October 5 - October 11, 1995

BIG COUNTRY: It was prophesied that the Anti-Cyrus would arrive in these troubled times. His blue jeans would fit snugly, but only around his Texas-sized waist. His hair would be cut short and plain and his hips would swivel only when he reached for an extra helping of ribs. He wouldn't cop old rock and roll licks and he wouldn't spread his message in glitzy videos on CMT. Best of all, he would sing real country songs and drive Billy Ray Cyrus and his ilk from the minds of the listeners.

It's all come true in Don Walser and his Pure Texas Band. The portly 61-year-old grandfather rids your brain of the demons of faux country with his gentle, crystal tenor and old-fashioned music.

Last year's Rolling Stone From Texas is a gorgeous lope through antique and vibrant Lone Star State music. Walser's amazing vocal range lights up "Cowpoke" like a celestial campfire with a soft, eerie yodel that any pedal-steel player would love to wring from the instrument.

He and the band also do flawless reworkings of Jimmie Rodgers' "California Blues"; "That's Why I'm Walking (Angel On My Mind)" by Stonewall Jackson; Marty Robbins' "Don't Worry (About Me)" and an obscure Willie Nelson number , "Three Days." They're flawless because Walser resurrects the spirit and feel of traditional country and western with loving interpretations of the vocals and music, not because he's a killer cover artist who makes the songs sound exactly like the original versions.

The country and western party begins when Walser and his five-piece band turn the Southwest Center for Music, 2175 N. Sixth Ave., into a honky tonk on Wednesday, October 11. Tickets are $7 in advance.

THE STARS ARE OURS: If you haven't made it to the outdoor amphitheater downtown yet, you've got two good reasons to try it out this weekend. OK, the amphitheater is really just a parking lot behind the Rialto Cabaret, 201 E. Broadway, but it works really well on a few different levels. It's boxed in on three sides by buildings, which provide for surprisingly good acoustics; it's outdoors in Tucson's great October evening weather; and the music has been superb so far.

Last Friday night I caught Joe Louis Walker there and he absolutely rocked the pavement and everything attached to it. This Friday night Mark Hummel and The Blues Survivors hit the lot.

Their swaggering, swinging contemporary blues mix ought to get people dancing in front of the stage just as Walker did. Admission is five bucks.

Hummel is followed on Saturday night in the same location by rhythm and bluesman Nappy Brown. Blessed with a big, soulful voice, Brown has jumped from rhythm and blues to gospel and back again a couple of times since he began his career in the late '40s. He's been in the R&B groove for over a decade now, knocking out funky albums for Alligator, Black Top and Ichiban. It'll only cost you a five-spot to get into this show, too.

TUNE-UP AND LOBE JOB: I made two mistakes (that I know of) in last week's paper. First, in our concert calendar I mistakenly said the Tannahill Weavers were playing on Saturday, October 7. Wrong. This Scottish band plays the traditional music of their homeland on Friday, October 6, at the Berger Performing Arts Center at the Arizona School for the Deaf and Blind, 1200 W. Speedway. Tickets are $12 and $15 for the show. Their last concert here three years ago sold out, so you might want to call 881-3947 to make sure seats are still available for this one.

My brain faltered again in Soundbites when I inappropriately labeled Way Station as a glam-metal band in Spandex and poofed hair. Way wrong. They're just hard-rocking guys in T-shirts and jeans with unpoofed manes. I mixed them up in that small space between my ears with another band. I apologize to Way Station and their fans for my mistake.

Congo Congress: I've never heard Congo Norvell, so I can't tell you if I think this band is good. I can tell you they've got some interesting people making their "lounge music from hell," as one critic described it.

Former Gun Club/Cramps/Bad Seeds guitarist Kid Congo Powers leads the group along with vocalist Sally Norvell (formerly of Austin's Norvells). Keyboardist Kristian Hoffman has played with the Mumps and Swinging Madisons, bassist Mary Mulled was with the Hesitations and drummer Jim Sclavunos has backed Lydia Lunch and played with Tav Falco and Panther Burns.

The Zero Kings and Doo Rag open the concert at Club Congress, 311 E. Congress St., on Friday night. Admission is $5.

LAST NOTES: Folk singer Doug Winch plays the Acoustic Café at the Southwest Center for Music on Tuesday, October 10. His album Wooden Nickels brims with sharp drollery and piercing insight into the mind-wobbling minutia of commonplace events and emotions. Admission is $5.

We get a double punch of funk when Cameo and The Ohio Players play the Buena Vista, 251 S. Wilmot Road, on Wednesday, October 11. The Players were some of the defining funksters of the '70s with a string of finger-popping hits: "Fire," "Who'd She Coo," "Love Rollercoaster," "Sweet Sticky Thing" and "Skin Tight." Their salty, bass-monster music was Parliament-Funkadelic-derived.

Cameo borrowed from P-Funk in their early days (try to name a post-Parliment funkster who hasn't), but they've embellished their sound with contemporary soul and smooth hip- hop touches. Call 747-1886 for ticket information.

Los Straitjackets is said to be an all-instrumental surf-rock band from Nashville. Yeah, the city in Tennessee. They wear Mexican wrestling masks so you can't see that it's really Sting, Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart and Phil Collins under there (I feel another brain shutdown coming on).

Straitjackets rock out à la The Ventures and Safaris--while wearing cheesy masks!--at Club Congress on Wednesday, October 11. Admission is $4.
--Michael Metzger

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