This is a past event.
Waco Brothers & Paul Burch, Tangleweed
Price: $15
The Waco Brothers and Paul Burch have long been students and adapters of American roots music (country division), but while the Chicago band is loud and raucous, the Nashville singer-songwriter is temperate and precise. In light of that, it's hard to understand why they decided to make a record together. According to its press release, their new collaboration, Great Chicago Fire (Bloodshot), owes its existence to a margarita session in Austin, Texas, but that doesn't really answer the question—and neither does the album itself, which is entertaining but a minor effort for both parties. Unsurprisingly the Wacos dominate (there's strength in numbers, after all), but they show admirable restraint with their firepower on Burch's pretty "Flight to Spain." I wish I could say the same for "Monterey"—it's the only tune on the album to have been previously recorded, and the lead-footed version here dispenses with most of the delicacy I enjoyed in Burch's breezy original. On the other hand, the Jon Langford song "Cannonball" sounds gentler than you'd expect from him (or from his band), with nice dabs of Bo Diddley and Buddy Holly, and Dean Schlabowske delivers his characteristic hardscrabble soul on the two songs he's written. The album closes with a cover of Bob Dylan's "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" that's a bit of a snooze despite its exuberance, bringing little to the table to enliven the overfamiliar tune—but it's easy for me to imagine these guys having a ball with it live. Hell, I bet they could make "Louie Louie" a fun time onstage. For more on Burch and Langford, see Artist on Artist. —Peter Margasak Tangleweed opens.
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FitzGerald's
- 6615 Roosevelt Rd., Berwyn Berwyn IL 60402
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708-788-2118
- fitzgeraldsnightclub.com
- (based on 7 user reviews)
