Cash O' Riley & the Downright Daddies Live @ White's Bar
Saturday February 18th, 2006

I've had several moments of doubt about this music biz I'm in, seems like when I'm just about feelin' my oats that I got it made and everything is goin' well and I'm hittin' on all the cylinders, then something comes up and cobbles up the works, fucks with my johnson box, and can't nuthin' go right. SHHEEE-IT. It was kinda like that when I met up with Cash O'Riley and the Downright Daddies. The scene here in Saginaw was going through a transition of sorts and with the crazy-punitive drunk driving laws, energy costs skyrocketing, mounting financial debt, the never-ending war, and... well, shit-and-step-in-it we were all scared to death - paralyzed and it seemed that just about everything I did went to hell in a handbasket. It got so bad that I was walking around like I had a broomstick shoved up my ass - shoulders back, head tilted up and my butt-cheeks pinched tight, just like the look on my face. People took to calling me "shoulders" or "busted asshole" or just plain "busted". Things was bad. So I heard about this rockabilly band. I always had an appreciation, if not the knopwledge of those early rhythms of rock'n roll, created in Sun Studios by Sam Phillips. 1952 was a good year. But 1954 was even better. That was when Phillips found Elvis Presley (or visa versa) and teamed him with Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis. Rockabilly was born! This was an incredible distillation of country music and R&B, mercy it was a sweet revelation. Now as I listen back to the original recordings I'm struck by the tempo...it's slower than I remember...man, I always thought them rhythms was smokin'- they are...

Hmmm, maybe it's the influence of punk and what became known as rock...the rhythms got speeded up. And maybe that's why I like Cash O' Riley so much. He plays the original rhythms in a most traditional way but he's also influenced by punk which gives his music additional power and velocity. He seems to get the balance just right and people sit up and take notice and before too long they're up dancin' and shakin' their ass like it's the new millenium or something. Cash O' Riley has been my savior, of sorts, reminding why I'm in the business and why I love the music and people are returning. case in point is this show. The house was packed and the crowd was diggin' it. There was a good mix of originals and covers and the covers ranged fron Social Distortion's Take Away (This Ball & Chain) to Big River by Johnny Cash & the Tenessee Two and a rockin' I Love Rock 'N Roll by the Ramones. He even did a rockin' take on Ritchie Valen's C'mon Let's Go and an incredible version of Dylan's Southbound Train and a soulful He Stopped Loving Her Today that just might make George Jones wake outta his stupor, get his jones on and shake his groove thing. These cats have no boundaries or limitations. They take Dylan and make him sound like Cash doin' Dylan. And we all know that cash was an original punk. Hell all of the Sun artists were punks and misfits. As they were less cloistered by formal education, they were able to produce the most pure hybrid we've ever known. They are in a league all of their own. And so is Cash O' Riley & the Downright Daddies. I've always held a fondness for original songs and Cash has a slew of 'em that he performed at the show, the country-ish-Elvis-like rocker Last Time, woulda made Dave Edmunds proud. Two Six-Packs is a honky-tonkin' blast of pure energy. Cash writes so well that he can evoke pain and longing in Enough Beer, a song that at first glance is just a simple ode to beer swilling...hmm, mabe it is. Why do we drink, anyway?

I left that night feeling my oats, a little happier, sexed up and ready for bear. If only I could hold on to it just a little longer

Peace,
Bo White