Shinyribs, beyond jazz hands and cheers to Rudie
by Chris Aaland
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And from the ashes, a Phoenix shall rise. Such is the case with Kevin Russell. Last fall, the Gourds went on an indefinite hiatus. After 19 years , 11 studio albums and thousands of gigs, they hung ’em up … at least for the foreseeable future.
While no reason was given, the need for creative space seems a logical culprit. Each Gourds album featured equal numbers of songs by Russell and Jimmy Smith, with a handful of Max Johnston tunes thrown in. Sometimes artists need space to grow.
Enter Shinyribs, Russell’s latest endeavor and one that makes its Durango debut at 8 p.m. Monday at the Animas City Theatre. Shinyribs has been around since 2006 with two albums under its belt and another on the way. Joined by fellow ex-Gourd Keith Langford on drums plus Winfield Cheek (keyboards), Jeff Brown (bass) and the Tijuana Train Wreck Horns, Shinyribs allows Russell to toss even more ingredients into his already overflowing musical gumbo. The horns, in particular, were a welcome addition.
“I’ve always loved horns,” Russell told me in an interview last week. “The Gulf Coast stuff and New Orleans R&B stuff … some of my favorite music ever. We dabbled with horns in the Gourds, but we had so much going on otherwise. It’s been a natural progression. I think I just arrived at that point where it makes sense musically. Horns are what I imagine crack is like. Once you start using, you can’t stop.”
Russell says he’s “been chomping on the bit” to bring Shinyribs to Durango, a locale that was an early and enthusiastic supporter of the Gourds. But his home state of Texas? Not so much. “I was raised by rednecks. Some of my best friends are rednecks. But it’s not always conducive to making art. The Gourds didn’t necessarily appeal to most local people in Texas.”
Shinyribs, with its coastal R&B vibe, succeeds in its mass appeal to Russell’s fellow Texans. “I had some old ladies come to my show and say, ‘We used to dance to bands like y’all. Y’all play that kind of music we used to dance to all the time,’” he said. “These were like 80-year-old ladies.”
And dancing is something Russell takes seriously. “I’m an entertainer,” he said. “I think I’ve become the world’s oldest male exotic dancer. I can dance all I want now. In the Gourds I danced a little bit, but there were some anti-dancing forces in that band. It’s kind of like ‘Footloose’ a little bit.”
Many Durangatangs will have danced themselves into a stupor prior to Shinyribs, no doubt having attended the 38th annual Telluride Jazz Festival, which runs Friday through Sunday in Town Park. Telluride folks define jazz as loosely as they do bluegrass. The lineup includes Artist At-Large DJ Logic; the funky all-stars in Dragon Smoke (Ivan Neville, Eric Lindell and the Galactic rhythm section of Stanton Moore and Rob Mercurio); Brooklyn soul band Lettuce; funk/jazz Grammy winners Snarky Puppy; and a Latin orchestra, Grupo Fantasma, among others. It is jazz? That’s debatable. Is it danceable? Oh, hell yeah!
Head east to the Western foot of the Sangre de Cristos for the 16th annual Crestone Music Festival – a three-day event (Friday-Sunday) that has grown into a medium size, multi-genre fester smack dab in the middle of nowhere in the San Luis Valley. Surrounded by antelope and sagebrush, you can catch a stellar lineup of indie-folk bands like Paper Bird, SHEL and Taarka, the New Orleans-meets-Africa pairing of Charles Neville & Youssoupha Sidibe, bluesy folkie Ruthie Foster, and much more.
You’ll have not one, but two chances to catch The Appleseed Collective this weekend. The quintet mixes the Hot Club of Paris with the sweaty soul of Dixieland, a couple of blades of bluegrass, a pinch of ragtime beat and some Western swing swagger to conjure up an original sound. Touring in support of its second record, “Young Love,” the band plays the Aztec Theatre on Friday and the Dolores River Brewery on Saturday.
Get Back, Loretta! The Fab 4 brings Beatlemania to the Sunset Concert Series in Mountain Village from 6-8 p.m. Wednesday.
Many of you wept when Ska buried the last bottle of Ten Pin Porter last November. The hearse, the tiny little casket, the pallbearer rolling around in the mud … all were touching, yet Ten Pin’s death left a tiny hole in Ska’s mainline arsenal. That hole gets plugged Saturday with the global release of Rudie, a session IPA that’s under 5 percent ABV, well-balanced, crisp and refreshing. Many hardcore hop-heaps view sessions as training wheels for those who are scared of Modus Hoperandi and similarly hoppy ales. “We wanted to brew an aggressively hopped beer that you can drink a few of and still hold your shit together,” said Ska president Dave Thibodeaux. “The idea was that hop-forward, flavorful beers don’t always have to knock you on your ass,” added Ska brewing overlord Bill Graham.
In other drinking news, El Moro welcomes guest chef Adam Dulye for an evening of fine cuisine and hand-crafted cocktails Saturday night. Dulye is the owner/chef of The Monk’s Kettle and Abbot’s Cellar in San Francisco and culinary consultant for the Craft Brewers Association. He’s noted for his creativity, skill at food and beer/wine/spirit pairings and his championing of farm-to-table programs. Dulye joins El Moro’s own executive chef Sean Clark, who has already built a national name for himself for preparing the first beer dinner at the prestigious James Beard House in New York City and overseeing SAVOR events at the Great American Beer Festival.
Ring in Colorado’s 137th year at Moe’s with Funked Up Friday (featuring Bent Rocket) from 6-9 p.m. and a Statehood Summer Celebration at 9 with six different DJs. Saturday’s bill includes dancing on the patio to the Southwest-infused rock of Albuquerque’s Jade Masque in a fundraiser for Compañeros (7-10 p.m.) and still-yet-even-more dancing to Juicy Money, the Intelligents and Aestheric later in the evening.
In honor of statehood, this week’s Top Shelf list includes three things that every Colorado native should do before his/her death:
1. Catch a trout naked. I mean butt naked. And on a dry fly.
2. Navigate Red Mountain Pass on acid after a Grateful Dead or Allman Brothers concert in Telluride.
3. Eat marmot.
Don’t need the ladies crying ‘cause the story’s sad? Email me at chrisa@gobrainstorm.net.