poor man's whiskey

Hot Buttered Rum were great when I saw them in April, but the band’s Saturday night at the Fox Theatre in Boulder bettered even that stellar spring concert. The night started off strong with an impressive set by San Francisco’s Poor Man’s Whiskey, who actually came to the floor in front of the stage and played their first song fully acoustic. This simple gesture would set the mood for the rest of the night, as there seemed to be no audience-and-performer split, the crowd melding into members of one large family.

Poor Man’s Eli Jebidiah rocked a pair of aviator shades with a bindi on the bridge, carrying the band into the ethereal away from bluegrass with his hypnotizing guitar licks. Josh Brough, complete with beard and ponytail, showed me something I’ve never seen before: hand trumpeting on stage. His ability to shift styles and play and sing melodic ballads was as impressive as his banjo picking.



Jason Beard brought plenty of character with his playing though animated facial expression, and George Smeltz is an impressive drummer. Bass player Aspen even celebrated his birthday during the show, making it obvious he was having as much fun as the rest of his bandmates. - heyreverb.com

by Ryan Rudnansky on March 17, 2010
One of bluegrass rock’s best kept secrets, Poor Man’s Whiskey, will be coming to Mt. Tabor Theater on Friday. The Bay Area-based quintet is best known along the West Coast for its “high-octane hootenannies” and the Darkside of the Moonshine laser light shows, where they dress up as characters from the Wizard of Oz and play the timeless albums bluegrass-style.
Guitarist/mandolin player Eli Jebidiah spoke with OMN via phone from his hometown, Santa Rosa, CA, before the show.
How did you guys start out?
Originally Jason [Beard, guitar/mandolin] and Josh [Brough, vocals/banjo] and I were playing music together in college. We all went to UC Santa Barbara. Jack Johnson, who was a friend of ours, went to school with us, as well as the guys from the Animal Liberation Orchestra. We went our separate ways after college then reformed. Jason and Josh got Poor Man’s Whiskey going while I was traveling abroad. That came out of them playing together in this electric project. They started getting more gigs playing bluegrass instruments. When I got back in town it just kept progressing. We then started gravitating back to electric instruments so we’ve got kind of this hybrid of acoustic rock-based sound with electric guitars, organs, theremins, and other instruments you don’t usually associate with bluegrass music.
Your MySpace page describes your music as a “high-octane hootenanny.” Would you say that’s the best way to describe it?
Ya, I think that’s the best phrase we found because we don’t usually play traditional bluegrass music per se. What we do is play rock music on bluegrass instruments. It’s a bit of a pendulum. There are times we swing towards traditional acoustic, whether it be folk or singer/songwriter or bluegrass or old-timey. We’re pretty big fans of all those different types of genres.
Which of your influences would you say come through the most in your music?
From the band’s perspective, I think Old & In The Way is one of the early influences. That definitely introduced us to bluegrass music. Also, we spent a lot of time in the jam-rock scene, Allman Brothers and the [Grateful] Dead and stuff like that. We’re also very influenced by the singer/songwriters out there that focus on the craft of the song rather than improv.
You guys have been around for a few years now. Why do you continue to play?
Because we love doing it. It’s tough to make a living on, but what keeps us making personal sacrifices and keeps it going is we love doing it. It really gives us a lot of purpose in our lives.
You seem to have a good time with the audience too when you play live.
Ya, that’s definitely part of it. I mean, ever since we got into it, for us it’s just as much about connecting with the people than it is playing a certain type of music. The night is most often defined by the crowd that comes or the type of energy that’s there. It’s kind of like volleyball, going back and forth with them and I think that’s where all the spontaneity and fun comes from.
You guys have played in Portland a few times now. How would you say Portland defines how you play?
I think we get a great response from Portland. But for us what we’ve noticed is it feels very similar to the vibe we get here in San Francisco and the Bay Area. What we’ve found is Portland loves music and is very supportive of it. We’ve got basically an extended family up there, they go the extra mile. When we go we rarely stay in a hotel just because it’s fun to stay with our friends up there and, if we have an extra day, we try to connect with people just because they’re genuinely passionate about music and it’s a very fertile environment to be in. We get recharged going through Portland specifically because of that.
Your latest album Darkside of the Moonshine is a very complete album and has some great bluegrass covers of Pink Floyd. How happy are you with your latest album?
I’m thrilled. I think it’s the first record that you can still play a lot that we’ve did. It’s honest to what we sound like. We’ve gone through a lot of lineups through our years and a lot of different styles and I think we’ve finally started to settled on what we do and figured out who we are. Our fans know what they’re getting into when they come see us. It used to be string band with no drums and now there’s electric guitars, organs, theremins, and I think a lot of that is demonstrated on our latest album, especially on our original side. As far as what we did with the Pink Floyd side, a lot of that was arranged by Jason. I think it stands up to the original. I’m very proud of it and we’ve had a very positive response to it.
I heard “Poor Man’s Whiskey” is what people called marijuana during the Prohibition Era. Is that right?
Ya, it’s what rural, Southern culture refer to it to as because it was more affordable than whiskey. The name of the band was thought up by Josh and he got it from reading quotes of Mississippi John Hurt.
So he just thought it was a cool name?
For him he spent three years in Peace Corps, and all of us are impacted by what’s going on in the planet, more so than just the U.S. I think in some ways it’s a statement that helps unify and project empathy to all people as opposed to people that got dealt good cards. It has to do with a lot of the hardships Third World countries deal with. Poor Man’s Whiskey is a very blue-collar name in that respect. We are a people’s band and we don’t want there to be any pretense about that.
You guys also did a Haiti benefit at the Mystic Theater (in Petaluma, CA) recently. How did that go?
It was awesome. It ended up raising $9,000 for Haiti, which we are donating to Doctors Without Borders. We were thrilled about it. It was really fun. It was very rewarding and just to see how people came out and rallied for an important cause was very moving. It speaks volumes that a free concert at the Mystic Theater could raise $9,000 just in one night.
There’s a YouTube video of you dancing at the Fillmore in San Francisco on your official site. Would you say you’re the best dancer of the group?
I would say I’m the most spontaneous dancer of the group [laughs]. Jason has pretty sweet ‘80s moves and I would say he knows the Roger Rabbit and the Running Man. Josh does the Worm, he’s pretty good at that. I haven’t seen George [Smeltz, drums/vocals] too much. I know Aspen [Stevenson, bass/vocals] gets down on the bass. But I think maybe my domain is the spontaneous, erratic movements. I don’t know if I’m the smoothest dancer. I’d like to think so but I think my girlfriend would say otherwise [laughs].

