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I have seen the dystopian future of Buck Owens tribute bands, and it's name is Buck N Stuff!
Okay, let me start from the beginning... So, I ended up spending almost the same amount of time at The 5 Spot last night as I did at work yesterday. No wonder I am tired today...
Paul Burch and the WPA Ballroom began their February residency with special guest Kevin Gordon who played lead guitar all night. The band was hot, the songs were great, and the vibe of cool. The only thing missed were the people. Come on Nashville! You got three more week of this residency. You gotta get there!
The late show, kicked off with Darrin Bradbury doing a pretty rare solo set and pulling out some chestnuts like "Zoey" (aka the ka-ka-cool song), "Conversation with Superman", and "Yardsale". Jon Latham was up next accompanied by Sean Quinn. Latham picked up on shoeless singer-songwriter mantle from Darrin Bradbury (who now wears shoes usually) and he did not hold back - making the pain of "Hand Me Down Heart" palpable. A highlight was his extended riffs on "Take It Easy" and "Boys of Summer" into his rendition of his summer anthem "Major Key".
Next up, were two singer-songwriters that I was not familiar with: Elli Perry who is in town working on a record, delivered a loose and awesome set with Robbie Crowell of Deer Tick playing drums and producer Adam Landry on bass. For the last song, Crowell and Landry switched instruments. That last song was a soulful, slow motion dirge that was wildly unexpected and disorientingly awesome.
Chris Watts is a Louisiana born singer-songwriter - whose back story includes being shot in the leg while serving with the National Guard at the Superdome during Hurricane Katrina. Watts played with a stand-up bass player and a drummer - injecting pep and good humor into his songs. He has a new CD coming soon, and he will be playing a CD release show in March at The City Winery.
The night ended (well past midnight) with the aforementioned Buck N Stuff. This power trio lead by Adam Kurtz and featuring Cameron Carrus and Lemuel Hayes play nothing but Buck Owens songs, and they play them like you have never heard Buck Owens before. This was their second ever live show (following a $2 Tuesday gig that I missed last week), and I am so glad I did not miss this one. The styles flew wildly from Reggae to Hard Rock/Punk to Cosmic Country - lots of echo-y vocals and looped guitar parts and Adam Kurtz bouncing all over and off the stage like the madman genius he is - all the while, Carrus and Hayes held the whole glorious mess together. Hands down among the most fun sets I have seen a while.
Tonight, I will take in some of Tim Carroll Rock and Roll Happy Hour and then head over to The Country for The Tangled Hearts and Saint Luke's Drifters.
Oh, and we still have a featured Friday shuffle to get to....
"It's Been All Over Before" by Tommy Womack
Another track from Tommy Womack's Namaste album. This song has he feel of an instant classic. It is first class truth-telling like all great song are. Womack will be performing tomorrow night at Douglas Corner as part of an "in-the-round" show put on by Nashville Flipside and featuring Peter Cooper, David Olney, and Chris Gantry. Not a half band line-up...
"Time for Moving On" by Tymon Dogg
We move next into another track from Made of Light. Still digging this album.
"Sex" (Single Version) by The Sneaky Nixons
This is out first listen to the recently released single from Liverpool band, The Sneaky Nixons. A wildly fun song. The video which we've included in the playlist is disturbing but a powerful statement. Not for the faint of heart.
"Shuffle Sweet" by Delta Deep
Another hard rocking track from the debut by this new blues rock band featuring members/former members of Def Leppard and Stone Temple Pilots. This is crushing hard rock that features a powerhouse female blues singer.
"We Got to Meet Death One Day" by Luella
From the new Luella sampler, her haunting version of the Blind Willie McTell song that she has been covering for years.
"Icarus" by Mickey 9s
If it seems like we have been featuring a bunch of bands from Scotland, you are not getting flashbacks from that questionable haggis you ate at some point in your life. I can't really explain why, but I like it. This song is a b-side of their single Computer Inventor which was released back in November.
"Andy's Loud Shirt" by SuperCrashingStar
This is our first listen to a song from this New York band with international roots. The music is wildly experimental and pretty darn awesome. More to come.
"The Spirit Molecule" by Saint Cole
Our second listen to Saint Cole - a UK based artist who fuses dance music with indie rock in a pretty interesting way. Within This Skin is the name of the album.
"Brevity Lane" by Paul Zografi
And we close things out with Nashville songwriter Paul Zografi and the title track from his latest EP. Brevity Lane is a real road in my old neighborhood which as the name implies is an extremely short road - connecting two Crieve Hall streets. If I am not mistaken, I think I actually looked at house on Brevity Lane one time when I was house hunting. The song is lovely. Zografi was a winner of the Better Late Than Never "Earie" Award in 2015, but I've jumped on this record much sooner.
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Nice, thank you for this treat
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