Gourds Spotted on Southport

There aren't many things in this world that set my soul straight like a Gourds show, and this Wednesday night they spread their unique brand on religion, bluegrass, at Shubas. The opening act was billed as Shinyribs, and nobody seemed to have any idea about. As the early show of the night kicked off, Kevin Russel, from the Gourds walked out on stage. He is Shinyribs.

Now the Chicagoland area is fucking huge with nearly 9 million people in the entire area. However, despite Kevin's immense talent and the Gourds loyal following, there were only about 10 people in the room when he started playing. Imagine coming all the way from Texas to play to 10 people, what a kick in the dick.

Kevin didn't let it bother him though. Always the professional he held steady and by the end of the set was having fun. By then the room had filled out, but not to an appropriate level for such a great act.

As the Gourds started, something was a little odd. Over the last several years, they've been starting to add electric guitar into their sets, in a great way may I add. However, I've never seen them open up with electric guitars a screeching and and screaming. It was awesome. They worked their way through evening working the electric in regularly. Often, Max was playing lap steel as Kevin wailed on guitar. As always, Jimmy added his kicking bass riffs with smooth transitions to the set. His lyrics and singing really pulled the crowd in. How can you not like "Picklin"

The evening moved on as the crowd was pulled deeper and deeper into the music. At times, foot stomping/clapping crowd responses broke out that shook the floorboards. As the night drew to a close. the boys had to play the anthem, Gin n Juice. This cover is an enigma for the band. They play it so well, and it's just so unique to hear a bluegrass band cover a hip-hop/rap song is just amazing. However, you can see that nobody in the band seems to really enjoy playing it but Kevin. The did join in the diddy in a raucous fashion, that just seemed to grow a little too silly to really do themselves or their work on this song justice. They actually made it a medley that worked its way into that bad 70s song, "The Night Chicago Died." It kind of killed the end of the show for me, but hey seeing Dem Gourds play just tickles my soul.

"What a what a night the people saw. What a what a night it really was, glory be" you Gourds keep touring this fine country.