Featured Friday Morning Music Shuffle - All Over Before Mix

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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....