Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash @ Club Iota

On Saturday March 29th, we made sure we attended the Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash show at Club Iota in Arlington Virginia. We started following this band after hearing Austin Nights on XM Radio X Country. This song describes Mark Stuart's - the band's frontman- initial foray into the Austin music scene. His feelings are easy to relate to: "They don't play Joe Ely where I come from." And now the band had finally ventured East.

Wink Keziah opened the show with an acoustic set playing without his full band, the Delux Motel. Mark Stuart produced his current release, Working Songs for the Drinking Class. Wait to you hear "A Hot Woman A Cold Beer" - a great song. During his performance I noticed a generation gap when he tried to get the crowd to participate in a sing along - with Lowell George's Willin'. However, it didn't appear that the younger crowd had ever heard this classic - so Wink sung alone.

From their very first song the BSJC were incredibly crisp - probably excited about playing the last show of the tour. Vance Hazen and Jon Lewis were solid on bass and drums, and Mark Stuart has tremendous stage presence, but Lars Albrecht on the telecaster was amazing. The band rocked. They started with originals from their first three CDs (Walk Alone, Distance Between, and Mile Markers), including Austin Nights, but mixed in a few songs from their next release. Wait to you hear this CD - these news songs were rockin'. By the end of the night, the entire club was dancing and when they covered The Blaster's Marie Marie - it was a frenzy. What a night.

In the coming months Wink Keziah and the Delux Motel are playing in several venues throughout his home state of North Carolina. A road trip will probably be planned. And the BSJC will be playing primarily on the West Coast - but if you find yourself in Iowa the end of this month - catch Mark Stuart acoustic shows with Randy Burk and Jared Hall from Randy Burk and the Prisoners.