Phoenicia musician Robert Burke Warren was collecting his gear after a David Bowie tribute gig just after the new year when a 25-year-old woman approached the stage and smiled.
“She looked at me and said, ‘thank you,’” Warren said, recalling his 90-minute show at the City Winery in New York City on Jan 3. It wasn’t just any fan – it was Bowie’s daughter.
“She said, ‘I’m Lexi,’” said Warren, 60. “So I knew it was her.”
That chance encounter with Bowie’s daughter and the model Iman may be on Warren’s mind this Saturday, when he returns to the Colony Woodstock to lead his band in a tribute show that marks his birthday on Jan. 8, 1947 and falls on the 10th anniversary of his death.
“It’s fun to learn great songs,” Warren said. “You feel like you’re getting to know an artist whose work means so much to you. That’s the thing about learning songs that’s very special. You’re getting inside their work.”
“Robert Burke Warren’s Bowie Birthday Bash ’26” will feature songs from Bowie’s many eras. It will also celebrate a genre-bending musician who lived and worked in the Woodstock area for years.
Bowie recorded his 2002 album, “Heathen,” at Allaire Studios in Shokan. He counted three Ulster County residents—Gerry Leonard, Gail Ann Dorsey and Zachary Alford—as band members. He owned property in Ulster County and performed at The Chance in Poughkeepsie on Aug. 19, 2003.
Warren’s wife, the author Holly George-Warren, once ran into Bowie at the Cub Market in Bearsville. He once helped an employee at the Golden Notebook children’s bookstore set up a display, according to the Times Union. Another time, he was spotted waiting for takeout inside the old Little Bear Chinese restaurant in Bearsville. Local families recall seeing him as he dropped off a much younger Lexi for summer camp at Woodstock Day School.
Joining Warren on stage on Saturday will be Nora Kosinski on guitar, Mark Lerner on bass and vocals, Tobias Ralph on drums, Ann Osmond, Nancy Howell and Cally Mansfield on vocals and Dennis Yerry on piano and vocals.
Warren, who plays guitar and sings, is excited for the gig.
“Learning the songs of any genius writer and playing them live in a room full of people is a powerful communal experience,” he said. “What makes them great songs is they carry the spirit of the creator, which is then released into this realm. It’s exhilarating.”
Warren’s road to Woodstock and the Bowie tribute started in the mid-1990s, when he portrayed the late rocker Buddy Holly in London’s West End. Fast-forward to 2017, when Colony co-owner Neil Howard asked whether he could recreate that role at the venue – in what turned out to be a packed gig. Next up was an evening of Johnny Cash songs, followed by the songs of Leonard Cohen.
The Bowie show materialized at the Colony Woodstock in 2019, returned in 2020, took a pause for the pandemic in 2021, returned again in 2022 and has been an annual event since. Warren has also had shows at City Winery, Daryl’s House in Pawling and the Rosendale Theatre.
Warren’s Bowie Bash has “a certain organic quality to it that really appeals to people,” Howard said. “It’s familial while feeling professional. There’s a sweet spot of comfort music in that everybody knows the songs.”
“Robert Burke Warren’s Bowie Birthday Bash ’26” is set for 7 p.m. Jan. 10 at the Colony Woodstock at 22 Rock City Road. Doors open at 6 p.m. Tickets start at $29.
John W. Barry is a reporter for The Overlook. Reach him at john@theoverlooknews.com.
