The Rhyolite Sound, Nellie Wilson at the Bunkhouse, Friday Mar 4, 2016

This evening was the first of a series of "Honky Tonk Women Ladies' Night" at the Bunkhouse, hosted by the newly christened The Rhyolite Sound - formerly Eddy Bear and the Cubs. The club was packed for the night with dancin'n'drinkin' couples, so there seems no doubt that there is an audience for this type of entertainment.

The night began with Nellie Wilson, which is Paige Overton from The Clydesdale singing Willie Nelson numbers, backed by members of the Rhyolite Sound. The group consisted of the frontline of Wade on lead guitar, Erik on acoustic guitar and backing vocals, Davis on stand-up bass, Larry on drums (always good to see him bashin's the skins - a great player!) and Joel on lap steel - all fantastic players giving Paige a solid foundation. She has a fine voice and they ran through a number of tunes that I was not familiar with (I am not all that knowledgeable about Willie), but I recognized "Whiskey River", "Help Me Make It Through the Night", "The Last Thing I Needed This Morning" and the closer "On the Road Again". It's always fun to see Wade and Joel interact musically - both amazing players spinnin' intricately clever riffs'n'licks - while Larry & Davis held down the fort and Erik added some excellent harmonies. There was a lot of variety in the songs - fast, slow, different tempos, key changes, etc. Great set with much of the crowd dancin' up a storm throughout- will definitely see that again!

I think this is the first show I've seen as the Rhyolite Sound, but the boys haven't changed their sound and are just as good as ever! They had a sit-in drummer this night (anyone wanna commit to this band? Nice guys and good music - there's gotta be a talented drummer in town that wants to honky-tonk the night away!) and Joel added pedal steel to their set, as well - love hearing this sound in their set, especially by such a superior player! Lots of great tunes like "Got You On My Mind", "Little Sister" (with Wade wailin' away), some originals, a song introduced as a ZZ Top cover that I didn't recognize, "I Lie When I Drink" (especially good interaction between Wade & Joel), "Turn It Up, Turn It Loose", "Ooh Las Vegas" (with Paige sitting in on vocals), "The Bulge in Satan's Pants", (shots were being passed around the stage by this point, as people bought the boys a number of rounds), Wayne Hancock's "Neon Lights", "Folson Prison Blues", "I Think Too Much When I Drink Too Much" and just when we thought they were going to end, Wade & Joel went off on dueling leads and led into Slim Harpo's "Hip Shake Thing" (that the Lucky Cheats also cover) with Wade singing. Amazingly fun set with plenty of folks two-stepping the night away!

Thanks to the Bunkhouse for hosting a cool night of desert honky-tonk! Looking forward to this being a regular thing!