You guys are also known for going down on the dance floor at the end of your shows. Do you guys still do that?
Ya, our philosophy is we like to start the show on the floor and we like to end it on the floor. Mostly because it sets the kind of vibe and atmosphere that we’re trying to cultivate, which is intimacy and connection. Also, it’s a nod to where this band came from, an acoustic tonality of having the banjo, guitar, upright bass, and mandolin. That mobility and that sound is really where everything comes from, that’s the seed, and then going up on stage you get all the variations of where that can go and at the end of the night it comes back full circle, ending with a big sing along down on the floor. That just seems like the right place to end the show.
On a side note, which is kind of funny, when we used to have more guys in the band we would have these moments where we would have a hootenanny going and I would offer bluegrass dancing lessons and jump out in the crowd just to get people doing the bluegrass stuff. Even though I didn’t have a clue how to dance bluegrass style, it was a good excuse to leave the stage and hop around with everyone else. We all like doing that before and after [the show] because half the time that’s where we wish we were. That’s where a lot of the fun is.
Do you guys have a favorite song you like to play live?
That changes. We all come from pretty diverse backgrounds. But, boy, at any given time, we’re pretty excited about a different song. We’ll either want to play it or we’ll come up with a cool version on our own or it will turn into something else. It seems to be one of those ceremonious things where we pass the stick. That seems to dictate what’s the flavor of the week.
What would you say your lyrics are mostly about?
Most of our songs deal with things that have happened to us directly. We prefer to write stuff that relates to our personal life experiences. Or it’s storytelling based on people that we’ve met or stories that we’ve heard that we feel relate well to things we care about. A good example is “Easy Come Easy Go.” That’s a song Josh wrote. He picked up a hitchhiker while he was driving to Bolinas to go surf. The guy told him about his life and that ended up being the story of what he was singing about there. A song like “Willie” was written by Jason and Josh and that is a song that expresses what it’s like to be on the road and how it affects them emotionally. Then there’s “Barfly,” which is a new tune, and that is written from the perspective of an actual barfly on the wall at a bar and its observation of the culture coming through the turnstile at the bar.
Any new plans or new albums you are working on now?
Ya, we’re trying to get a venue lined up where we’re going to do a live recording at. Individually, Jason and Josh and I will all have a solo album coming out at some point.
You seem to stand out on the stage with your Elvis sunglasses. How did that come about?
[Laughs] Among other things, it started out as a bad joke. And then it became a battle of personal willpower and I said I was going to wear these for any gig we did. It kept going year after year–I think I had a six-year streak going–and I ended it this year. These days, I use it for the Dorothy costume for the Darkside of the Moonshine [shows]. But I’m enjoying my Elvis glasses retirement. I’m proud to say I was faithful to it for the entire run. It took a lot of effort and a lot of glasses–I think I went through about 50 pairs of those things.
Anything else you would like to add?
We’re super-psyched about playing in Portland. I’m very genuine when I say we have a lot of respect for the music scene in that town and we definitely bring our “A” game there because they know the difference. We are honored and lucky to play for people out there.
—
OMN is proud to announce Eli has agreed to put back on his dusty Elvis shades just for Portland. “For the good ol’ days,” he said, laughing. “It will be my reunion set with the shades.” - Oregon Music News

