1st Oct - The Maverick
I've got to confess right up front that I'd never heard of Buckshot Soup, but when my good mate Al tells me a band are worth a look and I should check 'em out, he's usually right.
Buckshot Soup are pretty unusual for a bluegrass band on three counts. First, they're from Derbyshire not Tennessee, secondly they're young and thirdly, given the first two, they're the real thing.
Stand-up double bass playing Chuck, Smilin' Jim with his Dobro lap steel all fronted by Duke's six string guitar and attitude vocals they launch into 'Texas Eagle', the opening song from the Steve Earle and Del McCoury Band album 'The Mountain', one of my favourite albums by two of my favourite artists. This was an immediate opportunity for these boys to be monumentally disappointing, but not a bit of it. It took about 10 seconds and two lines of this first song for me to realise I'm in for a treat tonight, as real justice was being done to a piece that would seriously challenge many another band.
Producing an entirely genuine sound, they move confidently and fluidly between classics from Steve Earle, Johnny Cash, Gram Parsons and more together with a selection of their own material thrown in for good measure. Chuck spins his double bass around like a seasoned vet, which he must be judging from the level of wear on his fingerboard while Duke lays down solid chop rhythms, sometimes guitar, sometimes mandolin, lacing the occasional number with tasty harmonica licks. Dukes voice swings from gravelly in-your-face through high and lonesome to suit the song and Jim just sits there smilin' churning out riff after beautiful riff of slide, supplemented with nifty finger picking and harmony vocals.
You've probably already guessed I loved every minute, right down to the Hayseed Dixie style 'Fat Bottomed Girls' that rounded off set two. I wasn't the only one; the audience were in no mood to let them go now and called for encore after encore which saw them finally wind up with a beautiful rendition of 'Tecumsah Valley', finishing as they started - with a little Steve Earle.
If you like your bluegrass, these boys are definitely worth tracking down and seeing. Hell, even if y'all don't like bluegrass, go see 'em - they could just make you change your mind.
