A Man Called Stu is exactly what he says he is — an Australian-born musician currently living in Nashville whose given name is Stu Arkoff. But his work is not so easy to categorize. Arkoff honed his chops in the rockabilly scene in Sydney, and he developed a characteristic style that does have some rockabilly in its DNA, but is more creative than the kind of revivalist rockabilly that strays from making music into merely acting a part. There’s a good bit of Western swing and Bakersfield honky-tonk in Arkoff’s mix, and songs like “My Dark Past” and “Unmitigated Gall” sound sort of like a dream collaboration between Nick Cave and Bob Wills — but then again, they sound more like Arkoff than anything else. Nashville’s Lasso Spells are also on the bill, and their 2017 album Stuck in a Shape blends eerie desert rock with a post-British Invasion psych sensibility. STEPHEN TRAGESER
A Man Called Stu w/Lasso Spells
