Sometimes a performance just reaches out, grabs you, takes you home, and makes you like it. Saturday night with the Forbes Brothers was just like that.
They R-O-C-K
Yet they are authentic country pioneers in a wilderness of country shlock that poisons the hearts and minds of a public too preoccupied to notice.
Might as well be eighties glam rock.
But the Forbes Brothers are an entirely different species. They are northern country miners reaching into the heart of indigenous American music and making it their own. Sure they can play clean like Jerry Reed doin' "Are You Happy" with the Beau Brummels. And they can pick like Zal Yavonsky did on "Nashville Cats". But when guitarist Tom Hollyer stretches out, he shakes, rattles, and hums with a glorious noise that makes you sit up and take notice. Then Ron Jacobs starts singin' and the mojo is just too powerful to resist.
Sometimes listening to a great band like this can be an epiphany - a revelation that slugs you right in the chest and leaves you gasping for air... like the first time I heard "You Really Got Me" back in '64
I forgot how good music can trancend boundaries without regard to labels.
Remember Top 40 AM Radio?
Many of those local programs were off the air by dusk. But from the morning till the end of the day you could hear Merle Haggard next to the Beatles and Herb Alpert takin' turns with locals like Bob Seger and the Rationals. And don't forget Sinatra or Bennett. It didn't matter to me. I loved 'em all. Labels were just a marketer's scheme. Rock vs Country vs Blues vs Jazz vs Surf vs Pop vs Rap vs Hip Hop. It's a convenient ruse that delivers a demographic to an advertiser. Other than that, such distinctions are about as useful as narrowing a format from Classic Rock to Oldies. Either way the public LOSES. Such insular habits reinforce our cultural malaise. And crappy music continues to sell zillions before it decends to a musical purgatory, discarded and forgotten.
Until it's resurrected to pinch a little more ching by appealing to aging boomers' fragile memories.
But that's another story
A great live performance is a S-E-N-S-O-R-Y experience. You can FEEL the music in your body. This is what the Forbes Brother's layed out Saturday night. The vibe was extraordinary. Goodwill filled the room and inspired the performers.
Something special happened that night.
... it happened to all of us.
It was not just good music played to appreciative fans. It was something more - like a dance between the artists and the audience.
Synchronous and pleasing.
Somehow we were all in it together...
The Forbes Brothers Band is an irresistable force, a rockin' 7-piece juggernaut that will destroy all your misconceptions regarding good music. The Forbes Brother's capture that spirit. You won't find anything as good as "Wrong Side Of The Bar" on Country MUZAK charts. The Forbes Brothers brought the roadshow to Saginaw and tore the place apart. Shootin' straight from the hip, the band pounded out one great song after another....all from their auspicious debut cd, "Wrong Side Of The Bar" Jack keeps it rockin with a shuffle that segues into "Tell Me", the band's next single. It's a mid-tempo country power ballad with a great riff, poignant lyrics, and Jacob's powerful vocal. Extraordinary! My Forbes Brother's haiku the Forbes Brothers know There is good reason why the Forbes Brother's are so HOT...and not just in Detroit but in Flint, Traverse City, and all points north. We just need Saginaw to turn on and tune in
This ain't opera, thank God.
And it ain't "rock" music.
Like any substantive work, the Forbes Brother's body of music defies any easy description. It's not uptight....it's too real for insular tastes. This is the real deal. And if you let the music grab you, you'll find yourself on Highway 51 with Hank Snow, Ernest Tubbs, and Elvis! And for a moment you may reach an unguarded spot where real culture flourishes and homegenization loses it's grip. It may appear obvious to those who really care about music and view music as an extension of ourselves, but the best music is NOT on the radio. Much of it is never recorded, especially music and artists that are too parochial...too strange. Like Elvis in 1954. "A cat singin' hillbilly in R&B time", a DJ at the time remarked.
Not Yet
The Forbes Brothers are modern-day avatars of sound and fury, harmony and balance. Call it what you will but this is industrial Detroit country music with an edge. And it's enveloped in a relevance and urgency that occurs only when cultures intersect and collide - a necessary paradox in the creation of new and vibrant music.
Forbes Brothers Music
This was an ass-kickin' set
They opened with "Over Again", a mid-tempo country rocker of the first order. And without takin a breath they segued into the cool country jazz of "Two-Step". Man, you can do the "Lindy and the "Jitterbug" or the "East Coast" and the "West Coast" with music this good. Don't matter how you shake & bake it 'cos any dance'll do. "Two-Step" is compelling evidence of the band's incredible range.
And the band is simply incredible.
Lead singer Ron Jacobs is a bonafide wafer-thin, skinny-as-a-rail sex symbol like a 40's era Sinatra. This cat KNOWS how to sing - never over the top but nuanced like George Jones. And the backing harmonies by Dennis and Scott are exquisite. Of special note is Dave Jack. He's just a flat out great drummer. His beat is steel-trap solid and his fills are always inventive - now if he could only twirl his sticks like Dino Danelli...
This song is a winner
Multi-instrumentalist Tom Hollyer proved to be the quiet strength of the band. He is a master of technique with a natural gift for combining feel and soul and giving the music space to breathe.
A non-lp tune "Grandma" showcases the lyrical facility and thematic coherence of Dennis' and Scott's storytelling style.
Maybe Just Once is a tongue-in-cheek country homily that belies the depth of the song's pain. A country rocker with an unrecognized spiritual twist. Great tune!
The title cut from their cd, "The Wrong End Of The Bar" begins with Scott Forbes plaintive acoustic riff and Ron Jacob's magificent workingman's vocal.
A perfect irony...a great song.
Hip Hop Country Rock ends the set with the crowd crowing for more. This easy-rollin' country blues is a total funk-fest! A great riff and sensual execution.
Kill me softly with your song, brothers.
The interplay between the band is incredible. The band is one. And the mantra is strong and true.
They taught us to love music
And the music is love
how the music sets us free
honest, real, and pure
They sure 'nuff convinced us tonight