In case you didn’t quite know what you were in for with Drivin’ N Cryin, they made it clear when they opened their Saturday night set at the Highline Ballroom with a shout-out to their Detroit musical brethren — The Stooges, Alice Cooper, MC5 — that it’s rock that’s in their roots, twangy as they may sound. The inimitable Motor City 5 were conjured up repeatedly during the Atlanta rockers’ set, with a reference to the MC5 song “This American Ruse” in their opener “Detroit City,” along with the constant addressing of the audience as “my brothers and sisters,” the longtime cry of late MC5 frontman Rob Tyner.
Coming from Atlanta, it’d be forgivable to assume solely from the band’s looks that you’re in for some Asleep at the Wheel or Blues Traveler, or maybe even a shade of The Georgia Satellites. Vocally, you may not be far off on the latter prediction — lead singer Kevin Kinney isn’t afraid of a little old-fashioned twang — but largely, DNC has more in common with their rock compadres than with anyone else.
True, they can be a little jingoistic: In explaining the story behind one of their new songs, “The Great American Bubble Factory,” Kinney opens by telling a tale of seeing bubbles made in China in a local store and ends the tune with “if you can make it here, why don’t you make it here?” Okay, so the band is ostensibly against international trade and/or outsourcing. Fine, gotcha. (They further broadcast the “U-S-A” theme with repeated “support your troops” pleadings throughout the evening.) But just when you think you’ve pinned down the fellas’ politics, they lament not being able to hear The (once-controversial and still-blacklisted, due to repeated anti-Bush comments) Dixie Chicks on country radio. Truly a mystery wrapped in an enigma.
But either way, DNC make sure they don’t let things get too heavy, sending up Bay City Rollers by leading the audience in a “S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y” chant and ending the evening with a tune imagining Jesus as a “Whiskey River”-loving Willie Nelson fan.
You’d be forgiven if you didn’t quite believe that DNC opening act the Madison Square Gardeners are New Yorkers. But indigenous rockers they are (and young enough to be successors to the Old 97s’ legacy, to boot). In addition to tight songwriting, the band features playing that’s louder live than that of many metal bands. While delivery hinges a tad on Rhett Miller, the songwriting is closer to a cousin of early Tom Petty. If modern country music as a genre knew what was good for it, it would sound like this — not Toby Keith. Remember that, modern country radio? When you featured real talent rather than reactionary shit and Jessica Simpson in short shorts? It is possible to love the genre, even if the MSG are technically closer to being filed under “Americana” in the record store for all official purposes. Then again, Fountains of Wayne would probably be more likely to write a song like “My Ex-Girlfriend Is a Bad Lesbian on Drugs,” so there really is something here for everyone, even if you don’t fancy yourself a fan of the country genre. Eat your heart out, Toby Keith.
