Jackrabbit, Ole Tinder and The Swearengens at Darrells 12-29-12

"I worked for months with Fredd of the Swearengens on this show..." Scott said to me as I talked with him about the bill tonight. This was a great show and he was quite happy at the scene. The place was getting crowded. The bands were cuing up and musical happiness was just around the corner.

Scott is the ringmaster for the evening's fun. He is the sound-tech and one of the booking agents at Darrells. He is most excellent at his business. Scott is well know in the industry here in the Pacific Northwest. He is a volunteer at many a large event. He has engineered sound for every Rock, Punk, Country band around.

Here he is miking up the drum set for Jackrabbit.

Santa brought me a new camera, an amazing instrument. I have yet to figure it all out yet. I know it will take incredible low light pics, I am not sure I captured the images it is capable of yet. It is a Sony RX-100, voted one of the best cameras of the year. A point-and-shoot camera that is SLR comparable. You can read more about it here: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/869238-REG/Sony_DSC_RX100_Digital_Camera.html

You will see a combo of flash and no-flash throughout the blog.

First up was Jackrabbit, an awesome local alt. country trio. This evening they were joined by Jay Kardong on steel guitar, a wonderful addition. The soaring strings of a pedal-steel are a fabulous compliment to this band.

Here is Tony warming up.

Jackrabbit is Moe Provencher, Aimee Zoe Tubbs and Tony Fulgham. They play great original music with some obvious influences. With rock at it's core, the first tune really sounded Elvis Costello like.
Wonderful vocals, sweet harmonies and the singing steel really had the place rocking.

Here is a one with the flash:

And again without:

Jay playing a six string:

Throwing In The Towel, a killer original tune.

 
I love Tony and his vocals, he has a great voice. I have been a fan for some time, I have their first CD and have listened many times. I just purchased new music from them. Their new CD, A Better Place is available here. I highly recommend it. http://jackrabbit.bandcamp.com/

I have reviewed them before, you can read that blog here: http://liveseattlemusicintheclubs.blogspot.com/2012/06/jackrabbit-truckstop-darlin-and-i-can.html

 You can connect with Tony, Moe and Aimee here: https://www.facebook.com/Jackrabbitband

Jackrabbit was dynamite, the crowd was dancing and hollering. We applauded like maniacal Beatle fans at the end of the set, pleading with them for one more song.

There was a lot of support for them. They brought their usual A game tonight, I was sorry to see them go. My buddy Mark mentioned that they were one hell of an opening act. Jackrabbit are headliners in the making.

We took a break between shows and visited the car. Here is a pic I shot of the scene out the front window.

 
The show must go on and just as you thought it couldn't get any better, Ole Tinder took the stage. This is another awesome local alt. country group. I have seen them before and have their CD. It is a stellar collection of music. You can read that review here: http://liveseattlemusicintheclubs.blogspot.com/2012/02/crying-shame-ole-tinder-sumner-brothers.html

Ole Tinder is Mike Giacolino, Nils Peterson, Pat Schowe and Jay Kardong (Jay was pulling double duty tonight). They are billed as country/folk. I loved every note.

Ole Tinder's music has classic influences but they have a sound all their own. Aurora Bridge is an amazing original tune. It tells a story about one of America's busiest suicide bridges. It is an poignant journey of a tortured soul who jumps to freedom. It is a beautiful song, a sad song...it touches me every time.

The crowd was loving it, we were hanging on every note. Ole Tinder tells a great story with marvelous music.

Jay was killing on the steel again, I love the high lonesome sound of the pedal-steel guitar. He was playing a beautiful Rittenberry single neck guitar. I love the instruments these musicians play, you can see more about Rittenberry guitars here: http://rittenberrysteelguitars.com/index.html

 Here Jay is enjoying an adult beverage at the bar.

Mike's vocals are sweet, he has a great set of pipes.

I got to tell Mike how much I enjoyed the set. He was really happy to hear the compliment and thanked me for coming to the show.

Take Me Away is another one of my favorites, you can listen to them for free here: http://soundcloud.com/ole-tinder

You can connect with them on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/oletinder

Ole Tinder played a great show and the crowd was loving it. Huge applause and much love was directed at the stage after every tune. There was a ton of dancers, this was a blast.

I am looking forward to seeing Ole Tinder again. But now it was time for Fredd Luongo and The Swearengens. I had seen the first two, but the last band was new to me. Not that I hadn't heard of them (legendary) or had the chance to see them (priorities), in my short review career I hadn't had the chance to see them yet.

I did know of Fredd, my friend Jon, steel player for The 1Uppers is a friend of his. He told me of Fredd's prowess on the stage.

 The Swearengens are: Fredd Luongo on vocals and guitar, Brigitt Rains on vocal and percussion, Fritz Marial on bass, Brian Ochs on drums, Fred Slater on piano (missing) and Soren Godberson on guitar.

Brigitt added sweet harmony.

Soren was scorching on the guitar.

I had seen Fritz at the bar earlier, he seemed like a sweet fellow, nice smile. He turned out to be a killer bass player, driving this great band. Here he is (on the right) with Jay.

By now the place was crazy, the dance floor was full and the fun was at a fever pitch. The Swearengens have influences from Whiskeytown, Steve Earle, Hank, Waylon and Rip Torn (love that last one).  They really know how to get the peeps on their side, here we are grooving.

The Swearengens knew how to hit all our buttons. The place was still packed and every butt was moving.

You can see The Swearengens here, they have a cool vibe and a awesome sound. https://www.facebook.com/swearengens

Big fun at Darrells tonight.

My buddy had to catch a plane at 8 am and we left at high noon. I knew there was more fun to be had but sacrifices had to be made. Thanks to Darrells and Scott for the killer bill. Thanks to all the bands for a stellar show.

You can see Darrells here:  http://www.darrellstavern.com/

I love Darrells, they have a great set of locals that mix with the music fans. Here is Chief, a regular. He is a sweet guy and calls everybody Buddy. He is a girl magnet, if one comes within an arms length he reaches out and ensnares his victim. He holds on tight until he has his sweet way with her.

The cab came to pick him up when he emptied his pitcher.

Darrells has a great variety of local brews and a marvelous staff.

Why does cold beer make you so warm inside? If you know please add to the comments below.