Though too few people are actually aware of this, one of the great things about living in Little Rock is its access to live music. Not the over-hyped sold-out arena style, but the small venue, up close and personal performance where you can actually sense the emotion of the artist. With the obvious exception of Green Day’s alter-ego, Foxboro Hot Tubs, playing at Juanita’s, you’re not going to see the biggest acts at the several places here that offer up live music on a regular basis. But what you will find is an incredible array of talent, real talent, from those just breaking onto the scene, to the ones who are really ascending to musical success. It is becoming a weekly event now, to go to a concert without much advance knowledge of a group, only to be blown away by what you see and hear. And let me say, Friday night’s set at the White Water Tavern was certainly no exception.
What started as a decision on a rather slow Friday night to go and check out The Good Time Ramblers, a very talented local alt-country group, resulted in, from beginning to end, an unbelievable evening of entertainment. It all began with a band from Raleigh, NC, the American Aquariums, whose lead singer, BJ Barham could be described as a cross between two rough voiced balladeers, Ryan Bingham and Ben Nichols of Lucero. The music was strong, well-performed (even without female violinist Sarah Mann), and had the small but growing audience on their feet. The band had performed at White Water a couple of times before, and the affection of the group for the bar matched that of the listeners for the band.
Nathan Singleton and his Sideshow Tragedy, whom we thought would be playing last, followed with a performance with so much verve and energy that words will not fairly describe it. The Austin-based band rocked the place with what might be called their own brand of punk-laced Texas rock, but don’t try and pigeonhole this band – their musical tastes are quite diverse. Singleton is an incredible guitar player, whose Dobro looked like it had logged a lot of Texas highway miles. Even the broken string (“luckily it was the high E, so it didn’t affect me much”) couldn’t slow the virtuoso, whose youthful appearance belies his road-warrior years. And the inappropriately named Sideshow Tragedy was anything but -- bassist Justin Thompson, active and rambunctious, was just as much an integral part of the show, and it was all held together by the strong, rhythmic beat of Singleton’s long-time musical accompanist, drummer Jeremy Harrell. In this set, the audience appeared almost stunned, as though they couldn’t believe what they were seeing. Only the fact that the band was returning to Austin after 2 weeks of touring prevented a trip to see them again the following night. And once more, homage was paid to Matt White and White Water, as Singleton seemed very sincere in his praise of the venue as his favorite place to play, anywhere.
Wrap all this with the Good Time Ramblers, giving you an hour and a half of self-styled “delta rock” music, including a number of covers very popular with the crowd, and you’ve had yourself a hell of a night. And oh, there was a cover charge by the way – a whopping five bucks.
So what makes a particular place so musician praiseworthy? That can be debated of course, but include the fact that the artists are accessible, that they can relate to the audience, and the audience back to them. That those attending are a diverse group, and free to be themselves. That the venue (this one in particular) bears little or no presumption – come as you are – any style, any age, any personality – just have a good time and join in the fun. There are not a lot of places like this anymore. Give me the White Water Tavern over Alltel Arena any day.
-C
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