They’re billing it as a “New Year’s Eve Late Night Ramble,” but tonight’s show also serves as a kind of release party for a debut EP by this fine new band—an uncommon collection of musicians that’s both surprising and somehow exactly right. Singers Jon Randall and Jessi Alexander have both survived periods of neglect on major labels and come through shining, thanks to some of the best songwriting to hit country radio in the past decade—not to mention nicely complementary yet equally soulful vocal styles. Randall’s no slouch on the guitar either—as a stint in The Sam Bush Band should make clear—and he’s matched in that department by the outstanding Guthrie Trapp (Jerry Douglas Band), keyboardist-about-town Jimmi Wallace (who brings a dandy dose of rumbling piano to the sound), ever-reliable bass man Mike Bub and exquisitely tasteful drummer Larry Atamanuik. Their commemorative Hatch Show Print poster calls it “soulful Southern roots music.” What more could you want?
Thu., Dec. 31, 9 p.m., 2009
