Sam Cooke, Neil Diamond, and Antonio Carlos Jobim, among others. 

Stauffer and Chouinard created a fascinating set list that featured huge hits along with some deeper cuts from the catalogues of these entertainers. Stauffer is a highly entertaining performer, as his infectious enthusiasm draws the audience in. Chouinard is a remarkable entertainer in his own right—a pianist, accordionist, and storyteller. He’s able to play seemingly any song at a moment’s notice—my wife and I observed this closeup when we saw Chouinard last fall in Grand Marais. He was leading a morning sing-along, and just about anything the audience shouted out he was able to play. 

The show opened with Dolly Parton’s “Two Doors Down,” and Stauffer noted that he had the opportunity to work with Dolly herself when he appeared as Scrooge in her musical Smoky Mountain Christmas Carol. The versatile singer/songwriter Roger Miller’s “King of the Road” was next. I’ve always really enjoyed Roger Miller, in part because he contributed to the soundtrack to Disney’s Robin Hood, one of my favorite movies from my childhood. 

Since Stauffer is an Elvis fan, he paid tribute to the King with two songs: the gorgeous “Mystery Train,” which Dane transformed into a hollering blues, and the maudlin “Are You Lonesome Tonight?” complete with spoken recitation. Dane made it through the recitation with less laughter than Elvis. If you listen to Elvis’s live recordings, I don’t think he ever made it through the recitation without cracking up. Kenny Loggins was represented by “Your Mama Don’t Dance” and “Danny’s Song,” two staples of 1970’s pop. As Stauffer pointed out, you could do an entire show featuring the great songs of Sam Cooke. He and Chouinard chose the excellent “Bring It on Home to Me” to honor the soul singer extraordinaire. 

If you’re paying tribute to Neil Diamond, you must play “Sweet Caroline.” As Chouinard said, the song has a life of its own, as it has become ubiquitous in pop culture. So, we all sang along on that great chorus. Stauffer then sang another Diamond hit, the excellent “Thank the Lord for the Night Time.” 

Stauffer sang other interesting songs, like “Button Up Your Overcoat,” a hit for Ruth Etting in 1928, “You’re Just in Love,” an Irving Berlin tune that featured Stauffer and Chouinard singing counterpoint, and the classic “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes,” which is undoubtedly the only hit song to feature the word “chaffed.” 

Personally, I was very pleased that Stauffer included pop singer Jack Jones amongst the January birthdays. Jones has long been one of my own favorite singers. (I reviewed Jones’ performance at the Dakota Jazz Club here.) Stauffer sang Jones’ hit “Wives and Lovers,” prefacing it by saying that the lyrics are very much of their time. A Burt Bacharach/Hal David composition, “Wives and Lovers” offers advice to married women about how to keep their husbands happy. “Hey, little girl, comb your hair, fix your makeup, soon he will open the door. Don’t think because there’s a ring on your finger, you needn’t try anymore.” So, yeah, it’s not a song that’s performed very often these days. When I worked in the music department at Barnes & Noble back in 1999, I would play Jack Jones’ CDs, but the one time I accidentally let “Wives and Lovers” pipe out over the loudspeakers several women complained. (As well they should have.) From then on, I was very careful to skip over “Wives and Lovers” if I brought in my Jack Jones CD. It’s too bad that the lyrics are so cringy, because the song has a gorgeous melody. 

Another highlight of the show was Antonio Carlos Jobim’s “Corcovado (Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars).” That’s long been one of my favorite songs of Jobim’s, thanks in part to Frank Sinatra’s gorgeous rendition. For the encore, Stauffer sang a beautiful version of Bob Dylan’s “Forever Young.” Stauffer did a great job of making the song his own.

All in all, it was a very entertaining evening at Crooners with two of the most talented people in the Twin Cities music and theater scene.