The highlight of the 2010 Jamboree though was Poor Man’s Whiskey, which by the way permeated the air as the band took the stage. PMW is another one of those bands that Bend is in love with, and I believe the reverse is true as well. They bring their “High-octane Hootenanny” to Central Oregon a couple times a year, and always to 4 Peaks Music Festivals. It’s exciting to see how much PMW has stepped up their game to become one of the most entertaining jambands on the west coast. While they haven’t shed their bluegrass roots completely, they are moving towards a full-blown Rock n Roll show. Following in the early Grateful Dead tradition of an opening acoustic set, PMW likes to draw the crowd in with a couple of unplugged tunes, usually played amongst the audience. PMW has polished their live shows playing such festivals as the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival (CA), Byron Bay Blues and Roots Music Festival (Australia), High Sierra (CA), Telluride Bluegrass Festival (CO), and Las Tortugas Dance of the Dead (CA).Poor Man’s Whiskey is more than just the sum of their parts. They are a very hard-working group of musicians focused on becoming a bigger and better band. They constantly try to up the ante on their musicianship all the while trying to give the best show they can. They deftly moved through originals and covers and back again, ensuring the crowd stayed engaged and attentive to their show. Josh Brough’s (vocals, banjo, organ) lyrics show the maturity of those who came before him, a la Townes Van Zandt. Jason Beard (mandolin, guitars) must be happy he is in a band that allows him emulate both the Allman Brothers and Allison Kraus & Union Station. The steady back end of Aspen (bass, vocals) and George Smeltz (drums, suitcase, vocals) proved they have no problem with country swing, Americana or southern rock. Standing front and center, Eli Jebidiah (guitar, mandolin, theremin, vocals) and his “sun-painted” Taylor made sure PMW stayed with its crowd-pleasing task.As of late, Poor Man’s Whiskey has honed their craft through covering some of their favorite albums. Their Darkside of the Moonshine performances, complete with laser light show, have been captivating audiences for the last couple of years. More recently, PMW performed Old and in the Way with special guests Michael Kang (SCI) and Peter Rowan (Old and in the Way). Tunes from both remakes appeared throughout the night, as well as an Allman Brothers jam and some Tom Petty. The range of covers and originals highlighted PMW’s true music ability. - Jambands.com

Poor Man’s Whiskey will perform the music of Old and in the Way at San Francisco’s Great American Music Hall on May 8. The performance will also feature guest appearance by Old and in the Way’s Peter Rowan and String Cheese Incident’s Michael Kang. Former Relix Jam Off winner Ten Mile Tide will open the night. A note from the band reads:Old and in the Way was a bluegrass super group comprised of Jerry Garcia, David Grisman, Peter Rowan, Vasser Clements, and John Kahn. Their self titled album, released in 1975, has influenced a generation of artists over a wide spectrum of musical genres. Many musicians, including members of PMW, cite this album as their introduction to bluegrass music. Poor Man’s Whiskey will feature and an all star cast of bay area musicians to join them for the night in celebrating the music of this landmark album. In step with their traditions, PMW has ‘Whiskified’ the album to create their own exciting interpretation that pays homage to the original while exploring new sonic terrain. Their international hit, ‘Darkside of the Moonshine’, is a fitting testament to PMW’s ability to rework a masterpiece into a unique and exciting musical experience. - Jambands.com

A good 40 hours removed from Poor Man’s Whiskey’s performance of “Dark Side of the Moon Shine” at the Domino Room Saturday night, an Americana-laced version of “Breathe” is still bouncing around in my skull.

