Others, not so much. The Dukes and Duchesses began the second set with both barrels blazing on "Copperhead Road." Earle/Moorer duet "Days Are Never Long Enough" had a whiff of the chiming folk-rock of the Jayhawks and R.E.M. circa Out of Time, as did Moorer's solo turn "Broken Girl" and lead guitarist/ex-Houstonian Chris Masterson's showpiece with wife Whitmore, "The Other Shoe." "Taneytown," which ironically is actually set in the 19th century, was a dead ringer (haha) for Tom Petty's "Last Dance With Mary Jane."

But if there's one classic-rock band Earle venerates above all others, it's ZZ Top - from his Billy F. Gibbons Starter Beard to the rambling tale he told before "Telephone Road" about driving here from San Antonio to see the trio astride a monster classic-rock bill at Jeppesen Stadium in 1972, and most of all enlisting Masterson et. al. to kick up massive clods of Rio Grande mud on a ripping cover of the Top's early hit "Francine."

Besides "Copperhead," the only other rock moments that even approached "Francine" Wednesday were "The Revolution Starts Now," Foo Fighters run through a Skynyrd blender, and "The Unrepentant," which closed out the three-hour show with fangs bared and knuckles bloodied. "Hard-Core Troubador," meanwhile, mostly reminded Aftermath that somehow we had managed to watch Talladega Nights three separate times over the Fourth of July weekend.

So other than the odd reminder that we really should look into this whole "getting a life" thing, Aftermath's only problem with the show was that the baritone Duane Eddy guitar lick in "Guitar Town" was present and accounted for, but its swirling B-3 organ counterpart was not. As far as we're concerned, Earle can take all the time he wants out of the set to talk about causes that are important to him, but leaving our favorite instrumental part out of one of our favorite songs is simply unforgivable.

And no, we're not kidding.

Personal Bias: Got a two-pack habit and a motel tan.

The Crowd: About Earle's age, plus scattered younger hardcore troubadors. A little chatty, but better-behaved than they were punctual - the place didn't fill up until nearly intermission.

Overheard In the Crowd: "Shhhh!" Thank you, Jesus.

Also: "You're too young for this shit" (during "Guitar Town")

Random Notebook Dump ("The Revolution Starts Now"): The chords are about as frayed as my nerves.

SET LIST

*Waitin' On the Sky *Little Emperor *Gulf of Mexico *Molly-O *Every Part of Me City of Immigrants Telephone Road My Old Friend the Blues Someday Guitar Town Days Are Never Long Enough A Soft Place to Fall (Allison Moorer) Broken Girl (Allison Moorer) A Change Is Gonna Come (Sam Cooke; Allison Moorer)

INTERMISSION

Copperhead Road Galway Girl Ben McCulloch The Mountain Longtime bassist Kelly Looney sings a very Levon Helm-ish song

*Meet Me In the Alleyway *God Is God *Heaven or Hell Pancho & Lefty (Townes) The Other Shoe (Mastersons) *This City Taneytown Hard-Core Troubador The Revolution Starts Now

ENCORE 1

I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive (Hank Williams) Hillbilly Highway To Live's To Fly (Townes)

ENCORE 2

Francine (ZZ Top) Home to Houston The Unrepentant

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