Buckeye Randy
Junior Member
Who: J Roddy Walston
When: May 16, 2026
Where: Grog Shop (Cleveland, Ohio)
It has been nearly 11 years to the day since my Wife and I last saw J Roddy. Mrs. Buckeye lists that as the best concert ever. Wait...you don't know who J Roddy Walston is? OK, I'll try to give a brief overview.
J Roddy Walston and The Business had four albums between 2007 and 2017. The catalogue can best be described as brilliant and unfocused. My personal favorite is the self-titled second album. The third album flirted with mainstream success and the last tried to capitalize on that momentum. I didn't care for the more refined effort and apparently others didn't either because the band was dissolved in 2019. J Roddy has only one release since then, a very so so Christmas album in 2023.
Wiki gives a description of the band and in one sentence they tell you absolutely everything you need to know. "The band is what would happen if Queen and Black Oak Arkansas birthed four boys in the backwoods and let them listen to nothing but Cheap Trick and showtunes". The article continues and namechecks influences being Led Zep, Harry Nilsson, T Rex and Leon Russell. Wiki can be golden.
So, J Roddy has been touring the last few years but with a new backing band. I couldn't resist sneaking a peek at the setlist of previous shows on this tour so my expectations would be reasonable. Who knows, he might be playing a show full of unreleased material. Ha, that's not the case and I'm more stoked than before! This is one of the times it's OK to lie to your wife. "Hey Buckeye Randy, do you think he'll play the old stuff". "Gee honey, I don't know but I wouldn't get my hopes up." It was tough saying this without a smile.
What's the best part of the entire concert experience? Is it lining up a babysitter, parking in a sketchy lot, waiting on the sidewalk with strangers, panicking when you can't find tickets on your phone? On this day, it all went pretty much as planned and I even had some promo flyers in my inner jacket pocket in hopes of an autograph. We arrived 45 minutes before doors opened and were 2nd and 3rd in line. We got to hear soundcheck from the sidewalk and after that had to step aside as J Roddy and his band went to their van to grab stage clothes. Once the doors officially opened, we staked our place in front of the stage and patiently waited for the show to begin inside the cozy confines of The Grog Shop.
The Grog Shop with a capacity of 400 is in the ever artsy Coventry District. For those not from Cleveland it's worth mentioning that the Coventry district was the area's counter-culture center in the '60's and the vibe remains. One notable and challenging thing about the Grog Shop is the low stage, it's not quite knee high. This means that site lines at the rear of the club are directly related to the height of the people between you and the stage. Not a problem for us on this evening because as I said, we are at the stage.
Opening was the three piece Goody and The Gospel. The band played an entirely listenable 8 song set of chunky blues/rock. I'll certainly check out their upcoming album. Nice set guys.
J Roddy and his band serve as their own road crew and put their equipment and monitors in place. Included was scooching a very road weary piano with a broken frame and lots of duct tape near center stage. The piano was missing a caster and they leveled the piano with an old and taped up direct box wedged underneath a corner. That my friends oozes the essence of rock and roll.
J Roddy sits down and begins tinkling on the piano and talking about it being Saturday night in a smooth manner. It had a faux loungey appeal as the three piece backing band took their places. A few notes here and there seem familiar during this prolonged intro. The slow meandering piano notes slowly took form as J Roddy went into "Don't Break The Needle". He tested the crowd early as the band paused and it seemed like the entire club shouted out the first refrain of "Don't Break The Needle"! I've seen many opening songs over the years but this moment ranks near the top.
J Roddy bounces and bashes his piano with reckless abandon. He's the sum of every energetic pianist that's ever played rock and roll, plus one. J Roddy can carry a show but it's impossible not to compare this band with J Roddy's former band (The Business). This band seems spot on but doesn't carry quite the same energy. This fact barely diminishes the overall show but it is noted.
The show was divided into three basic parts. The first was the largest and featured the band firing through the best known songs. Crowd pleasers aplenty including my favorite, "Full Growing Man". There were several sing-a longs highlighted by the ballad, "Brave Man's Death". The most fun sing-a-long was J Roddy teaching the crowd a new song, "Hot Banana".
The full band segment was followed by J Roddy performing solo on both piano and guitar. This had a bit of a storyteller feel to it and it was very intimate. J Roddy is quite comfortable engaging with banter from the crowd and that can be as memorable as the show itself. One male fan yelled, "I love you." J Roddy responded by confessing his own feelings at length in a sultry voice over soft piano ending with, "I love you too, it's always been you".
I was not bored with the solo effort but I was certainly ready for the band to return to the stage. The band did return for some rocking then disappeared and returned for the encore finishing with "Heavy Bells". The show was over two hours and I can't remember the last time I saw a show that long in a club.
The merch table was a little disappointing but we had a nice chat with the opener while we hoped for J Roddy to come out after the club cleared out. He did not disappoint us as he appeared and made his way across the room. Mrs. Buckeye and I both had our promo posters autographed plus pics taken with J Roddy. It took me several decades but it appears I've finally figured out this concert thing.