The show, which if it wasn’t sold out was pretty damn near, judging from the mass of costumed but mostly un-costumed fans that packed themselves into the club, was much more than the bluegrass take on Dark Side of the Moon it was billed as.

First off, Poor Man’s Whiskey, although opening with a largely bluegrass set as The Wizard of Oz played on an entire wall of the venue, played a hell of a lot more than mere bluegrass – touching on plenty of rock, funk and electronica.



But secondly, the show as a whole is much more than I, and many others, expected. It’s a musically masterful performance of a classic piece of rock and roll history that doesn’t take itself seriously – at all. The costumes are hilarious and the lights and lasers instantly remind you of staring at the ceiling of one of America’s many laser domes at any given point of the last quarter of the 20th century.

What Poor Man’s Whiskey has done with this project is take the first recognized and respected piece of psychedelic art and dragged it across the cultural divide, into middle America. It takes the UK-made album to Kansas where the picking of mandolin and stand-up bass melt into Floyd’s wailing guitars and spacey effects. And the result is not just intriguing, but so entertaining that it – almost impossibly – a stands alone as a piece of its own. And again, it's also incredibly humorous at times.

As the band, with Eli Jebidiah and Jason Beard shredding at the front of the stage, wrapped up “Eclipse” and thus the entire album, they launched into a funkier, more rocking, more jammy conclusion that kept people dancing – including the 4 Peaks Festival founders who had organized the show and appeared on stage (all in Oz costumes) near the conclusion. - The Source Weekly, Bend, OR

Since the days of yore, San Francisco has been a breeding ground, a safe haven and a mecca for some of live music’s most captivating acts. Music is deeply intertwined in the culture of the Golden Gate City and is not just enjoyed, but honored by many of the locals. Seeing, playing, listening to live music is a tradition, a religion of sorts and there are many shrines in the city dedicated to the sacred pastime. One raucous example of the fruits of this cultish ritual are personified in the jokers of jam-grass fusion that are the members of Poor Man’s Whiskey, son’s of San Francisco if not by birth, by adoption.

On May 8th, celebrating their 10th anniversary as a group, the quick witted, good time, hootenanny house band gave a jam packed Great American Music Hall a fiery two sets of music that spanned from the entire first set dedicated to their Old and In The Way bluegrass roots all the way to a couple of their newest, unreleased ditties. Joining the madness were very special guests Peter Rowan: the guitarist and lead singer of Old and In The Way along with String Cheese Incident’s Michael Kang: fiddler extraordinaire and one of the seven natural wonders of the live music scene.

Poor Man’s Whiskey was formed in Isle Vista, California at the University of Santa Barbara in the same scene that spawned other acts including Animal Liberation Orchestra and Jack Johnson who they are still quite friendly with. They started as a jam rock band under the name Freewheeling Franklin during those years. After a break, the band eventually reconnected as a renegade string band calling themselves, for the first time, Poor Man’s Whiskey, evolving over the years into a funky, soulful, grassidelic dynamo comprised of the master picker prankster duo, ringmasters and life of the party combination Eli Jebidiah and Josh Brough on guitars, banjo, piano, electric theramin, vocals and jokes. Sharing the spotlight with them is the understated and classy twang guitar hotshot Jason Beard doing musical justice to a wood grain Stratocaster and mandolin along with George Smeltz and a man simply named Aspen holding it all together on drum set and all things bass, respectively. Their music takes many forms as they glide easily between bluegrass, funk, disco and old fashioned rock and roll; often spacing out to mesh harmonious dueling leads into majestic and expressive improvised sonic odysseys. One of their specialties is a musical interpretation practice they call "Whiskifying" which entails deconstruction of a song and replacing it’s parts with something else that fits, but changes, for instance, the genre of the song from psychedelic rock to bluegrass as they have done with their 2009 release of "Darkside of the Moonshine," a Pink Floyd interpretation.

