In these winter months, we all gravitate toward things that give us warmth, comfort, and stability: home, family, big blankets, glasses of bourbon, and sure – why not – some good ole, goddamn, soul-caressing country and blues. Levee Drivers‘s August John Lutz II is here to rub warmth back into the fingers and toes of your inner being with a solo performance at Bourbon & Branch this Friday for his "Big Damn Holiday Brawl." His comfortingly familiar contemporary take on old-fashioned folk and blues stems from the tradition of Johnny Cash, Hank Williams and other country-western cult figures. Lutz’s full-bodied voice explores a large vocal range reaching low to the gravelly Cash frequencies, as well as soaring with a forced strain into a Robin Pecknold-slanted crescendo. His songs explore recognizable feelings of heartbreak, reminiscence, yearning, and spiritual catharsis that pick you up like a hitchhiker on a long, lonely road and fill you with dusty reflections and secondhand longing. Joining Lutz for this night of rich ambience will be Dirty Dollhouse and Brian Dale Allen Strouse (of The Lawsuits). Bourbon & Branch, 705 N. 2nd St., 9pm, $10, 21+ (Photo by Lisa Schaffer) – Bryce Woodcock
