The Severed Cortex

Wow. Put simply, I was absolutely blown away. Nancy Schultz was right. I would totally love The Rev.

I don't know why they call this music rockabilly because it truly is the essence of rock and roll. Rockabilly, to me, is the one genre of music that bridges country and blues with rock and roll and punk.

I knew who the right Reverend was and I've actually heard a few tunes of his, but I never really understood until now. Unfortunately when the Reverend was really popular, I worked on the river and never got a chance to see him. Then he sort of slid underground. While I certainly like to slither amongst the underground more than the 'box store' world, I never got back around to the Rev.

That will change.

I've seen Mike Stern, John Scofield, Steve Vai, Dave Navarro, Eddie Van Halen (thhppfftt!!), and a handful of other so called 'virtuoso' guitarists live. The Reverend Horton Heat quite possibly blows them all away. I stood there absolutely mesmerized as this guy just whipped through country, blues, rockabilly, and punk with his own unique style. All this on one of the most fantastically beautiful guitars I've ever seen played live; a hollow body signature Gretsch (6120RHH model) with a Bigsby tremolo. By my count the Rev missed one note and one other that I think he just meant to play louder than it actually came out. For over two hours he played the most amazing stuff I've ever heard and that includes the likes of some outstanding jazz guys in formal venues and hill country bluesmen in Mississippi juke joints.

Don't think that the Reverend stole the show. His stage presence is awesome and he clearly is the focus, but stand up bass player Jimbo Wallace is no slouch either and is clearly a fan favorite. He's exciting to watch and he involves the crowd by pointing, yelling, singing, and standing up on his stand up bass. New drummer Paul Simmons is incredibly good too and almost as excitable as Jimbo.

The band ripped through a two hour set list that started with the signature Blue Sky and ended with the incredible Psychobilly Freakout. The crowd had been worked into a frenzy at this point and one guy had to be physically restrained and thrown out. In between were bits of country, blues, and rock and roll, and to illustrate the point that all these musically genres are intertwined, the band rolled through a medley (of sorts) of a rockabilly Greensleeves, Bill Hailey's Rock The Joint, an Elvis tune that I sang but escapes me at the moment, Roger Miller's King of the Road, and ended with a dead on perfect version of Black Sabbath's Paranoid sung by Simmons.

There are great musicians, there are great bands, and there are great showmen. The Reverend Horton Heat has it all and I find it impossible that anyone could leave one of their shows without a smile on their face. I know I had a big shit eating grin.

The opening band, Murder by Death, was a fairly forgettable four piece. I guess I should give them some credit since they said (and the Rev concurred) they had played almost 70 shows with the Reverend. They did have a cello player and the lead singer/guitarist had a pretty cool looking custom guitar, but for the most part they met the definition of 'filler'.
There was a very large crowd that ran the gamut of individuals. There were lots of tattoos, mohawks, poodle skirts, skinheads, and even a few yuppies like me. There was even a guy who looked like a young Charlie Daniels wearing camouflage shorts and a cowboy hat. My favorite was the lipstick lesbian SHARP girls.

Best t-shirt of the day: Michael Jackson did not molest those children. He made love to them.