What The Sadies do best, particularly on their latest release on Yep Roc,
Favourite Colours, is take their listeners back to the last gasp of
great rural (re: hillbilly) music of the 1970s. Being alive for that decade, I
remember back fondly to a time when country was still country. Sure you saw the
awkward beginnings of what is now modern-day country music (twang-pop), what
with the glorification of the rhinestone and all, but country was not afraid to
be dirty and to stick its red neck out proudly back then. All that we're left
with now is country music that's afraid to be country (I'm sorry, but Gretchen
Wilson can't hold Loretta Lynn's brassiere) and stupid comedy ala Jeff
Foxworthy and the rest of the bozos on the Blue Collar Comedy Tour.
The fact that it takes four musicians who aren't even American, let alone
Southern, to throw some much needed mud onto the trailer shouldn't be very
surprising. After all, The Band were 4/5ths Canadian and they did Southern
music proud and right. And, just as The Band were seen as rock's best backing
band in their day, The Sadies would appear to be picking that title up in the
present, having worked with Neko Case, Jon Langford, and, possibly in the near
future, on full-length projects with Robyn Hitchcock (who sang on "Why Would
Anybody Live Here?" on The Sadies' latest) and Randy Bachman (yes, that
Randy Bachman).
The band recently came through Chicago opening for and supporting good friend
Case, herself out to promote her recently released live album (also featuring
The Sadies as her backing band), The Tigers Have Spoken. And, while
Case's set was marred by lack of any forward momentum on her part (too much lag
time in between songs), a fact that dogged Case during the recording of
Tigers, the band's own set was nothing short of smoking hot. Brothers
Travis and Dallas Good played off of each other beautifully, while Sean Dean
lorded over his upright bass and Mike Belitsky slapped the skins on the drums
as if they were the fanny of a naughty girl. Their set was everything that is
inherently great about country music. It was loud, it was fast, and it was as
dirty as Knoxville, Tennessee after a downpour. And that's how I will always
remember country music being and how I want mine served.
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