Skip to main content

Daniel Mason, Silver Creek Revival, and Rachel Brooke at Tip Top Deluxe, 5/7/2023

 Holy smokes, folks.  I got to see an amazing show last night at the Tip Top Deluxe in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  Title says it all - Daniel Mason and Silver Creek Revival played as openers for Rachel Brooke as headliner...well, except for when Daniel joined Rachel for a bluegrass set.

Daniel Mason hails from Alabama, where he learned classic country and bluegrass from a very young age.  By 16, he picked up a banjo and started studying the styles of Earl Scruggs, Don Reno, Charlie Cushman, and Leroy Troy.  By 2008, he was touring with Hank Williams, III; an influence which absolutely lives on in his solo touring career.  Daniel opened his set with 3 original songs on guitar, then pivoted to banjo before closing his set on guitar again.  Tattoos, a huge red beard, and a signature tight-curled cowboy hat was all it took for this one man to dominate the stage - his stage presence was second to none!  Odd coincidence going back to Hank III - Hank was my first real concert back in 2006; then in 2014, I was able to see Joe Buck (bassist to Hank III) play a solo show at the Tip Top Deluxe.  Anyway, Daniel's music definitely bordered on Southern Gothic without being too dark; danced around traditional bluegrass without feeling played out; and had the pensiveness and contemplation of really good classic country.  I hope I didn't miss something at the show last night, but I wish there was a way to throw him a few bucks for some merch or a CD or something!  Check him out on a few places around teh intarnetz!

Silver Creek Revival is a 5-piece band out of northwest lower Michigan - Traverse City area.  Ashley played banjo and sang; Hannah played sax and flute, and provided some stunning vocal harmonies to Ashley; Sam sang a few songs that needed a Jason Isbell-esque voice; Jack grooved out on the drumset and looked like he was having the time of his life; Zak brought up the low end on bass guitar and honestly, kept it tight AF.  If I may be so bold, Hannah on sax and flute added a whole new level to the groovey, folksy bluegrass roots.  I hope I'm not diminishing the rest of the band when I say that the woodwinds elevated everything and made it special.  Check out their music here, and more information over here!

Rachel Brooke is a name that has been floating around my subconscious for quite a while now, so it's hard to pin down where I actually heard of her the first time.  She's the 2023 Outlaw Female Entertainer Of The Year from the Ameripolitan Music Awards.  She's from Michigan, of course, and has a lot of dates and shows around the Tip Top and other venues across West Michigan.  I haven't found her name mentioned in Hippies And Cowboys nor in Walking The Floor podcasts, so I can't have heard of her from either of those (which are usually my good sources for new music).  I don't have any MP3's of her downloaded, so she wasn't in the blogrings I followed back in the day.  Her music is simply orbiting around me in an intangible, most probably algorithm-driven way (nothing is coincidence, everything is driven by robots all hail our robot overlords).  I posted on Instagram that Rachel was Miranda Lambert meets Patsy Cline, and I'll stand by that!  Her voice has the edge of Miranda's; knowing and wise, but won't hesitate to call your shit.  The background music has the cleeeeeeeeaaaaan Countrypolitan sound of Patsy Cline - her band is seriously talented!  She's got a knowing cynicism, shown in the shirt she wore which read "Middle Age Crazy," and came across as being wizened with time and cognizant of Gen X or Gen Y nihilism.  Since Delilah DeWylde has seemingly relocated up north, Rachel just might be my go-to badass rockabilly babe band...

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Eddie Bentz Bank Robbery

Prohibition is one of the most storied periods in American history. Urban myths and legends abound nationwide, with tales of folk heroes like Al Capone, Babyface Nelson, and John Dillinger. Tall tales are woven around organized crime, wild bootleggers, underground saloons, and well-dressed gangsters. There's something uniquely American about the DIY ethos of taking matters into your own hands, making illegal alcohol, and selling it through clandestine channels; stickin' it to the man like those in the illegal alcohol industry did. These stories are immortalized in movies like The Road To Perdition and Public Enemies, as well as TV series like HBO's Boardwalk Empire and, well, PBS's Prohibition. Many lakeshore towns in Western Michigan have tales of organized crime and bootlegging. Easy access to Lake Michigan meant that bootleggers had easy access to boat routes, safely out of reach of authorities. Booze was funneled in from Canada, then taken by boat to cities all aro
Post a Comment
Read more

August 2023 Holland Photoblog!

 The assignment was to take an old disposable camera that I'd found in the basement, jimmy-rig a polarized filter out of an old pair of sunglasses, then shoot what I saw in and around Downtown Holland, Michigan. Some key takeaways? It's not necessarily worth using a filter like this when the clouds are making diffuse light anyway (except when it is) Rule Of Thirds is a general guideline, and I hope I didn't create too much imbalance Holland has some really cool architecture!   A view of the sidewalk in Holland Heights, looking westward along E. 8th Street The entryway to the Windmill Way subdivision, at the corner of Paw Paw Drive and E. 8th St. A retaining wall looking west on E 8th St, just a bit down the road from Windmill Way Construction in front of Barber Ford, looking westward at US-31.  Background has the Shell Station and the plaza where Ditto and the Secretary Of State office are Barber Ford looking south along Homestead Drive.  Love that Blue Oval! The same const
Post a Comment
Read more

Junk Food Review: Chocolatey Payday.

 I saw an ad on my Instagram page for a chocolate-covered Payday bar.  Jokingly, I took a screenshot, and posted it on my stories asking the question "Isn't this just a Baby Ruth?"  A friend responded by saying that no, a Baby Ruth is peanuts surrounding caramel and chocolate-flavored nougat; the chocolate-covered Payday is peanuts in caramel-flavored nougat, dipped in chocolate. Now, candy bars are made from a few common ingredients:  Chocolate, peanuts, nougat, and caramel.  Chocolate and nougat is something like a 3 Musketeers.  Chocolate, nougat, and caramel is something like a Milky Way.  All 4 makes a Snickers bar.  Chocolate and Peanuts is a Mr. Goodbar.  Chocolate and caramel is either a Caramello or a type of Milky Way.  Peanuts and caramel (no chocolate) is a Payday.  And, chocolate, peanuts, and caramel led to the confusion that took me down the road to writing this article in the first place. I did what any sane person would do:  I bought both bars, and did a 
Post a Comment
Read more