Like so many aspiring troubadours in Nashville, Mark Selby is probably better known for the songs he’s written for others than for the music he’s recorded on his own. Selby’s penned tunes for country-music royalty such as Trisha Yearwood, Wynonna Judd, and the Dixie Chicks, as well as blues-rock hotshot Kenny Wayne Shepherd. On his own he’s a bluesy rock performer closer to Shepherd, as can be heard on his strong new album Dirt, which he’ll celebrate locally with a CD-release party Friday, February 7th, at the Lounge.
Another special show of sorts this week happens at North Mississippi’s Backtracks, where local hard-rockers Sammy’s Good Eye will be shooting a video for their song “Brand New Full,” a track from a forthcoming album recorded at Ardent. Free tickets to the show are available through 94.1 FM, which is sponsoring the show, set for Saturday, February 8th. Showtime is 7 p.m. — Chris Herrington
I’m on the verge of declaring Southern Culture on the Skids a local band. Oh sure, they’re from North Carolina; but frontman Rick Miller claims he learned all of his moves down at Junior Kimbrough’s juke joint, and I swear they play here almost as often as the Subteens.
SCOTS is a reworking of the B-52’s’ formula for success: big hair, vintage instruments and clothing, and a full-on embrace of all things kitsch. Wherever they go becomes an instant frat party/barn dance — just add liquor. While the B-52’s looked beyond their native Southland and self-consciously set about slicing and dicing the popular sounds of 1960s rock-and-roll, SCOTS owes its sound to small-town AM radio. It’s a trailer-park cocktail of country, blues, surf, Tex-Mex, and R&B shaken up like a go-go dancer in an earthquake. Musically, it’s exciting. Only their lyrics — odes to fried chicken, gravy, mashed ‘taters, and malt liquor — haven’t aged particularly well. It’s easy to stand outside the trailer park, describe what you see, and make it sound funny. But SCOTS has done this for so long now that the joke has lost some of its charm. Aw, what the hell. Pop open a couple dozen PBRs and git yerself on over to the Hi-Tone Café on Saturday, February 8th, for a little Southern Culture on the Skids. It won’t hurt you none. — Chris Davis