As the music critic and list maker Tom Hull pointed out in his favorable 2024 review of the Atlanta band Jeff Evans Porkestra’s EP Willow Pillow, there’s no Discogs entry for Evans’ previous group, Chickens and Pigs. Evans was born in Macon, Ga., in 1961 and moved to Atlanta in 1986. Evans and company recorded eight full-lengths under that moniker, including 2015’s Free Range, before morphing into the Porkestra. Evans strikes me as an interesting songwriter who has been hiding in plain sight, or just in Atlanta — check out the Free Range track “What Would Lynyrd Skynyrd Do.” He sounds like a catchy amalgam of Lou Reed and your favorite sloppy indie-country rocker on the Willow Pillow track “I’m Going to Town,” about moving to the big city to get away from it all. I’m also impressed by the dynamics and lyrics of “Happy Earthquake” and “Mirror, Absorbent,” both of which mention air travel. Meanwhile, Evans reworks songs from the Chickens and Pigs era on his 2025 EP When Pigs Dance. He says he has a full-length, Telling the Bees, set for release in August. Saturday at Brown’s Diner, Evans shares the bill with Ned Hill Band and The Phoenix Lights.
7 p.m. at Brown’s Diner
2102 Blair Blvd.
