Tonight is folk night at The End with bluegrass rowdies The Thank You Ma’ams, gypsy folkies Honey Locust, Kentucky singer/songwriter Kelsey Waldon and Indiana’s Carpenter & Clerk. The Deli’s particularly glad to see The Thank You Ma’ams play in Nashville; unfortunately, it’s easy to go unnoticed hiding out in Murfreesboro. The band’s Handkerchief EP, released almost a year ago, is worth a listen or five if you haven’t heard it.
Who says you can’t tackle ramshackle folk with precision? The Thank You Ma’ams do by dressing up the record’s opener, “Miles and Miles of Nothing but Miles and Miles,” with vocal harmonies worthy of Fleet Foxes, and punctuating new-grass “Devil Knows It’s True” with a jaw harp (Taylor Lonardo). The off-kilter crack in Greg Stephen’s lilt adds some charm to these old-timey/new-timey romps that emulate equal parts of The Avett Brothers (found in the lyrical back-and-forth between details and repetition) and The Legendary Shack Shakers (found in their unbridled enthusiasm).
The Deli’s favorite? This little verse from the opening track: “Well you could help me understand/Why I’m such a lonely man/Why my memories are tangled/And my dreams don’t make sense/Why this life seems so short/Yet this life seems so long/Why there doesn’t seem to be/Any right or any wrong.” Or “Jubilee,” as beautiful and romantic a song about a prostitute as Ryan Adams’ “Tiny Toledo” is abrasive and sexy. Infectious banjo fingerplucking (Hank Parker Pruett) and guitar sweep through the lyrics like water. Listen to it below and come out to The End tonight. 9 p.m, $5. – Jessica Pace