I look forward to my next evening with J Roddy. Well Done!
When: May 16, 2026
Where: Grog Shop (Cleveland, Ohio)
It has been nearly 11 years to the day since my Wife and I last saw J Roddy. Mrs. Buckeye lists that as the best concert ever. Wait...you don't know who J Roddy Walston is? OK, I'll try to give a brief overview.
J Roddy Walston and The Business had four albums between 2007 and 2017. The catalogue can best be described as brilliant and unfocused. My personal favorite is the self-titled second album. The third album flirted with mainstream success and the last tried to capitalize on that momentum. I didn't care for the more refined effort and apparently others didn't either because the band was dissolved in 2019. J Roddy has only one release since then, a very so so Christmas album in 2023.
Wiki gives a description of the band and in one sentence they tell you absolutely everything you need to know. "The band is what would happen if Queen and Black Oak Arkansas birthed four boys in the backwoods and let them listen to nothing but Cheap Trick and showtunes". The article continues and namechecks influences being Led Zep, Harry Nilsson, T Rex and Leon Russell. Wiki can be golden.
So, J Roddy has been touring the last few years but with a new backing band. I couldn't resist sneaking a peek at the setlist of previous shows on this tour so my expectations would be reasonable. Who knows, he might be playing a show full of unreleased material. Ha, that's not the case and I'm more stoked than before! This is one of the times it's OK to lie to your wife. "Hey Buckeye Randy, do you think he'll play the old stuff". "Gee honey, I don't know but I wouldn't get my hopes up." It was tough saying this without a smile.
What's the best part of the entire concert experience? Is it lining up a babysitter, parking in a sketchy lot, waiting on the sidewalk with strangers, panicking when you can't find tickets on your phone? On this day, it all went pretty much as planned and I even had some promo flyers in my inner jacket pocket in hopes of an autograph. We arrived 45 minutes before doors opened and were 2nd and 3rd in line. We got to hear soundcheck from the sidewalk and after that had to step aside as J Roddy and his band went to their van to grab stage clothes. Once the doors officially opened, we staked our place in front of the stage and patiently waited for the show to begin inside the cozy confines of The Grog Shop.
The Grog Shop with a capacity of 400 is in the ever artsy Coventry District. For those not from Cleveland it's worth mentioning that the Coventry district was the area's counter-culture center in the '60's and the vibe remains. One notable and challenging thing about the Grog Shop is the low stage, it's not quite knee high. This means that site lines at the rear of the club are directly related to the height of the people between you and the stage. Not a problem for us on this evening because as I said, we are at the stage.
Opening was the three piece Goody and The Gospel. The band played an entirely listenable 8 song set of chunky blues/rock. I'll certainly check out their upcoming album. Nice set guys.
J Roddy and his band serve as their own road crew and put their equipment and monitors in place. Included was scooching a very road weary piano with a broken frame and lots of duct tape near center stage. The piano was missing a caster and they leveled the piano with an old and taped up direct box wedged underneath a corner. That my friends oozes the essence of rock and roll.
J Roddy sits down and begins tinkling on the piano and talking about it being Saturday night in a smooth manner. It had a faux loungey appeal as the three piece backing band took their places. A few notes here and there seem familiar during this prolonged intro. The slow meandering piano notes slowly took form as J Roddy went into "Don't Break The Needle". He tested the crowd early as the band paused and it seemed like the entire club shouted out the first refrain of "Don't Break The Needle"! I've seen many opening songs over the years but this moment ranks near the top.
J Roddy bounces and bashes his piano with reckless abandon. He's the sum of every energetic pianist that's ever played rock and roll, plus one. J Roddy can carry a show but it's impossible not to compare this band with J Roddy's former band (The Business). This band seems spot on but doesn't carry quite the same energy. This fact barely diminishes the overall show but it is noted.
The show was divided into three basic parts. The first was the largest and featured the band firing through the best known songs. Crowd pleasers aplenty including my favorite, "Full Growing Man". There were several sing-a longs highlighted by the ballad, "Brave Man's Death". The most fun sing-a-long was J Roddy teaching the crowd a new song, "Hot Banana".
The full band segment was followed by J Roddy performing solo on both piano and guitar. This had a bit of a storyteller feel to it and it was very intimate. J Roddy is quite comfortable engaging with banter from the crowd and that can be as memorable as the show itself. One male fan yelled, "I love you." J Roddy responded by confessing his own feelings at length in a sultry voice over soft piano ending with, "I love you too, it's always been you".
I was not bored with the solo effort but I was certainly ready for the band to return to the stage. The band did return for some rocking then disappeared and returned for the encore finishing with "Heavy Bells". The show was over two hours and I can't remember the last time I saw a show that long in a club.
The merch table was a little disappointing but we had a nice chat with the opener while we hoped for J Roddy to come out after the club cleared out. He did not disappoint us as he appeared and made his way across the room. Mrs. Buckeye and I both had our promo posters autographed plus pics taken with J Roddy. It took me several decades but it appears I've finally figured out this concert thing.
I look forward to my next evening with J Roddy. Well Done!
