Robert Walter’s 20th Congress
Stella Blue, Friday, February 27

Call it Writer’s Block, Great Gordo-style: I’m sitting here desperately trying to think of a way to work a fish taco reference into this Robert Walter blurb. I’ve got the skimpiest of premises: Robert Walter is based in San Diego, the fish taco capital of the USA. It’s not near enough to go on, but ever since I read a Calvin Trillin essay about fish tacos, I can’t get ‘em out of my head. I’ve toyed with a few far-flung metaphors — drums as crunchy cabbage, horns as special sauce, Robert Walter’s organ as the battered and crispy star of the show — but it seems a little strained.

Best, then, to beat a quick retreat, and simply say that Robert Walter is bringing his original soul-jazz-jam thang to Stella Blue this Friday.

A veteran of the Greyboy Allstars, heavily implicated in the New Orleans funk scene, Walter is a musician in pursuit of a groove — and as often as not, he finds it. Case in point is last year’s Giving Up the Ghost, an instrumental outing that falls heavily to the jazz and funk side of the current jam scene. You’ll hear shades of the Meters, shades of Maceo, and shades of gospel too. Other places, the feel is more dance-oriented, drifting towards electronica, but in all cases the focus is on the overall groove rather than the show-stopping solo. As such, it is not on par with the great instrumental jazz albums, where a single performance can reach the level of high art, providing a rare glimpse into a soloist’s soul. It’s more a collection of amiable jams — there’s that word again, you can’t avoid it — that falls a couple of notches above good background music.

I don’t mean to damn it with faint praise when I say that: Giving Up the Ghost may reward casual listening more than intense focus, but that’s how most of us listen to our music anyway. Casually. At any rate, Robert Walter and his Congress work up a good enough groove for driving down I-40, whipping up a pot of bouillabaisse, or eating a plate of fish tacos. Or, perhaps, slipping on your coolest threads and heading down to Stella Blue to dance the night away.

The show starts at 10 p.m.

Call 828.236.2424 for more info.

Hank Williams III and Scott H. Biram
Saturday, Feb. 28, Orange Peel

By now, most of you have heard tell of Hank III — bold, brash, a bit gaunt in the cheeks, Senior’s 31-year-old grandson has already made a name as an acerbic heavy metal shredder, an arresting country troubadour, and a man of no small self-regard. Yup, it’s all the old Williams baggage: gifted, conflicted, addicted. Hank Three’s an interesting story, no doubt, but it’s been told a hundred times. Look up your back issues of Rolling Stone if you need a review.

Instead, I’ll turn my attention to Hank’s opening act, a little-known “hillbilly bluesman” by the name of Scott H. Biram. Scott who? Plug his name in the All Music Guide, and you’ll get a picture of swingin’ sax man Scott Hamilton, dapper in his tux but certainly not Scott Biram.

Plug in scottbiram.com and you’ll get a better picture: he’s a young buck out of central Texas who picks up on old Leadbelly, Bill Monroe, and Hasil Adkins tunes and gives ‘em a shout and a holler. He also writes a few: “Killin’ a Chicken” is one of his newer numbers, and his song “Truck Driver” is covered by Hank Three hisself. Biram’s self-released Lo-Fi Mojo created a minor stir in Austin, garnering some solid praise in the local papers. Also causing a stir were the grisly details of a highway accident last March, in which Biram went toe-to-toe with an 18-wheeler and lost. Four months and 12 surgeries later, he was back on stage, playing from a wheelchair with an IV in his arm. He’s up and able now, and back to his old tricks, including six weeks on the road for the current tour. Now that’s bold and brash.

Tickets are $15 and the show starts at 9 p.m. It’s the last show in the Hank III tour, so there’s no point in these boys leaving any guitar strings unsnapped. Call 828.225.5851 for more info.

Also Playing in Asheville

° Jim’s Big Ego, Grey Eagle, 2/27
° Oteil Burbridge and the Peacemakers, Orange Peel, 2/27
° Richie Havens, Diana Wortham Theatre, 2/28
° Dodd Ferrelle and the Tinfoil Stars, Westville Pub, 2/28
° Henry Rollins, Orange Peel, 2/29

Three Good Things

1. “Bear Tracks,” by Jim Mills, from Sugar Hill’s new Bluegrass All-Stars compilation
2. “Bare Necessities,” from The Jungle Book
3. Bobby Bare

They Said It

“Music with dinner is an insult both to the cook and the violinist.”

— G.K. Chesterton