The Outlaws at The Blue Moon 2-15-13

The Outlaws brought their whiskey soaked sound to one of the venerable music institutions in Seattle. The Blue Moon Tavern opened it's doors in 1934 right after the repeal of the prohibition laws. Booze was back in the open. The Blue Moon remains one of the few surviving blue-collar landmarks in Seattle.

They have their very own Wikipedia page.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Moon_Tavern

The place is as comfortable as an old shoe. It has a great mix of locals and students from the nearby university. The locals can be quite salty. These guys set up camp in the back corner. The one guy is cleaning up something he spilled. A small river snaked by and headed to the exit door.

Here is another local, Don is a lover of good music. He has an awesome style too. I see him regularly at The Moon.

The place is covered in memorabilia and posters. Many of the items have a thick coat of nicotine on them. Here the sound-tech stores his cables on the moose antlers.

Here is an interesting post. This illustrates one of my worst fears.

They have a fairly large stage. It is deeper than many allowing for bigger bands. Here are The Outlaws setting up.

Here is a cool shot of someone else recording the scene.

I had seen The Outlaws before and was looking forward to this show. They are a Waylon Jennings tribute band. They have an uncanny resemblance. Jeremy has the style and the pipes of Waylon.

The Outlaws were opening for Country Lips tonight. The Lips are another great country band.  They also have interesting live shows and always throw in a bit of theater.

Here is a pic of Country Lips the last time I saw them last Halloween...disturbing looks, killer music.

Unfortunately, I didn't make it to their set. I ran out of poop. Luckily I got my country fix with The Outlaws. Here is Jeremy medicating his vocal cords with the honey of the gods.

The last time I saw Jeremy and The Outlaws they were headlining a show at Darrells. It was a total blast. They were last on the bill and had time to ingest vast amounts of whiskey before their set. It worked for them as they played a rowdy show. You can read about it here: http://liveseattlemusicintheclubs.blogspot.com/2012/04/outlaws-burley-mountiand-and-thornton.html

My friend Jon Hyde of The 1Uppers was their steel guitar player at that show. He has a regular gig playing with one of the best country bands in the area. So The Outlaws picked up the talented Kinny Albers as a full time steely several months ago. Kinny used to play with Knut Bell and The Blue Collars. Here he is playing his beautiful double neck pedal steel.

The Outlaws have a bunch of talented artists. One of my favorites is Kim Field, a superb harp player. Here is his tool kit of harmonicas. This is one workman that knows how to use them.

Kim is a awesome performer. He uses every muscle in his body to breathe life into his harmonicas.

Their website list a bunch of folks but I know the list is out of date. They still have Jon on the list and he is long gone. Tonight's members are in italics: Jeremy Manley, Liz Herrin, Aaron Starkey, Mike Jochum, Jon Hyde, Ty Baille, Terry Mattson, Perry Morgan, Justin Cronk, Jordan Vestal and Kim Field. Here is a link to their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/TheOutlawsSeattle

They played their usual killer set. Playing covers with original arrangements, this group of talented and well-practiced musicians had the mojo tonight.

Jeremy sings lead with deep boozey vocals. He also plays a mean six-string in true country fashion. The Waylon sound is complete. He leads and directs the band, signalling the boys to take a solo or two.

I got some pretty good shots of Jeremy plying his trade.

Kim and Jeremy work well together; this is the way to do Waylon. Kim's harp adds the killer layer to this great country band.

Kinny was playing the sweet soaring sounds of the finest pedal steel.

The acoustic guitar player also sang vocals. I am sorry I cannot identify him by name.

I didn't get great shots of the boys in back as the place got crowded really fast. But the influence was obvious. Terry Mattson was on the bass guitar and Jordan Vestal was on drums driving this sweet country band.

The bar was packed; it was filled with mostly Lips fans and students. I loved some of the styles. There was an amazing amount of plaid. These guys had totally different shirts on but the pattern was almost identical.

I

I saw the boys from the Lips in the crowd. They had great style too; coonskin and cowboy.

I was sorry I didn't have the stamina to make it for the Lips. I had a long day and hit the wall around 11. I was glad to get my fix of country for the night. The Blue Moon was the perfect place to relax; good sound and a nice atmosphere.

I played my Country Lips CD on the way home so I didn't feel so guilty leaving. See them here: https://www.facebook.com/countrylips?ref=ts&fref=ts

One thing, be careful where you park. We thought we found a great spot right across the street. But the street was a major race track on a Friday night. We had to cross it and this is what greeted us as we stumbled to the car. These lights flew by us on both sides. I know I am going to die, I just don't want to go this way.