In San Francisco there are few musical monuments more beautiful, more ornate or more historic than the Great American Music Hall. With it’s striking opalescent, crimson columns, intimate dance floor, well placed balconies and ornate decoration, it is a magnificent offering to Apollo, Dionysus, Jerry, Jimi, and the rest of the music gods. Poor Man’s Whiskey wasted no time in making tributes to those gods of bluegrass, Old and In The Way as they took the stage with Kang. Needing no introduction they fired into ‘Pig in a Pen,’ a traditional bluegrass cover off of Old and In The Way’s self-titled debut album. Without further adieu, the band introduced the legendary Peter Rowan who sat in with them for the next three songs: "Old and In The Way," "Panama Red" and "Wild Horses," interlacing improvisational jams throughout, connecting well with the agile Kang. Rowan’s voice soared, leading the band perfectly in "Wild Horses" as I felt my heart beat solidly through my chest and goose bumps rise from my skin.

Rowan and Kang stepped off stage and the whiskey warriors continued lighting fires through the speakers as they blazed through the bluegrass drama "The Hobo Song." Slowing things down a bit, they invited Michelle Goguen to the stage for a heartfelt rendition of "Angel Band" that featured a rich, lush solo by Jebidiah. It took most of "Catfish John" to pick my jaw from the floor before the band invited Michael Kang back to the stage for the most stunning "Orange Blossom Special" that anyone has surely ever seen. Without hesitation, Kang took off in the song, shooting lightning from his fingertips as he flew through the manic Vassar Clemens riff. The band screamed into a showcase jam, pitting every member individually against Kang for a string of old fashioned duals which finally ended with Eli Jebidiah shaking his money maker among other things to control the Theramin, a double antenna sound synthesizer that seems to be powered by some sort of voodoo. As a nod to Kang and probably to the gang of eager fans dressed as buzzing bumble bees in the audience, the jam started to take form and momentarily, it found the unmistakable wail of the String Cheese Incident classic "Rivertrance." Kang thanked the band and the audience by releasing a most furious rehashing of the melody before abruptly dropping back into "Orange Blossom Special."

I was not the only person whose mind was blown. Peter Rowan returned to the stage and, taking the microphone, told Mr. Kang that he was the best fiddler he’d ever seen; from one legend, right to another. The Poor Man’s Whiskey 10th anniversary celebration was shaping up to be quite a memorable event. To the cheers of the crowd, the fully billed band fired away at the twangy ballad "Lonesome L.A. Cowboy" which was followed next by the catchy, upbeat "Midnight Moonlight." The band flowed from "Midnight Moonlight" into another resoundingly Olympian jam that built layer upon layer over which Beard and Jebidiah traded molten blues licks before returning to the song and ending the first set. The room was electric.

After only a short break, Poor Man's Whiskey plus Michael Kang returned to the stage quickly resuming the bluegrass mood with the band's first original song of the evening, "Cousin Billy." I noticed a familiar face on the stage during set break setting up a guitar amp, but couldn’t figure out who it was. Of course, I would found out that it was another flourishing San Francisco rock and roll luminary, Josh Clark of Tea Leaf Green. The newly amended Poor Man’s Whiskey shuffled into their tune "Barfly," allowing plenty of space for a howling Clark solo on his Les Paul. Clark bid farewell to the audience and the band introduced the next song as their theme song, the wild banjo entwined jamboree "Whiskey Creek." The crowd began to let as loose as they had been all night as everyone bellowed in chorus with the band, "I ain’t gonna spill my whiskey on the dancing floor!" Abruptly, they dropped into the mellow, breezy "Whiskey Sky," a feel good jam over the Allman Brother’s "Blue Sky" featuring an airy-toned, exploratory guitar meditation by Beard on his Strat. Locking in on a melody, Jebidiah joined in on his custom sunshine-mural embellished Taylor acoustic in an Allman-esque dual guitar harmony, paying homage to another one of their deepest musical roots and leading wanting ears to a "Jessica" jam featuring solos on the piano by Brough and on the acoustic guitar by Jebidiah before crashing back into "Whiskey Creek." It was most definitely the peak of the evening; and the audience erupted into applause.

