While tickets are already sold out to the Bama Theater’s Tuscaloosa Get Up show on Friday, the show’s anticipation is still worth covering. Actually, hold on a second. I want to ask you a question. Do you know the bill of the show? Well, dear friend, if you somehow have a blind spot to Alabama music, then you are in luck! Consider this a ridiculously brief, and probably flawed, primer to Friday’s show.
The Dexateens
A lot of superlatives have already been made about the Tuscaloosa band whose career lasted from 1998 to 2010. All of those superlatives are completely correct, as well, because The Dexateens have made music that holds together as well as it did upon release. Under the twang of vocalist Elliott McPherson’s voice, the band released five albums, and at least two of these releases personally qualify as area classics.
The 2005 record “Red Dust Rising” opens with a killer track called “Pine Belt Blues,” while the slightly restrained “Singlewide” record has gems in “Can You Whoop It” and “Granddaddy’s Mouth.” If you’re running low on time to prep, start with these two records and get in gear to be thrashed away.
Lee Bains III and the Glory Fires
It should be said that while the Dexateens have held to reuniting for great shows like this, the members of the group have moved on to music that further embodies the band’s spirit while allowing new directions. And the Glory Fires are both similar enough to Lee’s past work as a guitarist for the Dexateens while carrying a fine relevance of its own. Bains has a different vibe as vocalist than McPherson in that he has less of the wild abandon but a more sharpened confidence. Furthermore, their newest single, “Centreville,” is simply kicking as a song.
The effort has already earned the group a fair share of well-deserved bookings opening for groups like Lucero and this particular show’s headliner, the Alabama Shakes. However, I’m most excited to see how new material I haven’t heard yet shines on a stage, and I very much hope the Glory Fires are the ones that surprise people that come to the show the most.
The Alabama Shakes
If I left this page blank, I’m certain you would still be aware of everything there is to know about the buzz band from Athens, Ala. (I hate to use terms like “buzz band,” but obviously it is appropriate.) After all, vocalist Brittney Howard has harbored comparisons to more than a fair share of strong-voiced females. I think I made a tired comparison that the Shakes were like if Aretha Franklin fronted Creedence Clearwater Revival. That might have not been totally fair at a time where the band had roughly four songs released to the world, but with only a couple of weeks until their first full-length album is released, it is time to see if the Shakes hold to that potential.
With all of that said, it is still nuts and incredibly gratifying to see success bred from my home state of Alabama. The Shakes have already played on Conan O’Brien’s show, caused area bars to have to pull fire code for packed performances and probably held a decent part in the sold out tickets for this show. All of that fervor will hopefully translate to people referring to this as “the Alabama Shakes show,” then checking out the other bands involved and realizing that Alabama music is worthy of obsessing over.
