Rockabilly Night At Solly's U Street Tavern
Rockabilly Night At Solly's U Street Tavern
Gulley Jimson Quartet And Traylor Park Romeos
Dec. 7, 2006
Matthew Stabley, DC Scene Writer
For fans of rockabilly and alt-country, D.C.'s not a bad place to live. There's plenty of that going
around. And Solly's was a perfect place to be on Thursday night. If only the singer/songwriter
fronting Traylor Park Romeos was leading Gulley Jimson Quartet, it could have been the best
rockabilly band in the area.
Musically, the Romeos were ordinary. Each song sounded like a song you already know -- like they
were taking old tunes and putting new lyrics to them -- but there's not much room for innovation in
rockabilly music anymore, and if you like that sound -- if you crave that Sun Records fix -- the
Romeos deliver what you want to hear.
Focus on Steve Avery's lyrics, though, and you're impressed. With songs like "Yours Truly, Satan"
and "Drunk And Suicidal," the Romeos demonstrate a biting wit that's common ground in the genre,
but theirs is more clever than any I've heard since the Reverend Horton Heat dropped The Full
Custom Gospel Sounds in the early '90s. The Romeos' songs are rollicking, absurd and irreverent,
targeting dark emotions and lampooning them. And the band also humbly paid homage to their
forefathers by closing the set with a couple of covers, most notably a faithful performance of Gene
Vincent's "Be-Bop-A-Lula."
On the flipside, Gulley Jimson Quartet is a much tighter band playing less-inspired songs, simply
singing about being rockabilly fans in rockabilly bands, an oft-abused path. They were not
humorless -- feigning chagrin over $3 PBRs, then playing an ode to High Life -- but they just don't
push the limit like Avery, which is what made the Romeos so fascinating.
But the music was incredible. Terrific guitars, driving bass, uncanny drumming. The guitarists --
John Figura Sr. and Jr. -- traded singing responsibilities, with Sr. handling the gruff stuff and Jr.
taking care of the vocal acrobatics -- the yelping and the yodeling. Gulley Jimson is as red hot as
they claim, particularly on songs like "Blast Off" and "Southbound Train." The latter was surprisingly
heavy, too, ripe for a rockabilly mosh pit, if the floor hadn't already been occupied by a dancing
group of presumed Gulley Jimson friends and family.
The sound at the fledgling venue was better than expected, too. Not great by any means, but better
than expected for a neighborhood sports dive. Though the vocals sounded a bit too hollow at
times, the music was perfect for the room. Hopefully, the room will hold more of its like in the future.
=