The Lucky Cheats, Alex and His Meal Ticket, Melanie and the Midnite Marauders at the Beauty Bar for Johnny Cash's Birthday

Kind of a last minute addition for MMM to be part of this show, but we through together a couple of Cash covers ("Big River" and "Jackson") to our usual set of high-energy honky-tonk and opened up the night. Turned out to be a beautiful night and there was a fair amount of people for our performance. Still working out some kinks, but a good time.

(Thanks to Wade Braggs for the MMM pics)

In my post-performance tear-down/recovery period, I neglected to take any pix of Alex and His Meal Ticket - sorry! They got a good crowd of friends/fans out for their set, who were quite enamored with the group and their alt-rock/country/unique sounds.

The Lucky Cheats closed out the night with a sit-in drummer - jeez, I forgot his name, I am a jerk - who slammed the skins for some of their rockin' tunes, such as "I Wish You Would", "Skinny Woman", "Hip Shake" and their Cash covers - they also did "Big River" though quite different from MMM's version - and a wild take on "Cocaine Blues". There were a couple of newer songs I didn't recognize, like a swingin' jump blues that guitarist Wade sang and a pulsating half-time blues where Jeffrey played the harp without the amp, giving the song a different feel. Always a great time with these cats - super players and truly one of my fave bands in town. See them any chance you can!

Thanks to the Beauty Bar for having us and to everyone who came out to say happy birthday to Mr. Cash!