Review: Blue Mountain

 

Above: Country isn't Blue Mountain's only alternative. It also plays some hearty electric blues. From left: Cary Hudson, Frank Coutch and Laurie Stirratt. Photos by Timothy Finn/The Star

Most bands who launch a come-back tour are returning from something bigger than obscurity. Not Blue Mountain.

Born in the early 1990s during the alt-country renaissance -- it was on the second-ever cover of No Depressionmagazine -- the trio from Oxford, Miss., earned a fair share of critical acclaim but never generated the popularity of some of its peers: Uncle Tupelo, the Jayhawks, Old 97s and Whiskeytown.

 

Above: Cary Hudson and his Gibson.

In summer of 2007, the band reunited, five years after its farewell show. Thursday night, the band brought that tour to Knuckleheads. About 50 people paid $8 (or $10 at the door) to see a show that would last nearly three hours (intermission included) and take the diehards back to the pre-digital era.

Cary Hudson is the band's defacto leader. His forte is what he does with his battered/aged Gibson Les Paul: play lots of stylish rhythms and leads. Blue Mountain may be branded alt-country, but the country it comes from is also famous for the Delta blues and Blue Mountain honors that tradition, too. Several times, like during "Midnight in Mississippi," it sounded more like the Black Keys than the Jayhawks. And during the rampaging "Bloody 98," he sounded something like Dylan & the Scorchers.

 

Above: Laurie Stirratt. Her twin brother is a bass player, too.

The better moments, though, came when Hudson and his bassist (and ex-spouse) Laurie Stirratt sang together, like during "Blue Canoe,"which is as archetypal an alt-country song as any. Both need to develop some stage presence; there were some long and nearly uncomfortable moments of silence between songs as Hudson tuned his guitar.

The setlist included oldies and other newbies from the "Midnight in Mississippi" album, which was released in August: "Butterfly," "Snow in Mississippi," "Lakeside," "Soul Sister," "Sleeping In My Shoes." The audience was attentive and respectful all night, even during the new songs, some of which is less than memorable. A lot of people in the room (me included) seemed to be most  familiar with the "Dog Days" album and were seeing this band for the first time. To us, this show was as much an introduction as it was a reunion.

| Timothy Finn, The Star

Comments

[onthemark]

Very enjoyable evening, and easily worth the $10 cover. I thought the band started off just a bit slow, but 4-5 songs into their first set they seemed to catch their groove. More than a few times I was pretty much blown away with Cary's guitar stylings, and for a 3 piece band they generated a lot of sound! It would have been nice had there been a litle stage patter, perhaps introducing the songs or just talking to the crowd. Pretty intimate feeling show though, and everyone got a laugh at whomever it was that perfectly imitated the chirp of a cricket during one of the quiet times between songs!

[Keith in KC]

The band did indeed start off a bit slow. I thought the first song was part of the sound check as the band was a bit tardy arriving at Knuckleheads and there was no real introduction to start the show. But it's good to see such a fine band back in action.

I was hoping for a bigger crowd (the band truly deserves it) and was a tad disappointed that the band didn't play my favorite Blue Mountain song, "Let's Ride," from the awesome DOG DAYS cd, but overall a pretty good show, and lordy, can that Cary Hudson play the guitar!