| | Issue #20.41 :: 10/10/2007 - 10/16/2007 | Blue Mountain, Chevelle, Analog Moon and More
Plus: All Get Out, Delta Moon and Peter Searcy
| BY FREE TIMES WRITERS
| Wednesday
Blue Mountain — Consider Blue Mountain an exercise in what could have been. Once the primary songwriting outlet for Mississippi songwriter Cary Hudson, No Depression characterized Blue Mountain’s sound as “tough country punk pollinated with rough-and-tumble country blues, resulting in a sound not just loud and thick, but with a rich folk sensibility, too.” Blue Mountain was Wilco before Wilco was even Wilco, partially pioneering the alt-country movement with such seminal records as 1995’s critically acclaimed Dog Days. But despite such critical acclaim, the band never truly caught fire — though I can’t see how, what with gems the likes of “Jimmy Carter.” The band called it quits in 2002, but is now traveling the country on a reunion tour.
P. Wall
Hunter-Gatherer: 10:30 p.m., $5; 746-0540.
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| Chevelle |
Chevelle — Though it hasn’t come anywhere close to the sales numbers of its smash major label debut, Wonder What’s Next, Chevelle’s most recent release, Vena Sera, is the most critically acclaimed record it’s had since its breakthrough into the big time. And while it does see the Chicago hard-rock vets changing the lineup — replacing brother bassist Joe Loeffler with brother-in-law Dean Bernardini (ice cold!) — Chevelle’s adherence to distilling Tool’s art-metal tendencies into bite-sized morsels remains. Vocalist-slash-guitarist Pete Loeffler still dwells in the loud-soft, croon-scream dynamic common to post-grunge vocalists, and brother-drummer Sam Loeffler still keeps a steady beat with dense rhythms. P. Wall
Headliners: 8 p.m., $23 ($20); 796-2333,
headlinerscolumbia.com.
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Analog Moon
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Thursday
Analog Moon — Following yet another impressive set at last week’s Music Crawl, the Moon men are prepped to release their long-awaited full-length follow-up to their 2005 EP. Mostly recorded north of the Mason-Dixon line at Chillhouse Studios in Boston, A.M. Radio contains more of the South-inflected Fillmore jive that the group’s become known for ‘round these parts. Of particular note is “Timmy’s Got a Grudge,” which starts off with some White Stripes-inspired riffs before launching into sweet Frampton-esque rock that would be right at home on, well, AM radio. The Specs and The Dave Britt Band also flock to the fountain for this Five Points After Five festivity. P. Wall
Five Points Fountain: 6:30 p.m., free; 748-7373, fivepointscolumbia.com.
Friday
All Get Out — “We’re all going to die / That’s just life,” croons Nathan Hussey on All Get Out’s “Wasting All My Breath.” And while some might take that as a quite dour sentiment, I maintain it speaks to the Charleston quartet’s realistic — as in realism, folks — approach to hyper-literate indie-pop. Akin to Favorite Gentlemen labelmates Manchester Orchestra, All Get Out relies on muscular melodies, powerful drumming and sweeping, emotive choruses to get by. Of course, with its new Spitting EP breaking hearts left and right, All Get Out might not have to settle for simply getting by much longer. The New Frontiers (formerly Stellamaris) and Chase Pagan also play. P. Wall
Watershed Books: 9 p.m., $5; 957-1887,
watershedbooks.net.
Todd Cecil — Sometimes you can just tell where an artist is from. In the case of singer-songwriter Todd Cecil, the troubadour’s tunes are indebted to the rustic Americana and bluegrass of his North Carolina upbringing and the Dixie-fried twang of the Nashville sound, as Cecil now calls the Music City home. But Cecil’s sonic smorgasbord is flavored with many more spices — his lyrical skills recall those of John Prine, his hot-rod slide-guitar playing is beholden of Tex-Mex tornado Ry Cooder and there is, of course, a heaping helping of Delta blues in there as well. P. Wall
Utopia: 8 p.m., free; 733-2222.
Friday
Delta Moon — The slide guitar is quite possibly one of the finest inventions in the history of stringed music. Knowing, then, that the Atlanta band wields not one but two slide guitars — Tom Gray on lap steel and Mark Johnson on bottleneck slide — in a countrified version of the two-guitar attack of The Rolling Stones and The Allman Brothers, you should immediately be sold. You doubt Delta Moon’s prowess? Well, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes that the duo is “floor-slappingly fantastic,” and allmusic.com hails Delta Moon as a “perfect example of contemporary Southern roots music at its most affecting.” Don’t have any more doubts, do you? P. Wall
Doc’s Gumbo Grille: 8 p.m., $10; 256-4440.
Peter Searcy — Louisville pre-grunge legend Squirrel Bait is possibly best known for eventually spawning post-rock behemoths Slint and Gastr del Sol, so you’re excused if you forget that the band was fronted by Peter Searcy, whom Spin once said had “the best voice in rock and roll this side of Paul Westerberg.” As so many before him have, the old punk’s gone acoustic on us, but Searcy’s so steeped in the canons of diametrically opposed Bobs — Dylan and Mould — that he handles the singer-songwriter genre with unsurprisingly acerbic aplomb. No wusses allowed. P. Wall
Wild Wing Café: 9 p.m., free; 252-9464.
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| Sunshone Still |
Saturday
Sunshone Still — Concept albums are hard. Arthouse-country concept albums about frontier-era folk heroes, by proxy, are much harder. Still, if there’s anyone who can do it, it’s local troubadour Chris Smith, who tonight drops his new release under the Sunshone Still moniker, Ten Cent American Novels. Retelling the tale of frontiersman Kit Carson and the Navajo tribe — well, mostly, as Smith admits to taking a few poetic liberties in the liner notes — Novels is yet another heartbreaking work of staggering genius from Smith, equal parts sweeping documentary and smart, cinematic songscape. If Ten Cent Novels doesn’t manifest Smith’s destiny into art-country fame from sea to shining sea, then the outlaws have won. Local indie rock spitfires The Cooter Scooters open. P. Wall
Art Bar: 10 p.m., $3; 929-0198, artbarsc.com.
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| Tannahill Weavers |
Tuesday
Tannahill Weavers — To those of you who sneer and say that Columbia doesn’t draw big-time acts, Free Times kindly points you to this internationally renowned Scottish folk quintet as proof positive to the contrary. Firmly established as one of the world’s premier Celtic acts, the Weavers mix traditional Highland ballads with fiery instrumentals, which lends their acoustic-based folk some rock ‘n’ roll intensity. So grab a pint and reel around the Five Points Fountain basking in the knowledge that next time someone tells you Columbia never gets anyone good, you can know better. P. Wall
Delaney’s: 7:30 p.m., $10 ($15 for reserved seating); 779-2345. | |
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