Do you ever find yourself sitting in a plastic lawn chair, sipping a can of Bud Light, stroking the wispy back of your mullet and sadly reminiscing about the good old days when wailing yet twangy guitar solos from the likes of Lynyrd Skynyrd dominated the rock world?
If so, you should definitely see The Mother Truckers at Club Congress tomorrow at 9 .m., where they’ll be playing a free show. And in the true spirit of Southern hospitality, the first hundred people to walk through the door get a free CD as well.
This alt-country rock band has Hank Williams in their hearts and Black Sabbath blasting in their headphones. Or, as singer Teal Collins puts it: “”Before, maybe we were country rock, now we’re kind of rock country.””
You will find some classic country chord progressions, Southern-sounding vocal rock harmonies put out by the co-ed duo of Josh Zee and Collins and, yes, face-melting guitar solos. All this is kept moving by the flowing bass lines of Danny G and the high-energy drumming of Dan Thompson.
Based on the live recording of “”Dynamite”” on their MySpace page, this is not a band best appreciated in the studio; they take their live shows seriously – very seriously. Expect to hear Collins belt her heart and soul out while guitarist Josh Zee lights his fret board aflame with solos that sound like the bastard child of Stevie Ray Vaughn and Slash.
“”The live show is where it’s at,”” Collins said. “”Josh is known to jump off his amp; there’s a lot of energy there.””
The Mother Truckers have just escaped the cage of the studio, where they were working on an album expected to come out sometime early this summer.
“”We’re recording a lot of songs that are trying to capture what we do live,”” Collins said. “”We began asking, ‘which ones are we having the most fun playing?’ “”
Their latest release, Broke, Not Broken, came out in the summer of 2006 and was inspired by their experience living in
San Francisco.
“”There’s no keeping up with the Joneses unless you strike the lottery out there. (Broke, Not Broken is) just the feeling of not having a lot but having this dream of making music,”” Collins said. The album gets a little sad sometimes, as in the brokenhearted “”Nothing There,”” but always remains hopeful. The title track really gets at the core of Broke, Not Broken.
“”Josh and I always keep in mind that there’s always someone out there who’s got it worse than you. It’s an optimistic song,”” Collins said.
This concert is going to be well worth the time and trouble, especially because it’s free. To give you an idea of the type of show this should be, when Teal Collins was asked why The Mother Truckers are playing a free show in Tucson, she sounded a little taken aback, laughed and said, “”Does there need to be a reason to throw a free party? That’s my question.””
