Legendary Shack Shakers, Bleed & Beaumont James and the Wild Claims, The Cooperage, 7/24/19

I've got a lot of respect for local promoters who help bring interesting music to our fair city.  Such was the case last week when Extension Cord presented a triple bill of great music at the Cooperage featuring Legendary Shack Shakers, Bleed, and Beaumont James and the Wild Claims.

photo courtesy of Gigshotz by Stephen Bloch

Extension Cord has brought some seriously awesome bands to town including the Mallet Brothers, Sarah Shook & the Disarmers, and on a pleasant summer's eve, the Legendary Shack Shakers out of Murray, Kentucky.  While active for more than two decades, I only recently stumbled upon the Legendary Shack Shakers and their unique take on the ever-evolving Americana sound.  Rooted in a myriad of southern musical styles and fronted by the uber-charismatic JD Wilkes, the Legendary Shack Shakers were by far one of the more interesting and lively acts I've seen in some time.  Blending together rock, blues, rockabilly, and a tinge of punk, the Shack Shakers delivered a ruckus performance that was dialed up to eleven.  The highlight of the evening was watching Wilkes cut loose on the harmonica with unabashed sound and fury, especially during their standout number, "Blood on the Bluegrass," from 2003's Cockadoodledon't LP.  The quirky Wilkes lead a group of top tier musicians in a set that transported the listeners into the roots music of the south with great storytelling to boot.

photo courtesy of Gigshotz by Stephen Bloch

Opening for the Legendary Shack Shakers was Bleed, another band that has been around for quite some time, but I haven't had the pleasure to see perform live.  Bleed hails from Milwaukee and has been melting faces and ringing eardrums since the late 90's.  Bob Merkt, the singer, and guitarist for Bleed was a great performer as a frontman for the band.  He helped guide the band to an almost non-stop barrage of tunes which had a very bluesy-grunge feel.  Bleed's drummer was particularly entertaining to watch as he played standing up with reckless abandon and really glued the sound together.

photo courtesy of Gigshotz by Stephen Bloch

Finally, on the bill was Beaumont James and the Wild Claims who were playing their farewell show, as James is moving to Colorado.  James is a local alternative country singer-songwriter and his group's opening set was simply outstanding (on par with the other acts of the evening).  James's voice is distinctive and helps adds a real sense of depth to his group's sound.  Most of their set came from James's 2018 debut record and featured some good improvisational fiddle jams as well.  I'm bummed that I didn't hear of James earlier, but pleased to have caught his set opening for the Legendary Shack Shakers.

photo courtesy of Gigshotz by Stephen Bloch

As an overall takeaway, I have to tip my hat to Mark and the crew at Extension Cord for putting together a great bill of music on a Wednesday night.  Good shows are always those that stretch the listener to think about music in meaningful and different ways.  The combination of the alt-country Beaumont James, the grunge-punk of Bleed and the psycho-billy southern storm of the Legendary Shack Shakers lead to a heck of a night of good tunes!