I Got Hammered on Friday

Every once in a while I get to let my inner redneck out to play. Ok fine, so my inner redneck lets the rest of me out to play once in a while so what!? Friday night saw a musical event the likes of which I haven't seen in quite some time.

The Road Hammers descended upon Darley's Live and rocked the joint so hard I was afraid it might fall over. As country makes its slow slide into greater and greater success it is great to see it take a step back to the beginning (as well as forwards at the same time, it's all very confusing). The Road Hammers consist of Jason McCoy, Clayton Bellamy, and Chris Byrne. Jason McCoy decided that the world needed to have the country trucker music that he grew up loving and was going to just cut some of these tracks in his basement so he could have them. When people got wind of it they decided this needed to be a lot more than a pet project. So the call went out.

He wanted to take a new approach to the whole process of making the album as well as the sound of the music and as a result the music is an intoxicating blend of southern rock, country and blues. The album is awesome and the show was even better.

The guys drifted onto the stage from the bar and came out with their guns a blazing. They ripped through their anthem and then proceeded to hit us with their covers of some good ol' tunes like East Bound and Down (which the non country among you may remember from Smokey and the Bandit - those of you that don't know this are too young understand and should go rent it immediately, good fun).

The show slides back and forth seamlessly from country backed by Jason's amazing voice right on back to rock with the fire and passion of Clayton, complete with crowd surfing, bar hopping and soulful blues. Chris manages to round it all out with a voice that is completely reminiscent of the Eagles. The three combine to form one hell of an experience. The show started with a crowd boiling with excitement despite the smoking heat, and only got crazier as the night progressed. The whole place was on it's feet for the whole show and the pace never faltered even once, like any good trucker should. They boys looked like they were on vacation, they had so much fun, and the crowd just ran with it. A blend of ages and a cross section of the entire country listening world had descended on the club and kept the place hopping.

No matter what your preferences and origins there is likely a part of everyone that would grab on to some part of their music and run for the open road. Like Jason says "It doesn't matter if you drive an 18 wheeler, a Jetta or even one of those tiny smart cars. If it's in your heart you're a Road Hammer"

If these guys roll into a town near you definitely think about getting Hammered too.

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Reminder for those that want a postcard to get their requests in while I have some left. A reminder to email me with your address so I can get one to you. Not that anyone has forgotten to get me their address, honest!