Vandoliers Make Fun Revolutionary at Cannery Hall

“Some things have changed in our band,” Vandoliers frontwoman Jenni Rose told the crowd during the band’s Thursday night performance at Row One Stage at Cannery Hall, beaming onstage in a cutoff Reba McEntire T-shirt. “Mark’s on guitar now, Patrick’s in it — and I’m a girl!”

In the Texas country punk ensemble’s first tour since Rose came out as a trans woman — and now with a reshuffled lineup that puts Mark Moncrieff on guitar and Patrick Smith on bass — they’ve created a space of righteous noise and personal embodiment that fans of The Menzingers and Jeff Rosenstock will find a familiar home in. This is a band that puts on a killer live show, and they love doing it. As my partner said to me between songs, “This might be the happiest band I’ve ever seen play Nashville.”

The night at Row One began with an opening set by Nashville-by-way-of-D.C. artist Nate Bergman, who commanded the crowd’s attention with an acoustic guitar and a soulful, gravelly voice. “In-ti-ma-cy,” he drawled as he called everyone closer. He even stepped off the stage and into the audience to finish his set with “Into My Arms,” an emotive ballad from his 2022 album Metaphysical Change that suggests Nick Cave.

Then, over the roaring of Aussie cowpunks The Vandals’ “I Want to Be a Cowboy,” Jenni Rose called “We’re the Vandoliers, y’all!” and the headlining act took to the stage. Their set kicked off with a raucous rendition of “Life Behind Bars” from the band’s June album of the same name. Rose realized she was trans while working on Life Behind Bars with producer Ted Hutt (Lucero, Flogging Molly), and it charts a journey from denying to embracing her true self. “I had a hard time connecting with people,” she confessed onstage. But while touring now, after coming out, she’s been reminded that “everywhere I go, I have friends.” She’s more open than she’s ever been, and that shines through in the way the group sounds: triumphant, playful and crackling with joy. 

As if to illustrate that, throughout the set, she and the band loved on each other and engaged in some hijinks. Smith tossed Vandoliers-branded bass picks into the crowd and stuck one to his forehead like a third eye. The band played a surprise cover of The Proclaimers’ “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles).” Trumpeter and keyboardist Cory Graves ran around stage bumping butts with each band member in turn, then split cymbal duty with drummer Trey Alfaro. At one point, the entire group collapsed into a cuddle puddle as the last notes of a song spilled out. “Give it up for this dirty old man,” Rose joked, before giving fiddler Travis Curry a shoutout for his upcoming birthday.

It might be that sense of joy, that strong bond of community, that makes The Vandoliers unafraid to be vulnerable when the moment calls for it. “It’s been 1,063 days since my last drink,” Rose announced to cheers from the crowd, coyly shaking her head to the line “I miss whiskey” during “Every Saturday Night” from the band’s 2022 self-titled album. She held her hands together in ironic prayer during “Bible Belt” after bringing to life the beating heart of “Valencia,” a swooning ballad of queer desire. 

In a world where protecting trans rights gets more urgent by the day and trans children are being bullied by the government, “joy is an act of resistance,” as Rose said from the stage. Toward the end of the set, she declared that “sometimes a girl just gets pissed off” and led the band in a performance of a brand-new song, “Girl on the Run.” Freshly recorded and as yet unreleased, it’s a trans runaway ballad with a galvanizing refrain: “I won’t bow to anyone.” 

Vandoliers are keenly aware that music can be a force for good, that fun can be revolutionary, that their platform lends them an audience with which to share something that counts. “I would like it to be productive, I would like it to be meaningful,” Rose explained, “and I would like it to help.”

Features

Vandoliers Reflect on Big Changes With ‘Life Behind Bars’

• Brittney McKenna