Review: Red Dirt Party, Day 2

At a time when a homogenized pop-princess like Taylor Swift is ruling its roost, it's safe to say that country music these days is anything you hear on country radio.

Fans of traditional country music, however, have other standards, and some of those standards have more to do with the style of the music and the content of the lyrics than whether or not a singer wears a cowboy hat and sports a belt buckle the size of Gideon's bible.

Saturday night, the Beaumont Club hosted the second night of its two-show Red Dirt Party, a showcase of bands and songwriters who honor several traditions: outlaw country, alternative country or whatever name might imply anything but commercial country, which in so many cases is merely rock or pop song with a fiddle in the middle.

Photos by Chuck France/Special to The Star 

The evening's scheduled headliner, Jack Ingram, backed out of the  lineup, which may explain the size of the crowd: a barely respectable 600 or more. Without Ingram, it was up to Jason Boland & the Stragglers and the rest of the lineup to take up the slack, which they did for the most part. By the time they hit the meat of their set, the floor before them was crowded and there was some dancing and singing-along going on. 

Red Dirt Country gets its name from the color of the soil in its birthplace, Oklahoma. It has dozens of founders, pioneers and inventors, all of whom have different styles but common traits, especially its roots in blue-collar, working-class themes, and, somewhat ironically, its frat-boy appeal.  

Boland is one of the mainstays of the genre and he exemplifies how diverse its sounds can be. Much of his music is closer to traditional country -- the sounds of Alan Jackson and George Strait -- than to some Red Dirt bands with a heavier blues/Southern rock influence (like Cross Canadian Ragweed). He can also flash some resemblances to Townes Van Zandt, as he did in the ode to Austin, "Comal County Blue"; and to Charlie Daniels or Commander Cody, as he did during "Truckstop Diaries."

His set included several covers, including Merle Haggard's "Rainbow Stew"; Stoney LaRue's "Shot Full of Holes"; and Don Williams' "Tulsa Time."

He bit the hand that is feeding him in "Hank," which declares that Nashville and country radio these days would reject a guy like Hank Williams Sr. (Country radio station Q-104 was promoting this show). He also delivered  the requisite party anthems, like "When I'm Stoned" and "The Party's Not Over," plus two songs about God, sin and redemption: "Backslider Blues" and "Bottle By My Bed."

Boland is backed by a stout four-piece band that arranges his songs in traditional-country fashion: mandolin, fiddle, pedal steel. By the time they'd hit the third song in their set, the guys at the controls had the sound going as good as it would get all night, which was better than average.

 
For the two preceding performers, Mark McKinney (above) and Sam Sliva, the sound was rough and murky. McKinney brought a sound that owes much to Steve Earle's renegade days, particularly his hard country/rock period (the "Copperhead Road" and "The Hard Way" albums). He's got some John Cougar in his mix, too, which came out strongest in his working-class anthem, ""Middle America." His other big moment: "Party Foul," which lists a few good-time commandments ("Don't spill your beer / Don't kiss and tell ...")

Sliva and his band the Good flashed several styles of rock, pop and country -- a sound that's overall more Americana than Red Dirt (the Counting Crows popped into mind once). Their cover of Steve Earle's "I Ain't Ever Satisfied" was a highlight of his set and the entire evening. 

| Timothy Finn, The Star

Comments

[Scott]

We need a new country radio station in this town.

[Chapel Hill Homes]

This is a very interesting article. Thanks for sharing this!
Chapel Hill Homes

[Sara]

Great article! I found it interesting that Q104 sponsored the event, but really had no presence there (not that I'm complaining), especially as they don’t support the Red Dirt music scene like 106.5 does with their Sunday night Kansas City Limits show.

One small correction – “Shot Full of Holes” isn’t a cover – it’s on Boland’s Truckstop Diaries – Stoney and Jason wrote that song together. :)

[musicfan]

I went to Friday night's show and kept waiting for somebody from Q104 to come onstage and say SOMEthing, anything, to own their sponsorship, but apparently not. I'm not complaining either, by the way.

I did comment at the time that Q104 would never play any music by ANY of the bands (and there were 5!) on the bill that night so it was kind of an ironic evening...And yes, we DO need a new country music radio station here.

[Leigh M.]

Umm..what happened to a review from Part One? :)

The lack of anyone from Q104 being there was disappointing. I'm glad they sponsored it, but...

[tim finn]

umm ... we picked one night. thought jack ingram was the better night, then he canceled and it was too late to change plans.

[Leigh M.]

One of these maybe you can come review a Wade Bowen show. You don't know what you are missing!

[Steve]

People who listen to country music radio do no want to listen to acts like this, so would you need a new station?

[Scott]

Steve people do listen to these bands, maybe not to the numbers of a Taylor Swift but there is a following.

I think what we're saying is have a country station that is a little more open, q104 is very successful, you cant knock them to hard, they have done very well at what they do, they are a staple of the new sound of country but its just that, its a new sound, its big on the show, its big on looks, whats left behind is the good old country boy music. We get a pop country hybrid but when you get close its kinda empty, these new guys dont have a pickup, they dont have a ranch, the only pair of boots they have are the ones they wear on stage.

It would be nice to have a station that would be open to some of this new music, sure the crowds were low at these shows, they had no support, the people that did go went on word of mouth. Why cant these bands be played, why cant Neko Case be played, sure its a little different, but you cant tell me people wont like it, please, they will, but the big boys dont like risk when things are running smooth, beside, taylor is so pretty, look at her, so pretty and she is gonna clean up at the grammys. Oh well, not like Kansas City knows anything about radio anyway.

[musicfan]

Jack DOES put on a great show (I just saw him two weeks ago at Billy Bob's) so I can see why Night 2 was the one you went with. However, I have now seen Wade Bowen three times and LOVE his stuff...great songwriting, awesome band, works hard, plus he seems like a really nice guy. Hopefully, you'll be able to catch him the next time he's in town.

And I can't remember the last time I listened to the radio...

[Brad Rice]

There's just not enough money to be made off of guys like us. We're not mass marketable, we're not really face guys, and Jason writes all of his own material. So there's no kickback to staffed label writers, or no greasing the palms of program directors to play our "hits". We've been passed over more than a few times by Nashville labels, but that's ok. We figured out a long time ago we're not buying what they're selling, and vice versa. Our fans have had to seek us out for years, slowly growing our grass roots movement one at a time. There's been no overnight success for The Stragglers, but the seeds we've planted over the miles have provided fruit for us to pick for years to come. You can't really get there (and feel good about it) with the backstabbing monopoly that is country radio and their record labels. Bands that blow up overnight have a tendency to fade away just as fast. The sponsorship of Q104 on Saturday was laughable, at best. They're no idiots, they see the current popularity of this scene. By hosting that show, now they "support" red dirt music...they're associated with it now. I hope the newfound friendship lasts, but I won't be holding my breath. On the positive side, with their help, we had pretty much the biggest KC crowd ever for us, I'm sorry it was so dissapointing for the writer. Haha!!!!!

[generic viagra]

I've always liked the country genre, now with the new country singer Taylor Swift took the country feel more strength in adolescence and we are taking a liking to the country. I hate when some get their record and say it's country because you have a violin and not be heard almost. I love the country!

[lv delightful]

umm ... we picked one night. thought jack ingram was the better night, then he canceled and it was too late to change plans.

[Paul from Silver Coast Finest]

I love country music,,so cool to listen to..^_^