Dolly Parton Tribute Banishes 9 to 5 Blues

Manhattan and Williamsburg may host the lion’s share of the city’s live gigs but, once the show’s over, plenty of those musicians make their way back home to Prospect Heights.

A few do, anyway, from Foxy Brown on one block to Jolie Holland on another, and there’s a particular sense of privilege in hearing them rock a neighborhood bar, equally at ease as if jamming in their very own extended living room.

So it was with guitarist and singer Viva DeConcini on Monday night at , not that this cheerfully brassy performer needs help to feel at home on stage, with shows like her signature rock & roll burlesque nights at the Slipper Room under her studded belt. Despite living across the road, Ms. Viva managed to stumble in late for her gig Monday, lugging equipment through the front door and cracking jokes about the set-up as she and her bandmates contended with cramped space and broken stools.

In a red-lit back room something like a storage closet decorated by David Lynch, Viva entertained a familiar assemblage of drinkers with a tribute to Dolly Parton, her own musical heroine. Along with Sean Dixon on drums and Mary Feaster on bass, she will belt out Parton classics, bluegrass complaints and a few of her own originals during the next few weeks, at 9 p.m. Feb. 7 and 14.

“How can you go wrong?” the guy propping up the bar next to me enthused, as the bartender announced Prospect Heights’ answer to Dolly Parton was about to storm the back room. “More like Liza Minnelli in a B-cup,” he muttered later.

Beneath the wall-mounted horns and wagon wheel light fixtures of the Western-themed bar, Viva certainly rivaled Minnelli’s patter. One highlight between lung-busting renditions of “9 to 5” and “It’s All Wrong But It’s Alright” was her anecdote about playing the latter for a burlesque routine featuring the Virgin Mary performing unspeakable acts with ... Well, maybe you had to be there.

“This is possibly the dirtiest Dolly Parton song,” she said of “It’s All Wrong,” musing on the lyrics. “There are so many to choose from.”

Viva’s interpretations do inspire renewed appreciation of the country diva’s classics. She replaces Dolly’s soft warble with rhinestone-hard edge, and her mix of straight-up raunch and cackle is guaranteed to lift spirits.

Branded itself is a neighborhood trove of live music most nights of the week, with local bands on regular nights and frequent visits by out-of-town performers. On the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month, musician Zach Brock curates a live show that might feature anything from reggae to ska.

For the next couple of Mondays, though, the trio in Branded’s back room will be banishing any traces of 9-to-5 blues.

“Other people do cocaine to feel like I do all the time,” Viva cackled into the mike. And Viva’s mood is catching.