Though we don’t tell them often enough, Border Radio is eternally grateful to the hard-working copy editors who save our ass, week in and week out, from the humiliation of costly lawsuits, grammatical pratfalls, and spelling errors. Alas, not everyone is quite as conscientious. This week, every artist that caught our ear seemed determined to generate an inquiry or three to verify exotic spelling and creative punctuation.
Let’s start with locals the Bourbonites, who play the Central this Saturday, August 6. We have no complaints about their music: As the band says, they “play rock and think country. Or vice versa, the formula gets inverted but the ingredients stay the same.” Sure enough, they are just as entertaining on driving fare like “What About Us”—which frames the weathered vocals of Calvin Todd Stephens with fuzzy guitar hooks that owe a little more to the Allman Brothers than alt-rock—as they are on the all-choked-up weeper “Confession.” But did they have to entitle their otherwise fine debut full-length This Is Just a Drem? There’s an “A” in that word, guys—that’s what the little jagged red underscore in the spelling checker is trying to tell you…
We’ll cut the newcomers some slack for taking liberties, but Kevn (that’s right—no “E”) Kinney should know better. After all, he’s been in this racket nearly 20 years; his long-running band, Athens, Georgia ensemble Drivin’ n’ Cryin’ (no “G” on either, please) has been at it since 1986. Kinney is in town Wednesday and Thursday, August 10 and 11, in support of his Sun Tangled Angel Revival, a new disc that reflects his love for everything from the garage-punk of the Seeds and the Ramones, to singer-songwriter peers like Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan. After warming up for Ryan Adams at the Moore Theatre, Kinney will make his way over to Ballard both nights and play 11:00 p.m. shows at Hattie’s Hat—for free.
We’re prepared to give the benefit of the doubt to SoCal ensemble Limbeck, who are the middle band on the bill at El Corazón on Sunday, August 7. Surely, the incorrect punctuation on the song title “91′ Honda,” on their third album, Let Me Come Home, was a printing-plant error, because everything else about this band is swell. Songs like “Names for Dogs” (a charming meditation on the cyclical nature of life) and “People Don’t Change” boast the catchy immediacy of emo, but with none of its off-putting, heart-on-the-sleeve ickiness. And we’re pretty sure they must be sticklers for details, because the album, produced by Gary Louris (the Jayhawks) and Ed Ackerson (Polara), was recorded on analog tape, not digitally, to ensure extra aural warmth.
Speaking of attention to detail: If you’re a Border Radio–type artist, or just in the business of shilling one, mark Monday, August 22 on your calendar. That’s the day that snazzy dresser Andrew McKeag, who recently left the Triple Door, assumes his new gig… as talent booker at the Tractor.
