A Pop Music Lover Gets to Belt Them Out

By PATRICIA GRANDJEAN

Picture: Thomas McDonald for The New York Times

December 31, 2000

CHRISTINE OHLMAN is a dual personality. Relaxing alongside a crackling fire in her North Branford home, she's a mild-mannered, self-taught pop music enthusiast, sharing her views on everything from Randy Newman's 1974 album "Good Old Boys" ("so brutally honest," she said, "no one could ever make it today") and the guitar skills of R.E.M.'s Peter Buck to her carefully organized collection of deep Southern soul 45's from the 1960's and 70's.
   One gets the feeling that she knows every groove intimately, and indeed, Ms. Ohlman is held in high esteem as an archivist and historian. She was one of the founding editors of the "All Music Guide" before it became an Internet behemoth.

However, she is best known as the rhythm-and-blues-shouting Beehive Queen — a fixture on the Northeastern concert and recording scene for more than 30 years.
   Her trademarks? A teased-to-the-sky platinum blonde beehive, inspired by the Ronettes (some pundits have estimated it at 19-plus inches), Roy Orbison-style wraparound shades, and a rich, deep contralto voice — packing a belt favorably compared to Janis Joplin's. 
   She has worked with groups such as the 1970's well-loved Scratch Band (another band member, G.E. Smith, later became leader of the Saturday Night Live Band). With her current quartet, Rebel Montez, she has released three albums ("The Hard Way," "Radio Queen" and last year's "Wicked Time.")
   Since 1991, Ms. Ohlman has sung lead vocals for the SNL Band, the late-night show's warm-up act and entertainment during commercial breaks. Though she's usually not seen on air, TV viewers have occasionally been able to catch a quick glimpse. She has played the Rhythm & Blues Foundation Pioneer Awards and Bob Dylan's 30th anniversary celebration at Madison Square Garden, where she performed with Lou Reed, Neil Young, Johnny Cash and George Harrison. Her searing cover of "Howlin' for My Darlin' " appeared on "A Tribute to Howlin' Wolf," a 1998 Grammy-nominated recording that also feature tracks by Lucinda Williams and Ronnie Hawkins. 
   Lenny Pickett, music director for "Saturday Night Live," said Ms. Ohlmah was responsible for selecting much of the vintage rhythm and blues repertoire performed by the Saturday Night Live Band.   
   "Some of the songs she recommends are pretty obscure, but she knows the good stuff," he said. "We've created a number of arrangements specifically for her." 
   The singer-songwriter Marshall Crenshaw, who has been in multi-artist concerts with Ms. Ohlman, said: "Her spot is always like a big exclamation point in the middle of the proceedings. She gets 150 percent into the song and the moment and just raises the bar for everybody. She also sets a good example for all of us by always dressing up for the gig." (Mr. Crenshaw and Ms. Ohlman are collaborating on a track for a tribute album to Nick Lowe, to be released on the same label, Telarc, as the Howlin' Wolf album.)  
   Born in the Bronx into a family of music lovers that later moved to Cheshire, Ms. Ohlman said she was already "the inveterate ham" at age 5: "My parents always trotted me out in front of assembled relatives to belt in my little Sophie Tucker voice."
   Before long, she developed a precocious childhood fascination with the R & B masters Ray Charles and Jackie Wilson. But by the mid-60's, her heart belonged to the Rolling Stones. During a 1966 Stones concert at Hartford's Dillon Stadium, she was thrilled to catch a backstage glimpse of the Stone's enraged manager, Andrew Loog Oldham, throttling the lead singer of an opening band that had stolen the Stones' thunder by including "Paint It, Black,'' then a big hit — in its own set.
   "That represented, to my young eyes, the essence of rebellion and all things cool," she said. (Mr. Oldham has since become a good friend.)
   A couple of years later, she turned heads as the lead singer in her brother's rock 'n' roll band, Fancy, a popular draw on Connecticut's teen club circuit that caught the attention of Bob Shad, a big-name jazz producer. Mr. Shad managed his own New York City-based pop label, Mainstream (home to Janis Joplin prior to her contract with Columbia Records).
   "He flew into Meriden Airport and came to listen to us play in someone's basement," Ms. Ohlman recalled. "We cut a couple of records that made it to the nether regions of the Hot Hundred. I really think they were bought onto the charts."
   She began songwriting in the early 70's upon hooking up with the Scratch Band, whose repertoire encompassed everything from classic country to Lou Reed. 
   "We indulged each other's tastes," she said. "Anyone could try anything and get support. I was lucky to be an equal contributor, though my nickname was 'The Girl'."
   That nickname has stuck in her relationship with Rebel Montez, though there's no doubt who runs the show. Formed in 1988, the quartet (featuring Michael Colbath on bass guitar, Larry Donahue on drums and Eric Fletcher on lead guitar) is working on its fourth CD. It will be recorded and produced at Trod Nossel Studios in Wallingford — Connecticut's longest-running recording studio, owned and operated by Thomas "Doc" Cavalier. (Along with their business ties, Mr. Cavalier and Ms. Ohlman have a longtime personal relationship.)
   Dominated, as usual, by Ms. Ohlman's original songs (a mix of rock 'n' roll, gritty country soul and Chicago blues with a shot of Bo Diddley on the side), the new album will experiment with electronic beats.
   "It's interesting to butt them up against the raw rock 'n' roll tracks," she said.
   The theme will be the one that she returns to again and again: love.
   "Essentially, I think I'm a very romantic person, and it just comes out," she said. "But I also enjoy the brutally honest side of it. I tend to be attracted to love songs that are a little skewed and conflicted."
   Ms. Ohlman said she doesn't hanker for a recording contract with a major label, claiming satisfaction with the fact that her label, J-Bird Records, is a prominent indie with strong distribution.
   "To be on a major label now would be so foolish; I would never make money," she said. "At least my records are in stores. The indie scene is pretty energized now, and it's going to become even stronger.
   "To continue to grow as an artist is probably my only remaining dream," she said. "And I've learned in this business, if you're not a person first, it doesn't mean anything. People will try to knock your humanity out of you. Sometimes you experience things and your first reaction is to laugh, to cry or to become bitter. I have found that laughing is generally the way to go."