Day Four of South by Southwest Music Festival

Today I found myself exhausted. I think the late nights are catching up to me, that or I've turned into a pumpkin! That being said, I knew tonight's choices wouldn't be so hard as I had to call it an early night. I settled on checking out the Los Angeles band, King Straggler.

Before King Straggler was a local Austin band called The Dime Store Poets. If they explained the meaning to their name, it must have been before I arrived. It was in a showcase for "alternative country" music. Theirs had the country feel to it, which usually isn't my thing. But they weren't horrible. However, after hearing Juliette and the Licks last night, a normally bad band might sound pretty good. I'm not going to go out of my way to see them again, but I wouldn't run in the opposite direction. Much like Taylor Hawkins last night, The Dime Store Poets just sound like a bunch of other bands out there. They need to find their hook that sets them apart and then they would have the potential to be really good. But until then, they just sound like more of the same.

Before I get to the review of King Straggler's performance, I want to tell you about who they are. First we have Brently Gore. He's played and recorded with some pretty cool folks like The Cars, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, and Billy Preston. He's considered the "eye candy" of the band. Next is Rodney Eastman. He's the most attractive in my opinion and you've seen him in music and movies for quite some times now. He's the kid from Nightmare on Elm Street III if you really want to know. And then, for all you Deadwood fans, we have John Hawkes (he plays Sol Star). All three of these guys play guitar and share singing and songwriting responsibilities. Brently also plays some keyboards and harmonica on certain songs.

All three men sound different and I am not sure how they would work on their own. But with the variety and sharing of singing, it really works well. Brently definitely has the voice that can do the most. John can get the twang going. And Rodney ... well, he's lucky he can write because he sounds somewhat like Weird Al. On that note, Rodney is actually the best songwriter of the three, so it all works out.