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Valley natives bring James Taylor-Carole King show home Musical friends
By John Benson
Growing up in Poland during the mid-’70s, singer-songwriter Kirsti Manna became enthralled by the music of Carole King and James Taylor.
Today the successful Nashville-based speaker/songwriter (she’s also a producer and publisher) gets to relive her appreciation of the Rock Hall inductees as part of “You’ve Got a Friend.” For the first time, the touring tribute show, which includes a 24-piece orchestra, brings Manna back to the area in which she grew up with a Saturday performance at Westminster College’s Orr Auditorium.
“My partner in this show is singer-guitarist Jonathan Birchfield, who is from North Carolina,” said Manna, a 1976 Poland Seminary High School graduate, calling from the Music City. “We just love their music, which is why we decided to do this show. We think they are two of America’s most iconic songwriters and have quite a legacy of music and artistry.
“We just wanted to honor them in a tribute show, but we don’t dress like them. We’re just playing the music in our own way. Also, both [of us] just happened to sound a little bit like those artists.”
Manna is quite a varied performer. Not only did she write Blake Shelton’s No. 1 hit “Austin,” but other country artists (Big & Rich and Gretchen Wilson) have recorded her music. She also stars in her own national children’s TV show “Kirsti’s Manor” and is the founder of Songwriter Girl Camps, which bring together girls to focus on songwriting, confidence-building and creative empowerment.
As for “You’ve Got a Friend,” the show is inspired by the 2010 King and Taylor concert album “Live at the Troubadour” and features favorites such as “How Sweet It Is,” “Carolina in My Mind,” “I Feel the Earth Move” and, of course, the show’s title track.
“Both of us cut our teeth on their music growing up,” said Manna, a Youngstown State University graduate. “I was always intrigued by people who play piano, especially King – a female artist who played piano and wrote on piano.”
Although she never saw King in concert, she did catch Taylor numerous times at Blossom Music Center back in the ’70s before moving to Nashville in the ’90s with her husband, Bill Warner, who also is from the Youngstown area.
In fact, “You’ve Got a Friend” has two more Northeast Ohio connections. While Warner wrote the arrangements and plays guitar in the band, Warren native Mariano Longo penned the orchestral scores and also handles keyboards.
When asked what she hopes people walk out feeling after seeing “You’ve Got a Friend,” Manna didn’t hesitate.
“We want them to take home a lot of joy,” Manna said. “We want them to enjoy being sentimental, reminiscing and just letting the music take them back and spread the love of music in the world. We’re kind of hippie-fied and organic in a way: We want the music to move them on whatever level. From feeling sad to happy, we want them to take that with them.”