Okay, part of the reason I really like Gloryhound & the Skyhawks is the fact their sound and their covers hark back to an era in music I tend to like (late sixties/early seventies rock.) I should note, however, that during the actual late sixties and early seventies I was pretty much exclusively a country music fan. (When I was four years old the Johnny Cash Show was a highlight of my week. Little kids are weird.)

I mention this because when I arrived at Tribeca last night I discovered there was an opening act: Skank Williams, who bill themselves as Halifax's only all-female Hank Williams cover band. And who would argue with that?

Turns out the band (a three-piece featuring guitar, bass, and banjo) does not play only Hank Williams tunes, but they pretty much stuck to that era (there were a couple of exceptions as you see below.) Much awesomeness ensued.


Set List

Hey Good-Lookin' (Hank Williams)

Jolene (Dolly Parton)

I Can't Help It If I'm Still In Love With You (Hank Williams)

You Ain't Woman Enough To Take My Man (Loretta Lynn)

"I Just Come Here to Come Down" (original, which sound-wise fit the tone of the set nicely)

Baby We're Really In Love (Hank Williams)

King Of the Road (Roger Miller)

Wagon Wheels (Old Crow Medicine Show)

Cocaine Blues (Johnny Cash)

Folsom Prison Blues (Johnny Cash--they left out the Luther Perkins riff but included all the lyrics so it still counts as a good version)

Settin' the Woods On Fire (Hank Williams)

Ring Of Fire (Johnny Cash--well, okay, June Carter)

There were a lot of people out from the beginning of the night--apparently I am not the only person in Halifax with a secret love of banjos. Most of them stuck around for the rest of the evening, including Greg Thomey who showed up again and the Sudanese Johnny Cash fan I encountered some months back in a post I don't have time to track down right now. (I think he's around quite a bit, actually, I just hadn't spoken to him since.)

It also occurred to me at some point late in the evening that last night marked exactly one year to the day since this whole thing got started. Time flies when you're having fun. The first anniversary being paper, I celebrated by writing down the set list in my little notebook, and here it is:

Set List
Set #1

Pinch My Face

Standing Still

Break the Dark

Long Arm

Flee the Scene

Shape I'm In (The Band)

License To Kill (Bob Dylan)

You Gotta Learn

Break
Set #2

I'm Losing You (John Lennon)

Powderfinger (Neil Young)

Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues (Bob Dylan, Adam: vocals & guitar, Shaun: keys, Evan: drums)

"Waiting for the rain to dry" (Adam: vocals & guitar, Evan: keys)

What's Left

King Harvest (The Band)

Before You Fall

Break
Set #3

Not Born To Follow (The Byrds, Adam: vocals & guitar)

Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere (Neil Young)

Walk Don't Run (The Ventures)

Helpless (Neil Young)

Friend of the Devil (Grateful Dead, for Skank Williams and one of the band's friends)

Midnight Bird

The Weight (The Band, Matt Scott of Harbourfire: guitar and vocals, assorted other vocal parts and a friend of someone's playing tambourine)

Also, it appears completion is in sight for the most hotly-anticipated CD of the year (well, on this journal, anyway.) I'll let you know how that goes. As it was, I left the place feeling much better about having stayed late at work.