Nurse NIkki's Neon Nightcrawl

THE UNWIELDIES AND WHISKEY BREATH AT THE HUNTRIDGE TAVERN, FRIDAY JUN 21, 2019

Back to the Huntridge Tavern tonight to see another great line up of bands. While the space for bands is sometimes sadly small, the tavern is very open to bands playing and it draws in people (like me) who wouldn’t probably drive there to go. Tonight, on the lineup was acoustic sets by Whiskey Breath and Unwieldies. Whiskey Breath is multifaceted with band members, and solo artist, Brandon Madejek.

Tonight, Brandon was joined by Ken Osborne of the All-Togethers on guitar. Whiskey Breath is a raucous outlaw country set up with influences such as David Allen Coe, Hank Williams II and III, and Merle Haggard. Brandon has a wonderful, projective voice that can’t help but get you to sit up and take notice. Brandon has played a full band mode of WB and has done solo work. The result is still the same…. Outlaw country at its best. He and Ken started out the set with some of Brandon’s originals, including a debut of a new song, “God Damn You”. Brandon’s originals sing of the dangers of drinking/drug abuse, loss of love, and disillusionment with the entertainment industry. Ken backing up Brandon on vocals and guitar was an added dimension that really gave an extra “kick” to the set. Brandon doesn’t play much, so if you get a chance to get out to see him, he is well worth the trip!

 Next up was The Unwieldies. A Las Vegas alt folk, country band that has some of the best talent in Vegas. Made up of wife and husband, Danielle and Robert Bell (guitar and bass), the band has Jack from The Psyatics (violin), Richard Wells (dobro) from Pitchfork, and new addition on drums and banjo, Jesse Fitts. Tonight, they were playing as a 3 piece. They have a mix of original tunes and covers that touch upon love, relationships, and the struggle to maintain a balance in life. Danielle’s voice is as I like to say “like warm sourdough bread with the best butter”, Robert’s voice blends nicely in harmonies and on his own. They are a great band to admire talent and relax with a drink or dinner. Tonight, they played their standard great covers from Leonard Cohen, Elvis Costello and Michael Jackson, as well as some of their newest songs off their album ‘No Secrets Here’. They tag themselves as the band for “the haves and have nots” and I think their continued amazing musicianship shows they are clearly the “haves”. They play regularly once a month out in Boulder City, so if you want a great evening out of the Vegas lights, go check them out !