Two decades ago, Annalyse McCoy and Ryan Dunn discovered they made beautiful music together.
All these years later, the couple is still going strong and music remains at the core of their relationship.
That was evident Sunday evening during their sellout performance for the Paisans Club in the SeaBreeze Recreation Center.
They call the show “Decades in Duet,” and it’s a time machine that spotlights 60 years of musical pairings from Sonny and Cher to Tom Petty and Stevie Nicks.
“Every single one of these duets boils down to one thing – love,” McCoy said during the nearly two-hour performance.
“Love truly is what keeps us together; it’s a gift for all of us,” Dunn said.
This may sound like mushy Hallmark dialogue but McCoy and Dunn make it real with some hard-rocking numbers and tender ballads.
The duo was backed by a tight six-piece band and opened up with a hard-driving cover of Van Morrison’s “Wild Nights.” Dunn flashed some serious guitar licks. McCoy, wearing a short, white-sequined dress, offered an alluring presence and dynamic vocals. She also played various string instruments.
They made like Kiki Dee and Elton John on a rousing version of “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart.” Then they went into a soulful groove on Smokey Robinson’s “Crusin’.” That song was covered by Gwyneth Paltrow and Huey Lewis in the 2000 film “Duets.”
McCoy and Dunn like to tell their history with the songs. “All these songs have inspired us at sometime in our lives,” he said.
At first glance, they seemed to have little in common. She grew up in the hills of Kentucky, weaned on country music. He comes from the Jersey shore with a background in Bruce Springsteen and Old Blue Eyes.
“We met when she was in college in New York,” Dunn said. “A lot of these songs take us back to our time in New York.”
Put McCoy and Dunn together and you get an eclectic musical blend. They romped through “Islands In the Stream” paying homage to Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers.
The mood turned to dark introspection as McCoy played acoustic guitar and – with some help from Dunn — sang a powerful “I Need You Now,” originally done by Lady Antebellum.
They were sassy and swinging covering “The Lady Is a Tramp,” with the Tony Bennett/ Lady Gaga take on the Frank Sinatra classic.
Then it was time to rock with a cover of “Stop Dragging My Heart Around,” originally done by Stevie Nicks and Tom Petty.
McCoy and Dunn closed the first set in powerful style. They set the stage by telling of their early meeting.
“When I first met Annalyse, I was getting over a mistake,” Dunn said. “Then I found out she had a boyfriend.”
“I was in college and dating a guy,” McCoy said. “I wanted to break up, so I made a date with him at Olive Garden. It didn’t go well. But thank God for unlimited breadsticks.”
Both of them soared on “Up Where We Belong,” a hit for Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes. Then the duo offered a new take on the old Sonny and Cher tune, “I Got You Babe.”
Instead of a ‘60s’ hippy vibe, McCoy and Dunn turned the song inside out with a cover of the Etta James version. It had the flavor of Motown soul, with a little bit of Otis Redding thrown in for good measure.
As usual, it was a first-class enjoyable concert for the Paisans Club. Jerry Vicenti — president of the club — took time out before introducing the show to have a moment of silence for singer Connie Francis, who died this week.
“She was special,” he said.
Tony Violanti writes about music and entertainment for Villages-News.com. He was inducted into The Buffalo Music Hall of Fame as a music journalist.