DAWSON SMITH & THE DISSENTERS/DRUGSTORE COWBOYS
Musician Pub 13th December 2024
Last night a big crowd of music lovers gathered at The Musician Pub to celebrate Dawson's birthdays and burn the midnight oil watching the Dissenters and Drugstores...
In a surprise but shrewd move, Dawson and the band opened, leaving what he described as the best party band anywhere to finish the evening... and Dawson commented that a recent review named the Dissenters as the best local band anywhere... they are better than that!!
Dawson and the band sing and play cracking brand of americana/rock'n'roll. No frills or fuss the band cracked into their set with relish and had the place rocking from the off. The set was as ever a mix of originals and covers, and we had the Daswon classics... "American Cars", "Grandpa George" "it aint the age it's the mileage" among others.
Up front Dawson sings and plays with gusto in his own wonderful inimitable way while the band rock sublimely along with him... Joe on drums hits the drums hard and plays up a storm, but this is no "Animal from the Muppets"... he is a really terrific player who not only rocks but also plays with style and huge skill... in front of him Steve plays superb rhythmic rocking bass. What can you say about Howard Smith on guitar... he is simply a phenomenal player, hitting his peak when playing dynamite slide in the later pieces.
This band seem to know each other inside out and have a superb on-stage rapport which keeps the music tight and rocking.
This was a superb performance by a genuinely high quality band... as someone near me said "there were no sitting down pieces in that set"... superb
After a very short break up stepped the Drugstore cowboys. Nick is one of those performers... give him a guitar and a mic and let him loose and he will rock a room to the foundations for ever... and the band are with him all the way... at the back Damon thrashes the drums with energy and a great deal of relish while Sam plays outstanding slap bass throughout, and adding some excellent back-up vocals.
The group is led by Spartacus playing guitar and singing and rocking like fury throughout the set...
The set is as always a selection of likely and unlikely covers, mixed in with a host of Nicks own songs... the covers include a couple of Johnny Cash songs ("Cry cry cry" & "Boy Named Sue") as well as the likes of "Proud Mary" (CCR) "20th Century Boy" (T.Rex) "Paint it Black" (Stones) and "I've just seen a face" (Beatles).
There are also lots of deep cut covers by legendary and obscure bands and Nick did slow things down with a great version of "Gentle on my Mind" (Glen Campbell) which was enhanced by a lovely fiddle part by the one guest of the evening, Helen Butterfield.
Nick also takes requests, and if he knows the song, which he almost always seems to, get played as well... and as the set progressed the emphasis turned further to the vintage rock'n'rollers including delves into the songbooks of Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, Eddie Cochrane, Gene Vincent and the Everley Brothers...
The Drugstores are a superb rock'a'billy party band and never let you down... they are electrifying and had the audience dancing and singin g along throughout...The band looked set to play all night, Nick wondered how long they had left and seemed amazed that it was already not far from midnight when he cracked into another song, but all good things come to an end... and the show ended as Drugstore gigs do... with a rousing version of "Champion the Wonderhorse" as midnight approached...
No two ways about it... two superb bands bringing their A Games to the party and delivering a pair of exciting uplifting terrific sets...
Both Dawson Smith and Nick Whitfield are leading figures in the music scene... rightly loved and respected by those who love live music... and the two bands, Dawson Smith and The Dissenters and the Drugstore cowboys are major players on the scene.. .key to the local music scene and loved and respected by everyone who cares for live music... and together they gave us a really memorable fabulous evening of rocking music... and on the subject, The Musician Pub is such a wonderful and significant venue... it would be wonderful if we can celebrate Dawsons birthday in the same room next year
But I guess this was Dawson's night.. his birthday bash... Happy birthday Dawson...
and thank you to everyone who got on stage and contributed to a fabulous evening
Keep music live... keep music real... support your local venue...
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