The Waco Brothers - SOLD OUT
The Best Westerns
Doors 7:00PM / Show 8:00PM
$20 ADV / $25 DOS
Limited seating available.
Shaking off the plague days like a snake sheds its skin the WACO BROTHERS stumble out of the empty, burning desert with a fierce thirst and an epic new album: THE MEN THAT GOD FORGOT. It’s the first collection of original WACO tunes since 2016’s GOING DOWN IN HISTORY and comes to you viatheir own label Plenty Tuff Records.
The Waco Brothers got together in Chicago in the mid-90s; battle weary punk musicians who wanted nothing more than to play classic country covers for free beer in their adopted home city. Their residencies at bars like the Wrigleyville Tap and Augenblick became legendary for the sheer volume, speed and energy they brought to this task.
After an early & particularly deranged appearance at SXSW Rolling Stone dubbed the Wacos “Clash meets Cash” and they unleashed a fistful of ferocious albums and endlessly entertaining live gigs that defined the Insurgent Country movement.
Every night is still Friday night for the WACO BROTHERS but these new songs lace that reckless exuberance with a more sober awareness of the tsunami of cynical corruption & materialism that infects our everyday existence. BEST THAT MONEY CAN BUY rips its verses from what’s left of honest journalismwhile IN THE DARK provides a requiem for functioning democracy AND boasts the best twin-lead guitar solo since Thin Lizzy. The album ends with NOWHERE TO RUN a deceptively gentle dance number (inspired by a night on the Outlaw Country Cruise where the Wacos backed up their hero Lee “Scratch” Perry) that presents the struggle for social and economic justice as neverending. GEORGE WALKS WITH JESUS is a song about George Jones walking with Jesus.
“It's the mission of the Waco Brothers — a Chicago-based outfit that Langford started in the mid-'90s — to bring blood, sweat, and tears back into country music.… They have a rather romantic view; I doubt that, this side of Merle Haggard, any American country act has written a furious hymn to organized labor like the song "Plenty Tough and Union Made.” KenTucker NPR
The WACO BROTHERS lost their powerhouse drummer Joe Camarillo to a stroke in January 2021 and it took some time to regroup. They’d often been joined onstage by violinist Jean Cook and drummer Dan Massey (ex-Robbie Fulks) who had deputized for Joe for years, so now the time seemed right to add them both as permanent members.
The current line-up is: Jean Cook – violin & vocals, Tracey Dear – mandolin & vocals, Alan Jesus George Jones Mr. Spanky Captain Giggles Sproketts Doughty Vega – bass & vocals, Jon Langford – guitar & vocals, Dan Massey – drums, Dean Schlabowske – guitar & vocals
THE MEN THAT GOD FORGOT is the 10thWaco Brothers full length album & was recorded with Mike Hagler at Kingsize Soundlabs in Chicago in 2022. The cinematic brass parts were arranged and performed by longtime collaborator Max Crawford with Dave Smith. Other Waco Cousins appearing are Barkley Mckay on piano and organ, Patty Vega on jingling tambourine and Andre Michot of the Lost Bayou Ramblers on accordion.
“Where does this pack of goofy bastards get off thinking they can one-up our national heritage? But they do, damn it. Jon Langford has always utilized his extracurricular time with the Wacos to exorcise the C&W; demons that have lurked in his work with the Mekons since the 1980s. Where great Mekons albums integrate a vaguely folkish, space cowboy vibe, the Waco Brothers sound like real-deal ten-gallon hatters with a grouchy streak and a subscription to The Nation. Sure, there's a William Blake nod on occasion, but mostly, Langford and co-singer/songwriter Dean Schlabowske invoke the spirit of the common man, crank up the hollow-body guitars and rock their wary ways.” Pitchfork
“The Waco Boys! The Rainbow Men!”
Lee “Scratch’ Perry
It’s Western Swing! Easier to describe than to define, Western swing is ballroom dance music with a Western flair, played primarily on stringed instruments. — Guy Logsdon, Oklahoma Historical Society
The Best Westerns meld instrumental virtuosity and the powerful charm of classic songs old and new, from way out West to Tin Pan Alley. Some call it swing, some call it jazz, some might think it’s rockabilly, and some even call it western music. And that’s how you know it’s Western Swing.
The six-piece ensemble features fiddle, piano, guitar, steel guitar, acoustic bass, and drums.
The repertoire ranges from Bob Wills to Benny Goodman, with stops along the way for Slim Gaillard, Speedy West, Count Basie, and Carl Smith . . . or Carl Perkins . . . or Ray Price. Incorporating influences too numerous to name, the band’s creative synergy leads to a growing core of original compositions.
Most of all, it’s dance music. The band runs on rhythm. Once people are dancing, the Best Westerns are in business.
About the Band
Mark Hembree recorded and toured with Bill Monroe (“Father of Bluegrass Music”), the Nashville Bluegrass Band (“O Brother Where Art Thou?” soundtrack), the Dreadful Snakes (produced by Béla Fleck and Jerry Douglas) and Monroe Doctrine. He also can be heard in recordings with Peter Rowan, David Grisman, Tony Trischka, Roy Bookbinder, Randy Travis, and Neil Young (among many others). Recent years have brought appearances at events reuniting Bill Monroe bandmates, such as MerleFest and Garrison Keillor’s “A Prairie Home Companion” (along ex-Blue Grass Boys Del McCoury, Peter Rowan, Roland White, Bobby Hicks, Blake Williams, Bob Black, and Tom Ewing). Grammy-nominated albums include the Nashville Bluegrass Band’s “To Be His Child” and Peter Rowan’s “Blue Moon Rising,” not to mention a recording credit on Randy Travis’ platinum-selling “Storms of Life.”
In May 2022 University of Illinois Press published Hembree’s memoir On the Bus with Bill Monroe: My Five-Year Ride with the Father of Blue Grass. Eddie Rivers has appeared on more than 40 commercial music releases and toured all over the world as the longest-tentured steel guitarist in the storied history of Grammy award-winning band Asleep at the Wheel. The multitalented Rivers also sings and plays saxophone, but in the art of “straight” steel guitar – no pedals – Eddie has no peer, as evidenced in his many recordings with the Wheel and his solo album, “Plain Talkin’ Man,” which enjoys a five-star rating on Amazon. Andy Pagel’s drumming has powered several Wisconsin Area Music Industry (WAMI) award-winning bands. Pagel’s resumé stretches from punk and psychobilly in New York City to Milwaukee’s Liam Ford, Western Box Turtles, Johnny on Washday, and the Who tribute band Substitute. He also can be heard on Eddie Rivers’ “Plain Talkin’ Man.”
Solid rhythm and agile solos come from veteran guitarist Tim “Beezer” Ferguson, long-known to Wisconsin fans since bands such as Radio Flyer and Ida Red, and more recently with Les Martin and the country rock band Twang.
On fiddle and vocals, Mark Roeder is a multi-instrumentalist swing man with several Wisconsin bands and has been performing all over the Midwest for decades. Pianist Jeff Stehr is a go-to keyboardist in Milwaukee, often seen with the legendary Tritonics.