Saturday, October 19th, 2019. BLACKFOOT GYPSIES AT RICHMOND MUSIC
HALL. Doors at 7pm, Music at 8pm. Blackfoot Gypsies
at Richmond Music Hall
Saturday, October 19th, 2019
Doors at 7pm, Music at 8pm
$10 ADV, $12 DOS
The Blackfoot Gypsies have unleashed a set of original roadhouse
rockin' tunes with To the Top, on Plowboy Records. The Nashville,
Tennessee based powerhouse quartet demonstrate raucous energy and soul
on this collection delivering their take on white-knuckled
rock'n'roll.
Across the 15 tracks of To the Top, the Blackfoot Gypsies fuse their
influences -- swamp blues cool, downhome hillbilly funk and homegrown
punk panache -- into a lean, mean machine invoking such classic
musical malcontents as the Rolling Stones, the Faces and Mott the
Hoople, while sparking and spitting 21st-century fire. It's the type
of record that could only come from a band that learned to rock the
old-fashioned way -- one sweaty, full-throttle live performance at a
time.
The band's brew of rock, hillbilly and blues began in 2010 when Oregon
native, guitarist and singer Matthew Paige moved to Nashville and
hooked up with drummer and Music City native Zach Murphy. The pair
wanted to form a full band, but the urge to rock could not wait.
"We were doing just what we wanted to do," Paige says, "but making
enough noise to fill out the sound was a challenge. I started playing
through two amps to make the most sound."
The pair spent the next two years building a reputation through
raucous live performances and two self-released EPs, Blackfoot Gypsies
(2010) and Dandee Cheeseball (2011), and their first LP, On the Loose
(2012). Hard touring followed the album's release as the duo bashed
across the US through hard-won club dates. After three years, they
were ready to expand their sound.
"There's really only so much you can do with a two-piece," Murphy
says. "You have to do everything in extreme. I think we were too much
for some people -- just a violent onslaught of noise."
They soon completed their expanded line-up when bass player Dylan
Whitlow and harmonica master extraordinaire Ollie Dogg arrived within
weeks of each other. Whitlow, a Gettysburg, Pennsylvania native and a
veteran of several Nashville rock bands, had crossed paths with Paige
and Murphy before, but Nashville native Ollie Dogg was new to the rock
'n' roll scene. He was a longtime veteran of Nashville's blues
community and a regular at many blues jams, but joining a band full
time was a new experience.
"My cousin told me about the band," Ollie Dogg says. "I met them a
couple of weeks later, and played with them. They just told me to be
loose. That's how I like to play, loose -- just take it and make it
work. I've been playing with them ever since."
With the line-up complete, they entered the studio and laid down ten
tracks of butt-shakin' country-blues rock. Released in April 2015 by
Plowboy Records, Handle It delivered a mix of juke joint blues, front
porch pickin' and snotty-nosed rock 'n' roll, positioning the group as
inheritors of a fine pedigree, from Bo Diddley to the Black Crowes.
Long nights tearing up the road followed as the band shared bills with
the Alabama Shakes, Drivin' N' Cryin', the Carolina Chocolate Drops,
Trampled by Turtles and many others. They toured throughout the US and
wowed European audiences on their first international tour.
After sharpening their sound through hundreds of live performances,
the band headed for Electric Kite Studio in Madison, Tennessee.
Working with engineer Matt Stager and armed with 15 original tunes,
the Blackfoot Gypsies self- produced their new album, To the Top. They
also recruited some notable musical assistance from some of
Nashville's finest musicians, including backup vocals from red-hot
country queen Margo Price, Spencer Cullum, Jr. (Steelism) on steel
guitar, Micah Hulscher on piano, Alexis Saski on background vocals,
Taylor Powell and Shannon Pollard assisting on drums, and Paul
Thacker, Diego Vasquez and Joe Hunter supplying horn section support.
The album was mixed by Joe Funderburk at Creative Workshop.
To the Top wastes no time making it perfectly clear that the Blackfoot
Gypsies are locked and loaded to rock. The album opens with a powerful
statement of purpose in a trio of pedal-to-the-metal rockers. "I'm So
Blue," "Everybody's Watching" and "Promise to Keep" all roar with an
explosive energy worthy of the early ' 70s Rolling Stones or the
Faces, while demonstrating that the Blackfoot Gypsies wear their
inspirations on their sleeves without falling into the trap of
pointless imitation.
The band slows things down a bit with "Potatoes and Whiskey," a rough
-- cut slice of honky-tonk featuring Margo Price on backing vocals.
Next they hop on a sanctified express train for the balling-the-jack
anthem "I Had a Vision," followed by the Big Easy groove of "Back to
New Orleans," a song perfect for second-line dancing anytime or
anyplace.
Hitting their stride midway through the record, the Blackfoot Gypsies
alternate rockers ("Lying Through Your Teeth," "I Wanna Be Famous,"
"She Was Mine" and "Warning") with songs demonstrating the band's
versatility, with the hillbilly swing of "Velvet Low Down Blues," the
Dylan-esque country ruckus of "Woman Woman" and the sublime juke joint
jam of "I Got the Blues."
Wrapping up with the primal kick and Bo Diddley beat of "Gypsy Queen"
and the lightly glam-seasoned back-to-basics haymaker "Why Should I
Cry," the disc is a complex and masterful blend of rock, blues and
hillbilly stomp sure to please the most discriminating palate and send
the most reluctant feet to the dance floor.
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20/10/2019 Last update