[Austin TX] Rockboy has been dying to see Junior for years, so ShellFish
and I finally gave in. I had very low expectations, which was unreasonable
since I have never seen a low quality musician at The Continental Club. Well,
Junior was fantastic. He may have a lot of old-timey country stylings but, at
heart, he’s a guitar nerd. It swiftly became clear that Junior is the party,
and the rest of his band, including his suburban-looking wife Tanya Rae, were
only there as back up. For instance, the drumset had two parts. Junior plays a
bizarre ½ guitar – ½ lap steel contraption, and he plays it well. When he bent
over, that’s when you knew we were heading for a fingering party. He managed to fit little speed metal riffs,
and jazz loops, into pretty traditional country songs. I really liked his voice,
a deep rumble, kind of like Bing Crosby, but Junior also played around with
some silly voice tricks. The crowd was eating out of his hand and loved it all.
I also liked his wise-guy stylings – he’s still got swagger, despite being 70,
and a lot of his lyrics were funny. He also did a straightforward surf piece,
and even slid in some bluesy and punky elements. (Photo courtesy of
Comments
Post a Comment