Photo by Michella Pace
J-Roddy Walston and The Business is a mouthful for an alt-country band opening for Shooter Jennings & Hierophant Friday night. J-Roddy trekked here from Baltimore to play some rowdy key- pounding, Skynard-like tunes, which was enough to please a circle of dancing audience members up front. There were a lot of boots, denim and long, tangled hair flying (except for on the drummer, who must have a day job), and the enthusiasm gave the foursome a down-home charisma even if the songs were running together towards the end of the set.
By this time, a packed venue was pumped and waiting for Shooter, whose set commenced with a recording of dialogue by Stephen King. It was difficult to hear over a boisterous crowd, but on Hierophant’s concept album “Black Ribbons,” released in spring of this year, King provides narration as Will O’ The Wisp, a DJ broadcasting his final show before government regulation infiltrates the airwaves.
The accompanying music is just as ominous; on parts of “Black Ribbons,” Jennings moves from his country genes towards dark and entrancing psychedelic rock. It’s still alive with whiskey-sour riffs, but they’re blanketed by some eerie keyboard work and drilling guitars which, when paired with Jennings’ dark, throaty vocals, sounds kind of like electrified Tom Waits, and many “Black Ribbon” songs are made poignant by one particular instrument, be it the shrill pounding of a key or the cold, hollow pop of the snare.
But then the foreboding air lifted after the first two songs and, to the delight of all the Waylon fans in the crowd, buoyant and hard-driving country rock was back and Jennings was singing “kiss my ass goodbye” in “Manifesto No. 1.” He presents the multiple facets of the album, alternating melancholic psych-rock with up-tempo country rock all while singing the blues, and balanced things out when he announced that he would be playing one for “all the Waylon Jennings fans” before beginning “Rainy Day Woman.”
If you hear an album as powerful as “Black Ribbons” for the first time live, the recording can have less of an impact. But luckily the set, which lasted for a solid two hours, was filmed and sold with the merch, so every song and Jennings’ repetition of how glad he was to be back home in Nashville was caught on tape. – Jessica Pace