05/12 The Wood Brothers with Shovels & Rope
at Utepils Brewing Co.
Tour Dates
5/13 - Milwaukee, WI - Riverside Theater
5/15 - Akron, OH - Goodyear Theater 5/16 - Cincinnati, OH - Taft Theatre 5/18 - Atlanta, GA - The Eastern 5/19 - Raleigh, NC - North Carolina Museum 5/20 - Washington, DC - The Anthem 5/21 - Knoxville, TN - Tennessee Theatre 6/7 - Portland, ME - State Theatre 6/8 - Boston, MA - Roadrunner 6/9 - New York, NY - The Rooftop 6/10 - Accord, NY - Arrowood Farms 6/11 - Fairport, NY - Perinton Center Park 6/13 - New Haven, CT - College Street Music Hall 6/15 - Charlottesville, VA - Ting Pavillion 6/16 - Williamsburg, VA - Virginia Arts Festival 6/17 - Pittsburgh, PA - Mountain View Amph 6/18 - Grand Rapids, MI - Frederik Meijer Gardens 6/24 - Greenfield, MA - Green River Festival 7/7-9 - Orillia, ON - Mariposa Folk Festival 7/15 - Healdsburg, CA - Rodney Strong Summer 7/27 - Salt Lake City, UT - Red Butte Garden 7/28 - White Sulphur Springs, MT - Red Ants Pants 8/18-20 - Wellston, MI - Hoxeyville Music Festival 9/16-17 - Templeton, CA - Whale Rock Music Festival 10/4-7 - Eureka Springs, AR - Hillberry Harvest Moon 10/8 - Monterey, CA - Rebels & Renegades Festival Read More
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Utepils Brewery kicked off its inaugural concert series with a sold-out show involving two bands that know their way around the bar scene: The Wood Brothers and Shovels and Rope. But instead of dim lights and flickering jukeboxes, this show was outside, nestled in the brewery’s parking lot, a nice set up for the brewery is wedged in between the sprawling Basset Creek Park in the Bryn Mawr neighborhood of north Minneapolis. And based on one of the commissioned paintings that hang on the taproom’s walls, it looks like some of the neighboring woodland creatures work there.
Shovels and Rope opened the evening, playing an hour, thirteen song set. A married duo of Michael Trent and Cary Ann Hearst, they are on the road supporting their 2022 album, Manticore, which is Tarot Card showing the head of a man, the body of a lion and the tail of a scorpion. Or as Trent explained to Rolling Stone: “… naming records is kind of stupid, so why not call our midtempo masterpiece something hardcore.”
The duo started off with Trent on electric guitar and Hearst on drums and a small synthesizer, but they soon switched places with “Devil”, which gave Hearst the opportunity to channel her inner Dolly Parton.
A fan favorite was their 2013 hit “Birmingham”, which maybe their origin song with lyrics like:
When the road got rough and the wheels all broke
Couldn't take more than we could tow
Making something out of nothing with a scratch and a hope
Two old guitars like a shovel and a rope
Interspersed were songs from their latest album like “Collateral Damage” and “Bleed Me”. Then the audience was given a brief history lesson on the short life of James Dean in “Domino”.
The Wood Brothers opened the evening with “Pilgrim”, the first song from their latest Heart is the Hero.
Although Chris and Oliver are indeed brothers, their journey to form their group took a circuitous route. After high school, Chris took his upright bass to study jazz at the New England Conservatory of Music and play with a fusion jazz band Medeski, Martin and Woods. Chris took his electric guitar and headed for the road to form the traveling bar band King Johnson. They have been playing together with Jano Rix on drums since 2004 and their sound consists of folk and blues, but they are not opposed to throwing in a little funk and R&B.
Musically, the band was in their sweet spot when Chris took the lead on bass and Oliver sang introspective songs like “Heart is the Hero” and “Far From Alone”. Oliver even mentioned that he was proud of their new album, an album that was recorded live on 16-track tape without a computer in sight.
“Since we are surrounded by all this beer,” Oliver said, “how about a Louisiana drinking song?” So they played “I Got Loaded”, a song by Camille Bob and made famous by Los Lobos. But instead of a jaunty ride of the Los Lobos’ guitar riffs, The Wood Brothers’ interpretation was much more mellow, as if wasn’t so bad to be stoned in the middle of a brewery’s parking lot in the middle of a light rain.
The Wood Brothers finished the set with the bluesy “Honey Jar” which gave full opportunity for extended solos. Then it was back on stage with Shovels and Rope for a quick acoustic cover of Tom Petty’s “Yer So Bad”, a song that lends you to believe that they know a good joke:
My sister got lucky, married a yuppie
Took him for all he was worth
Now she’s a swinger dating a singer
I can’t decide which is worse
Shovels & Rope |
The Wood Brothers (with Shovels & Rope) at Utepils Brewery, Minneapolis (12 May 2023) |
dave ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com |
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