INDIE-ROCK | Tulsa
w/ Fifths, The Artichokes
Thurs. Oct. 11
The Map Room
$5
Haunting. Like dozing off in a car on I-95 and coming to a half mile down the road. Like finding a crutch on your front porch with a note attached to it saying, “Snitch.” Like receiving a set of Polaroids of you doing a line of coke off the bare belly of a former state official, and you don’t remember a lick of it. That’s what “Breath Thin,” the first track on Boston-based Tulsa’s latest EP I Was Submerged is like. The track has a real Black Francis-meets-Black Heart Procession dead western dirge sound. Now, the rest of I Was Submerged isn’t as lost-in-the-woods-alone spooky as “Breath,” — “#2” comes close — and that’s quite all right. The remaining six tracks have an alt-country psychedelic feel that would be right at home on a My Morning Jacket disc. This week Tulsa are coming to The Map Room. They’re joined by local bands Fifths and The Artichokes. You can learn more about these Beantown boys at www.myspace.com/tulsamusic. —Chris Haire THURSDAY
SOUTHERN-ROCK | Gregg Allman
Fri. Oct. 12
North Charleston Performing Arts Center
$36
Gregg Allman titled his 1973 solo debut Laid Back, and 34 years later he’s still anything but uptight. The almost-60 legend talks with a casual swagger. “When you got the blues, if push comes to shove, just sit down behind your piano, or sit down with your guitar,” says Allman. “Don’t take no bunch of drugs or drink no bunch of nothing. Just make some music, man. Make some magic, and it’ll make you feel better.” Allman kicks off a solo tour this Friday night in Charleston, bringing with him a full backing band, some of whom he’s been jamming with since the Allman Brothers’ early days in Macon. They’ll draw from his catalog of solo material as well as cuts originally recorded by the Brothers. “We’ll play ‘Midnight Rider’ like on the Laid Back record, which is sort of the way it was written,” he says. “We played a faster version with the Brothers, with the intro with the acoustic guitar.” Allman talked about how a song like “Desperado” could be completely different if it’d been recorded by Stevie Wonder, Toto, or Jackson Browne. City Paper asked him if he remembers his ex-wife Cher’s version of Dr. John’s “Walk on Guilded Splinters.” “I’ve never heard it but spare me,” he laughed.
Audio excerpts:
Gregg talks about the material he’ll be playing on his solo tour, and a swampier version of “Midnight Rider”
Audio File
Allman talks about his ongoing songwriting process.
“Who was Melissa?” Gregg reveals the origins of his first and one of his best known songs
—Stratton Lawrence FRIDAY
POP-ROCK | Unusual Suspects
w/ Starfish & Coffee
Fri. Oct. 12
Cumberland’s
$6
Alt-rock quartet The Unusual Suspects — bassist Al Gardner, singer/guitarist Matt Megrue, drummer Brian McMickle, and guitarist Matt Kelley — return to town behind a new disc titled The Coney Island EP, a follow-up to 2005’s Photograph. Megrue and McMickle are based in Charleston while Kelley and Gardner are in Atlanta. “We wanted to write a more focused, cohesive record,” says Megrue of the new disc. “We went for bigger guitar and drum sounds, and really spent a lot of time crafting the songs.” Starfish & Coffee features guitarist Ross Childress, who spent 10 years with the commercially successful rock group Collective Soul as the band’s lead guitarist, cowriter, and backing vocalist before stepping into this new project. Their melodic rock fits nicely next to Fountains of Wayne and Foo Fighters. Visit www.suspectsrock.com and www.myspace.com/starfishandcoffeeonline for more. 10 p.m. —TBL FRIDAY
BLUES-ROCK | Tinsley Ellis
Sat. Oct. 13
The Windjammer
$15 ($12 adv.)
Atlanta-based singer/guitarist Tinsley Ellis made his debut in the South as a solo artist in 1988 with his Alligator Records release, Georgia Blue. Playing from an impressive repertoire of classic blues, vintage R&B, early rock ’n’ roll, and soulful original material, Ellis hasn’t slowed down in 20 years. Following the success of his 2005 live collection Live: Highwayman, he and his current band — Kevin McKendree on Hammond organ and Wurlitzer piano, “The Evil One” on bass, drummer Jeff Burch, and guitarist Mike Lowry — return to Charleston this week with a new, self-produced, guitar-driven collection titled Moment of Truth. They tore it up mighty fine at the Pour House earlier this summer, so this gig should be a good’un. Visit www.tinsleyellis.com for more.
9 p.m. —TBL SATURDAY
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