Brough dedicated the next song to all of the mothers in the audience for the next day’s Mother’s Day celebrations and then took it south of the border for a poppy latin number called "Mango." Brough, Jebidah and Beard all have albums coming out soon, so, they decided to play a number that Brough wrote for his called "Sierra Girl," before inviting Kang back out on the stage for another tune that Brough had written about the life of his grandfather called "Whiskey In Heaven." Reviving the pace, they jumped into a dynamic bluegrass/folk medley instrumental jam featuring a stirring, celestial electric banjo solo by Eli Jebidiah and another invigorating guitar solo by Jason Beard. To cap off the set, Michael Kang returned with his fiddle of gold and the band rocked through an "Old Joe"/ "Up On Cripple Creek" medley.

The audience gave the members of Poor Man’s Whiskey loud acclaim, calling for more as the whole crew, minus the aged Peter Rowan returned to the stage to play an acoustic "Ripple;" a praise to the saintly guitar toting, banjo picking man who wrote it: Jerry Garcia. There was not a voice in that room that wasn’t crooning along. The connection made in that moment was so great that nobody was ready to leave after the stage was cleared. For a moment, there was only golden silence filling the Great American as the audience processed what they had just seen.

As for Poor Man’s Whiskey, they will return to High Sierra Music Festival for it’s 20th anniversary celebration this summer as well as many other excellent adventures that are in the works. I was able to catch up with Eli Jebidiah on the phone before the concert. He talked with me about High Sierra, the origins of Poor Man’s Whiskey, their connection to Old and In The Way, touring and much, much more in the two part audio discussion only here on Kindweb.com. For further information about the band, check out ‘www.poormanswhiskey.com’. - Kindweb

Sometimes the best things are growing in our backyard and we don't even know it. For example, during a summer break in my college years I rented a house next to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk. An overgrown hippie garden in our yard had dying tomato plants and tall, crispy cornstalks, all of which we ignored for three months. Our last week there we set to clearing the brush and discovered five robustly mature Cannabis sativa plants nestled within the sad maize - we'd always chalked the smell up to the myriad barefoot deadbeats blazing on our street. Moral is don't overlook the goodies thriving in your own garden.
Case in point, Poor Man's Whiskey has been throwing down musky roots music in the S.F. region since the early 2000s but only recently have more folks started to pick up their scent – a heady, good time inducing distillation of slap-fiddle country, funny-as-fuck punk, sincere metal and bloody fingered bluegrass. While their core Bay Area following is strong, 2009 may be the year they bust out of the region and into the national and festival circuits, and the reason I think that is show's like this one at Great American - a fitting a spot for such freewheelin' rebels souls, just the sort we need to keep the Tree of Liberty well nourished.

Watching them whip folks into a happy frenzy, offering up increasingly well honed originals and smile bombs like an absolutely primo "China Cat/I Know You Rider," I found myself very struck by their Wild West spirit, a crazed drive and lawless charm that syncs up with long ago saloon and gunslinger days. It's a vibe other bands have exuded (think back to Garcia and his gang in dusty leather cowboy jackets in early '70s or Henley & Frey down on the border) but rarely with such barely-holding-the-reins character. I'm pretty sure they know what they're doing at all times but it often feels as if we're riding a unruly nag along a narrow mountain trail and the whole damn beast might drop out from under us at any minute. It's exciting to be part of, and much like last year's Dark Side of the Moonshine show (see JamBase's review HERE), this year's Pimpin' Ho Down had a strong sense of overarching entertainment, a full evening of amusements kicked off by well-chosen openers Flowmotion and Huckle.


