FAMILY: Wife Adriana; Parents Fred and Shelly, Brother Evan.
AGE: 38
HOMETOWN: Cherry Hill
NAME OF PIANO: Shondra
MOST AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL SONG: “Big Thighs NJ”
NEXT LOCAL SHOW: “Philly Music Fest” at World Café Live Sept. 28
Fronted by Cherry Hill’s own Adam Weiner, the band Low Cut Connie has been enjoying a meteoric rise this year and making good on its a reputation as one of rock-’n-roll’s most exciting live bands.
Since releasing “Dirty Pictures (Part 2)” in May to rave reviews, the Philly-based band with a heretofore cult following had its breakthrough moment this summer. A high-octane live performance on “Late Night With Seth Meyers” exposed national viewers to Weiner, the hammy showman whose ability to play piano with nearly every body part harkens back to the likes of Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis.
It went uphill from there. Earlier this month, Weiner hung backstage with Elton John during the second night of Sir Elton’s two-night engagement at the Wells Fargo Center.
“He said some incredibly nice things to me and I thought that would be the end of the story, Dayenu,” said Weiner. “Except then he dedicated “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” to us. I’ve gotten messages from around the world about it over the last few days. It’s pretty awesome.”
Like most overnight success stories, Low Cut Connie’s rise has actually been a long time coming.
Most interviews about Weiner trace back to his student days at New York University when he played piano in university restaurants, gay bars, and even for ballet classes— anywhere really—to earn money and practice his craft. The Voice decided to dig deeper.
During his years at East, Weiner was heavily involved in theater and just about every musical ensemble. He played the Emcee in “Cabaret” and Emile de Becque in “South Pacific,” recalled classmate Debbie Barr, a friend from the class of 1998.
He recalls getting lost in the chanting during religious services with his family at Cong. Beth El, back when the synagogue was still on Cherry Hill’s West side. Cantor Jeffrey Shapiro (z”l) stirred something in him.
“If I’m being honest, I think he was a big part of my musical youth,” Weiner said. “His voice was very soulful in a particularly Jewish way that I think really seeped into my consciousness. It felt like pure spirit.”
From “Jewish Soul,” as he called it, Weiner discovered gospel when he transferred to the University of Memphis to study ethnomusicology. “It was really just an excuse to listen to records and performers,” he said.
Acting and playing other people’s songs came naturally to him, however Weiner’s dream was to play original music.
“The first gig I did of my own music was at a sidewalk café in New York City,” said Weiner, who lives in South Philly. “My leg was shaking so badly. It was embarrassing. I was completely wracked with anxiety.”
His solution was to play anywhere and everywhere he could. Along this journey, he traveled across Europe, the United States and Canada (where he met his wife Adrianna) multiple times. He played his own music in venues that included colleges, retirement homes, countless dive bars, an anarchist squat house and a weird potluck dinner club.
Low Cut Connie started as a side project among musician friends who decided to record an album in 2010. When the music gained an audience even before the band had a name, they quickly came up with “The Low Cut,” but it was taken, so they played around with different words and came up with “Low Cut Connie.” Liking the name, but not having a clear idea of what it might mean to people, Weiner drew the Connie of his imagination as the cover art on the album. She is a 1980’s-era middle-aged Olga’s Diner waitress.
“She’s not what I guess you would call a conventionally beautiful woman,” Weiner said. “She has clearly gone through some rough times. But you can see this sort of spirit in her, a resiliency.”
The band embodies Connie’s grit. Up until very recently, there were more low times than high, like when a major label on the verge of signing the band suddenly backed off. Still, they have stayed the course, earning a fan base by playing some 120 live shows annually and self-producing five albums.
“A lot of people have been very supportive since the beginning, but also very confused about what I was doing all those years,” said Weiner, who typically chants a few lines of Hebrew while preparing for concerts. “It’s taken until now for people to see what I was working towards.”
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