Jill Fisher, Duluth Reader
Saturday, May 11, the Curmudgeon and I took in a three-band show at Wussow’s Concert Café at the invitation of Matt Sayles and the Driftless Revelers. The band, which has come to be a regular act traveling up to Duluth from Eau Claire, Wisconsin, opened with their usual set of amusing and musical commentary on all things silly, sacrilegious and subtlely profound. (You’d never guess from this set how fine Matt’s vocal qualities are and how seriously soulful his compositions are as evidenced by the CDs of his I’ve listened to.) I’ve reviewed this band before and its 2022 CD American Fork Standards and now they’ve released a new one: Live at the Slowpoke Lounge. This live recording captures a new assortment of the band’s wacky songs, anecdotes and non-sequitur dialogue they are known for. At this gig, their pal Misisipi Mike joined in for a few songs, including his infamous original “Tattoo.”
The next band to play was Davey and the Midnights which is presently based in Indianapolis, Indiana, but which was formed in 2017 in Los Angeles, California. It was stated that this gig was their first ever in Minnesota. The foursome—Davey Allen (keys and lead vocals), Mike Wilson (electric guitar), Corey Dawson (bass) and Mike Sanson (drums)—have the Americana genre in their bones and demonstrated it masterfully during their nine-song set of both traditional covers and original compositions. Some incorporated sounds of New Orleans/ Dixieland jazz (a bit reminiscent of Dr. John and Randy Newman). “Patti Your Hair Is One Fire” is based on a true incident involving Patti Smith and “Nights With Lucinda” is a tale referencing Lucinda Williams. Their original number “The Meter Maid” enumerates all the jobs one would rather do than to be a meter maid who does nothing but give out parking tickets. Very clever with its simultaneously humorous and serious lyrics. They ended their set with “Talkin’ ‘Bout My Generation.”
Third up this evening was the ever-popular Saltydog which I’ve reviewed several times previously. They began with their well-known original songs “Barfly” and “You On Me” but some wonderful instrumentals made up most of their set. Saltydog has certainly explored jamming, seamlessly flowing from one tune to the next. All in all it was a worthwhile outing to Wussow’s.
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