Huckle :: 01.31.09 :: S.F.
Seated alone with a lap steel guitar across his thighs, Huckle, a new solo alter-ego for PMW's Eli Jebediah, let out a howl and then commenced to slappin' bare feet against hard wood, stirring up crossroad ghosts, modern scramblers like Jon Spencer & Dan Auerbach, and folk-stretcher extraordinaire John Hartford. Pulling evil truth from an electric banjo, he cried, "How can you claim God's will to justify the blood you spill?" There was a righteous but not preachy undercurrent to some pieces, and once a rhythm section joined in, a good deal of roadhouse rightness, too. The band, dubbed The Berries, added heft, though he hardly needed much more given the solidity of this live debut. The songs are already right there – ranging from hotfooted jump blues to incredibly soft-spoken material - and his reworking of Jimi Hendrix, "Hillbilly Chile (A Slight Return)" indicates good cover tune instincts. He was joined on the Hendrix revamp by Flowmotion guitarist RL Heyer who seared his brand on the bucking interpretation with a pleasant lack of delicacy. Sometimes rough is right and Heyer seized on the moment with real clarity and snap, as he would do continually in his own band's set. Without hyperbole, Heyer reminded me SO much of the first time I saw Marc Ford play with the Crowes that it made me shiver. His style is inescapably powerful and immediate, the kind of feel that lifts everyone's game up around him.
Huck and his Berries swiftly hopped offstage as Flowmotion took off without a second's pause. This was indicative of the night's flow, where a breathless current carried everyone towards a shared horizon. While the ultimate destination wasn't always clear, every musician at the Ho Down helped paddle us further along. It's no small thing to bring a mass of people together and actually create a communal experience, and this lineup all did their part. To wit, the BIG energy start to Flowmotion's set, which played out like a lesser band's festival encore and carried all the Hendrix-y build-up into their music. This is primo melodic rock grounded in rhythms that draw from Latin rock and juke joint blues to create expansive, dexterous groove music with hair on its chest and a quick step. This Seattle band has garnered a large, fervent following in the Pacific Northwest (including their annual Summer Meltdown Festival), and there's gleeful rock gusto to what they do, and much like PMW, they seem ripe for wider discovery. On some surface level, I can see Phish lovers falling for Flowmotion, though lead singer-guitarist Josh Clauson is a stronger, more passionate singer than anyone in that famous quartet. This set ebbed and flowed from balls-out chargers to quite tender ballads, different sections showing Southern rock, Pink Floyd and other classic FM radio influences given a morphing, graceful turn of their own. High energy, charismatic performers and excellent, limber musicians, Flowmotion deserve an audience well beyond Washington State.


R.L. Heyer :: Flowmotion :: 01.31.09 :: S.F.
I was in the basement green room when Poor Man's Whiskey began, their stomping arrival announced by the hypnotically shaking light fixtures overhead. Some bands seduce, others grip you by the scruff and plant a wet one on you. PMW is the latter sort, reaching out a hand so friendly that to refuse it seems downright mean. I've noted this with other Bay Area groups, notably Tea Leaf Green, but charm should never be discounted, and PMW overflows with a scruffy variety that makes one spill their drink and do bumps with someone's granny. Outside of some fairly effective shtick, PMW isn't all that Hee-Haw despite their love of all things cornpone and bawdy. The video screens above the stage showing found nifty footage and liquid light blurs suggested strange depths, which their music increasingly reveals (check out "Death Valley Ass" on their MySpace Page for a swell example, an odd yet effective merger of humorous, double entendre honky tonk and psychedelic mores). Each time I see them things have grown just a bit thicker – instrumentally, lyrically, jam-wise – and the intensity on their faces at points during this show suggests they're only going to keep on thickenin'.

PMW :: 01.31.09 :: S.F.
What further elevated their set was an impeccable sense of pacing, where another inspired reworking (this time the Allman's "Whipping Post" turned into "Whiskey Post," which had hints of Zappa's brilliant version) gave way to a crowd sing-along take on Old Crow's "Wagon Wheel" and that into a Batucada freak jam that had musicians from every corner leaping up to join in. There's something about PMW that inspires players, really good players in fact, to get some skin in the game. One sees the same thing with Galactic and Akron/Family, where the energies they stir up grab musicians and draw something fine (or new or peculiar) from them. Amongst this night's guest assortment were violin/mandolin sharp Zac Matthews (ex-Hot Buttered Rum) and guitarist James Nash (The Waybacks), as well as excellent contributions from the Flowmotion crew. Regardless of the specific tune, one generally felt something genuine and strong coming into being as these cats threw what they had into their bubbling stewpot.
It's evenings like this where the music stretches and pushes us with such winning force and honest, empathetic understanding that should remind us to peek in our own yard. Even as the big names take to the road this year, there are small miracles like Huckle, Flowmotion and Poor Man's Whiskey awaiting us right where we live. Follow the scent and you won't be sorry. - Jambase