Battle of the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Bands at Theatre 80

I suppose this is straightforward enough. A battle of the bands featuring twelve bluegrass artists, though some were not quite what you'd call traditional (see Gangstagrass, which is exactly what you think it is). The audience voted for the top three. The finalists played one more song and the judges picked a winner: The Dive Bar Dukes. Congratulations ladies and fellers!

Posted: 2/20/2011 at 10:04am     Tags: Alex Battles and the Whiskey Rebellion  Battle of the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Bands  Gangstagrass  The Dive Bar Dukes 

Nervous Assistant at Metropolis Vintage

The "punk-folk" band is an interesting concept. Some people would say that O'Death, who play gothick-y songs with a lot of energy, are in this category. Then there is Nervous Assistant, a guy named Johnny who sings about being poor, being drunk, being despised, and generally being punk. Also, he covers Cocksparrer and Descendents songs. The result? He wears his voice out almost every show.

Posted: 2/16/2011 at 6:58pm     Tags: boots  Metropolis Vintage  Nervous Assistant  punk-folk 

The Dust Busters at Southpaw

I'm not sure whether this is a photoset of a rootsy folk band called The Dust Busters or of an impressively complex mic setup. There were so many mics I couldn't shoot around them! I guess that's what happens when everyone in the band sings and most of the instruments need to be mic-ed as well.

Posted: 2/6/2011 at 6:23pm     Tags: Jackson Lynch  Southpaw  The Dust Busters  too many mics 

The Calamity Janes at Southpaw

The Calamity Janes performed on the large Southpaw stage and hardly made use of it, the reason being that they used a traditional (?) single-mic setup and everyone sings backing vocals on most of the songs. I don't think I have ever seen a musical group take the "group" part so literally. In the future they will be billed as New York's densest old-timey band, as well as probably its youngest, and quite possibly its best.

Posted: 2/5/2011 at 7:41pm     Tags: literal group  Southpaw  The Calamity Janes