Scissormen at Grimey's

Like their Mississippi hill-country mentors, Scissormen favor a revved-up approach to blues that's overstated by definition. On their new full-length Luck in a Hurry the Nashville band tears into ready-made originals and a couple of Son House classics, but the lyrics are merely a jumping-off point for Ted Drozdowski's slide-guitar fantasias. These guys sing about weed and whiskey, women named Mattie and forced vacations at the Magnolia State's infamous Parchman Farm prison--that's the blues. Still, it's Drozdowski's seething slide that makes Luck more than the usual mush-mouthed piece of revivalism. "Whiskey and Mary Jane" benefits from an instrumental section that's agreeably avant-garde, while House's "John the Revelator" receives a concise treatment. Now matter how well it engages with the world, most modern blues might as well be performed in a museum, but Scissormen dispense their overstatement with wit and subtlety.
Wed., Sept. 3, 6 p.m., 2008