22nd April 2015. Boston Music Room. Drivin n Cryin. It’s with great anticipation and extreme patience for the almost full crew tonight. There’s a mix of uber fans in our midst (The Burgess Bros), new converts and me somewhere in the middle.
It’s Drivin ‘n’ Cryin’s 30th anniversary this year and we think well over twenty of those since they came to these shores. And this country’s music fans are worse for it. My last venture to the Boston Music Room was to see another fine US country rock band The Dexateens who blew me away.
The six of us rock up to the venue just before start time to find a very thin crowd (that’s in number and not in waist size). We make up about 10% of the audience and there’s a worry that the band may not find the motivation to produce the goods to the music intelligencia who have made the effort tonight.
Those fears were blown away as they cranked it up to eleven and stormed into one of two tracks from Fly Me Courageous, ‘Build a Fire’. It’s a twin guitar attack with the fine Justin Lee Collins Warner E Hodges, of Jason and the Scorchers fame, on lead ably supported by the man himself Mr Kevn Kinney.
What follows is a true Southern Blues rock masterclass. Its song after song of relentless classics where they play for nearly two hours and could have played for another two more and no one would have been disappointed. They play a great cross section from their back catalogue and the three songs from the latest EP hold their own. There’s room for a Beatles and Dylan cover that are both given a southern kick up the ass and our group’s two requests were dutifully played.
A special word for the two guitarists who have not mellowed with age and rock like the proverbial ba$tards. They complement each other perfectly with the flamboyant Mr Hodges spinning his axe round his neck while the more sedate Kinney just sticks to his task wiping away anything in front of him with killer riffs
Don’t ask me a highlight because every song was one. All killer, no filler. The band go off a couple of times but are dragged back on by the small but vocal crowd and even at the end Kevn comes back for one last solo.
A dozen gigs in this year and while there have been some good shows this is the first truly five star. If you know nothing about Drivin n Cryin but you like ass kickin, lip quenchin, foot stompin, head bangin, hard rockin, Southern blues then this is your band. It’s a true crime against humanity that DnC and The Mumfords can exist on the same planet which acknowledges one and ignores the other.
Let’s hope it’s not another twenty odd years until they come over again. Come on Kevn don’t let us down. Keep on rockin’ y’all
Sara Bareilles
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