Flanfire

Heathens Go Up in Smoke!
















Colin Brooks, Gordy Quist, John Chipman, Seth Whitney, and Ed Jurdi;
the dapper Mark Addison joins the band for some special numbers.

Dertybird, Black Water Gospel, and Drew Smith and his big band had been smokin' the audience all night long on Saturday at Momo's Club, but things got REALLY HOT on the very first song by the Band of Heathens (playing without keyboardist Brian Keane, who is busy getting ready for a New Zealand tour with Patrice Pike and with preparations for his second Austin CD, which a smiling Jon Patillo informed me will be on the Fat Caddy label).

The band was rockin' - with Colin Brooks, Gordy Quist, and Ed Jurdi blazing away on guitars and singing their hearts out when -- all of a sudden, there was this smell of smoke ... and SNAP! CRACKLE! POP! the Momo's motherboard was history. The hard-working George DeVore was looking a little like Dr. Emmett Brown for the rest of the evening ... but it wasn't his fault.



Quickly, though, the three songwriters regrouped and got out their acoustic guitars (and Colin's resonator), guest drummer John Chipman pulled his snare out (and later a small tom he placed between his knees), and bassist Seth Whitney kept his bass plugged in but turned down ... and the guys sang through an amazing set without vocal amplication. It was getting a little chilly anyway, so no one complained when the garage doors that lead out to the rooftop patio were closed -- and the club itself showed its shipworthiness as every single word could be heard in the farthest corners of the room with all of the tenderness, pathos and occasional humor that the artists intended. Shiny-headed (like me) Mark Addison joined in to lead the band on "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" that rather completed the Kerrville-like feel of this very special evening.

The acoustic set began with the old Texas prison song, "Cane on the Brazos," and then Brooks set the tone for the evening with his ode to "Cornbread," and later silenced even the tiniest whispers with a chilling rendition of his murder ballad, "Hanging Tree." Both Quist and Jurdi seemed to pull songs out of the woodwork all evening (their big electrified band hits fell off the night's playlist in favor of songs like "Sweet Virginia" and "One More Step to the Promised Land") -- and encored (sorta) with yet another gospel song (yep, even Heathens sing gospel).

I totally missed Dertybird, but later visited with JT Holt, who played bass on three cuts on Papa Mali's new CD (and was in his band for 2 years). JT, who with his brother Ben owns The Nest studio in north Austin, noted that his grandparents and other relatives lost their homes in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and said that playing with New Orleans legends on Papa Mali's "Do Your Thing" CD was a special grace to him. I look forward to hearing this band live.

Black Water Gospel started the evening with seven (I think I counted right) songs that they have virtually finished up recording for their forthcoming CD that will be out later this year. Matt Mollica hauled his Hammond B-3 onto the stage and contributed to the band's very emotion-tugging set that included the stunning "Conspiracy Road" plus "Big Black Cadillac," "Gold Mine," and "Fool's Gold" and added in "Take It All" and a couple of other older songs, too.

Drew Smith brought out his Vegas act complete with longtime collaborator Matt Russell on keyboards (WOW!), Ryan Bowman on bass, and Kyle Thompson on drums -- plus a horn section with Pat Hurd on trombone, David Renter on sax, and Brian Shaw on trumpet. I will have to write more later, because I was just into feeling the music and not paying real close attention until they started doing Stevie Wonder. Drew's vocals kept getting stronger the longer he was on stage (sometimes with his guitar), and other first-time hearers turned their heads toward the stage to pay closer attention (just as I was doing the same).