Pick of the Litter
Cambria HarkeyHeartless Bastards (Austin/Cincinnati), The Mountain (Fat Possum)
PR Says: "The record delivers the swamped-up rock howl that fans have always loved - but also brings in this amazing expansion into their sound with pedal steel, mandolin, banjo and strings."
Rocks Off Says: If Cat Power fronted Led Zeppelin, it might sound a lot like The Mountain - indie-rock classic-rock muscle. Rootsier than the trio's previous efforts, The Mountain feels like E
Heartless Bastards
The Mountain
www.heartlessbastards.com
Gnarlier than a century-old Live Oak, Heartless Bastards' The Mountain plugs the Cincinnati-born trio's scorching postmodern blues - their debut, 2006's All This Time, could skin a cat - into the eerie backwoods folk of Greil Marcus' semi-mythical "old, weird America." Opener "The Mountain" is an epic Neil Young & Crazy Horse earth-mover, with psychedelic pedal-steel flourishes that help singer Erika Wennerstrom (who has since
Photos by Craig HlavatyHeartless Bastards' Erika WennerstromTight economies ain't gotta slow anyone down. SXSW is chock full of
free shows and most importantly, FREE BOOZE. Yes, anyone of legal age
can literally walk into some shows and guzzle to their dark heart's
content. Or until they set something on fire. Heartless
Bastards put on a barroom rockin' show over at Waterloo Records, with
lead singer Erika Wennerstrom doing her southern-gothic PJ Harvey
thing. "Sway" got people moving, coaxed al
Poster by Uncle CharlieDear Eric, Steve, Jenny and Heartless Bastards (and all your band members),
First of all, Rocks Off would like to welcome you back to Houston. We'd apologize about the heat, but hey, it's Texas in June. Just be glad you weren't routed through here six or eight weeks from now.
Mostly, we'd just like to thank you all for making tonight one of the biggest rock and roll evenings to hit our not-so-little bayou burg in a long time. As you may (or may not) have heard, Houston doe
Photos by Craig Hlavaty
Sometime Wednesday night, Aftermath tweeted into the ether that we were watching a "female-fronted southern fried T Rex" while semi-Austin transplants the Heartless Bastards cranked into "Early In The Morning" about halfway through their set opening up for the Houston-bashing Jenny Lewis (stay tuned) at Warehouse Live.
The term "Southern-fried" has always seemed rote and nearly meaningless, but nonetheless we still sometimes use it offhandedly. We remember having a discus
