MetaChat - Roots fans: Allow me to recommend the Brian McGee band (an Asheville band!)

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28 July 2006

Roots fans: Allow me to recommend the Brian McGee band (an Asheville band!) →[More:]

post by: Miko at: 13:41 | 8 comments

On Wednesday I was walking through Market Square and saw this fairly crunchy-looki youngng guy sitting on a bench, playing old-time fiddle tunes. I got excited because I'm hoping to find some people to play old-time with around here. So I went up and asked him "Do you live around here?"

He drawled out "No, ma'am -- I'm from North Carolina."

We chatted for a minute and just as I was walking away he called out "hey, my band's playin' tomorrow night!"

So I got up a few people to go see them, and they turned out to be just fantastic. Way better than their MySpace samples would lead one to believe. They sound closest to Old Crow Medicine Show, but their range is broader - some howling low-country blues, some true old-time, some classic country-and-western, Johnny Cash and Hank Williams stuff. The fiddler, Darin Gentry, is one of the best tune players I've ever heard. Energetic and raw and rootsy without being overly screechy and saw-y - skilled, but melodic, not flashy. The other nice thing is that they've got an occasional standup bass player who actually lives here, and she can sing an excellent mellow harmony line. More dimension for them.

Brian, the guitarist and vocalist and songwriter, apparently was in a fairly successful punk outfit in the DC area called Plow United in the 90s. I don't know from that, but maybe some of you do.

So y'all hanger-outers in Asheville should go see them whenever you can.

Once again, this announcement brought to you by your local indie-roots publicist, Miko Inc. Support your local music scene!

posted by Miko 28 July | 13:48

Clicking on the link gets me "Invalid Friend ID. This user has either cancelled their membership, or their account has been deleted."

:(

posted by mudpuppie 28 July | 13:49

Here?

posted by danostuporstar 28 July | 14:01

Hey, they're at "Jack of the Wood" on Saturday the 5th. :)

posted by danostuporstar 28 July | 14:03

Yeah -- dano's got it. I don't know what went wrong with my link. Sorry.

posted by Miko 28 July | 14:04

I love that "hell is open all night" tune.

posted by danostuporstar 28 July | 14:11

Yeah, me too dano, and really, their sound was so much better live than in these samples. If you like these even a little bit you'll like them a lot in person. The fiddling is fantastic stuff, and these tracks don't do Brian's voice justice. He can howl, growl, and wail.