Shooter Jennings & Hierophant - J. Roddy Walston & the Business -- State Theater - Sep 26 2010

J. Roddy Walston & the Business - Baltimore's own is touring around with Shooter Jennings, before linking up with Deer Tick in a few weeks. Both are good fits, but this one may be a bit better. Walston plays keyboards and sings lead with the usual rock trio around him. There is plenty of back-up vocals, too, in fact a bit too much vocals in the sound tonight. The drums also lacked some pop, although it was a bit better when I moved back a bit. The music was hot and exciting. Rocking, crazy barroom band styled numbers that slid into blues or Americana quite comfortably. They covered Little Richard's "Lucille" which does befit a good energized bar band. Small crowd tonight, but they did get into this band more than I thought they would so we are off to a good start.

Shooter Jennings & Hierophant - Ah, the son of Waylon Jennings who I saw in high school so many decades ago. I hear he is fairly creative and tough to pigeon hole, but even that did not prepare me for this set. He plays guitar, piano and moog and has a lead guitarist, bass, drummer, and keyboardist (organ mostly) backing him up. They come on to a DJ sample preparing for the apocalypse (of radio probably) by introducing this band. Then they play a song that reminds me of Nine Inch Nails more recent works. Intense, loud and emotional an then some. The second cut was more basic rock but nice. Next was a 3-vocal, 2-guitar scorcher. Maybe Joe Cocker, sans rasp with more killer players. Spiritualized anyone? Then there was some ramped up country rock. Now they do a song that sounds like the powerful old UK band, Steamhammer even with the vocals. Next one reminds me of Black Mountain if they were from Austin. Next, a moog intro expands into some sort of progressive opus. Man, I cannot keep up with this. And by the way, it's all great. These guys rock and the songs are really easy to get into with lots going on. Apparently, some of the crowd can't keep up either, as it seems to be thinning out a bit--at least the elder club denizens. I believe he covers his father, although I didn't pick up on the song (like I did Friday night) and the guitarist takes a turn on pedal steel. He even encored with a solo acoustic guitar effort. Man, I am so not regretting passing up on Shonen Knife now. I just find it a bit sad that this was a mismatch between band and club. It would have torn the Rock'n'Roll Hotel apart, I think, although I did like the blast coming out of the PA tonight. I hope he finds his audience and does not give up on these creative moves. There are few bands that sound like this and it is a killer sound.

Quote of the Night: Pretty quiet, so I am reminded of that Hara Arena (Dayton, OH) show I went to in about 1976 with Waylon Jennings, Jessi Colter (Shooter's parents) and some up and comer named Hank Williams, Jr. As tired as I am of hearing Hank sing the Monday Night Football theme the past forever years, I would rather do that than discuss politics with him based on his recent infamous quote...
"If it wasn't for the Electoral College, Obama wouldn't be president," he said. "Let's face it. That's the problem right there."

 And not to Google Ads... Can you not discern between political points and making fun of political points? Who is programming your artificial intelligence, Hank Williams, Jr.?  For the record folks, Google Ads chooses all ads, not me.