Vibes blog

T-Model Ford As you might expect from a T-Model, this one’s kind of aged (somewhere between 75 and 80) and takes a while to start, but once all the pistons start firing, you’re in for a rollicking (if rickety) ride you’ll not soon forget. The Mississippi Native and Fat Possum Records “find” (like he’d not been seen before?) has all the backstory that “blooze” biographers look for (worked on a mule farm, drank a shit-ton, spent time in jail on a murder rap), but the real draw here is his unorthodox-yet-fraught-with-power picking, which is at least on par with Junior Kimbrough, if not as searingly, screamingly honest (or ominous, perhaps). Highly recommended. With Andy the Doorbum, Gravelroad. Snug Harbor

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The Dexateens Quite literally one of my favorite bar bands (said affectionately) on the planet, Tuscaloosa, Ala.’s The Dexateens have been hammering the East Coast (albeit sporadically) for more than 10 years now. A mix of three “rang’n” guitars (to use a term coined by Drive-by Trucker Patterson Hood), country honk and post-punk jangle, it’s a Southern-specific brew accurately described by the band as “Black Flag meets Blackfoot meets Black Oak Arkansas.” As a result, the band’s shows are remarkably free of scene-specific cliques, drawing a cross-section of folks looking for little more than a sure-nuff, sweaty good time. At last glance, the band’s 2008 album Lost and Found was still available on the band’s site as a free digital download; consider it an ass-kicking aperitif for the band’s upcoming Singlewide, recorded in Nashville, Tenn., with vet Mark Nevers, and due this summer. With Tennessee’s The Features and Those Darlins, two bands worth the price of admission all by their lonesome. The Milestone

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Jimmy Herring Band Jimmy Herring, longtime sideman in bands such as Aquarium Rescue Unit, The Allman Brothers Band and the Dead (and current gunslinger for Widespread Panic) is making his bandleader debut on this tour – and what a band it is. Along with Herring, JHB features drummer Jeff Sipe (Aquarium Rescue Unit), Blue Note Records’ own Greg Osby (named by none other than legendary Village Voice jazz writer Frances Davis as one of the best blowers in the business) on saxophone, keyboardist Scott Kinsey (Tribal Tech) and Allman brother Oteil Burbridge on bass. Those who’ve seen the guitarist in person know that Herring’s style – a pepperpot of raga-inspired rags, clean, piercing runs and free improvisation – ought to accent his jazzbo-jam backing band to a T. Visulite Theatre

Check out a live performance here:

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Kevin Gordon East Nashville resident Gordon’s essential disc to this point, Down to the Well, was one of the first (indeed, only) records in recent memory to effectively blend the Roots Trilogy (blues, rockabilly and country) and make it sound not only natural but essential. A graduate of the University of Iowa (where he studied poetry at the mega-prestigious Iowa Writers’ Workshop), Gordon never lost his first love, that of early rock & roll as purveyed by Lewis, Berry, Cochran and Co. Gordon’s high-profile supporters do spring up on Well (including Lucinda Williams), but they never overshadow the fact that Gordon is the show (those who’ve seen him at his infrequent Charlotte gigs know what I’m talking about). Plus, if rock aesthete Keith Richards covers one of your songs, you know you’re doing pretty alright all by your lonesome. With The Stereofidelics and Jeffrey Gaines. The Evening Muse

Listen to Kevin Gordon here:

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The Spongetones The name Spongetones sums up these local legends pretty well, methinks. All the members are self-proclaimed sponges for the golden era of pop songwriting and manage to blend these lessons into their own music with laudable results. The “tone” part is obvious to anyone who’s seen them: Guitars function more like paintbrushes, changing the mood or the drive of a piece with a simple flourish. One imagines that playing with each other for the last 25 years (musically, silly) doesn’t hurt. With Cool King Charles. Amos’ SouthEnd

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The self-titled The Marshall Tucker Band, released one year after the band formed, is, to these ears, perhaps the single best non-Allman Southern Rock record ever released. Full of country/jazz interplay between guitarists (and Spartanburg, S.C., natives) George McCorkle and Toy Caldwell (check YouTube for some of Toy’s pick-less workouts), the infamous melodic doodle of flautist Jerry Eubanks, and the combined vocal talents of Tommy Caldwell and Doug Gray, the record is the aural equivalent of a brisk walk through a Carolina pine forest, with the promise of a couple cold ones and a hot homemade meal at the other end. Unfortunately, time and toil took their toll on the group over the years to come – Tommy died from a car crash, Toy of heart disease and McCorkle of cancer. Like most of the compadres in the genre, the group has soldiered on (indeed, a few members were Vietnam vets) and still play triple-digit shows a year, despite Gray’s lone wolf status as the only original member. Neighborhood Theatre

Athens, Ga.’s Maserati, like the car they’re named after, can accelerate and stop on a dime, and handle all the tricky curves in between. It’s evolved from something of a post-punk, math-mad mob into something much deeper, both in depth of scope and squall of sound: a Krautrock-spiked, drone-drunk psychedelic stompbox with the smarts to know when to rein it in, and the stones to know when to put the pedal(s) to the (heavy) metal. With Fin Fang Foom, Kiss Kiss, Ultimate Optimist. The Milestone

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