Sans Abri headline an evening of Americana — bluegrass, roots, western swing, with a dash of outlaw — featuring Caleb Warren & The Perfect Gentlemen, and Justin Hylton!
$8 Door
Doors @ 7:30 PM
The literal translation of Sans Abri is “without shelter.” The French use it as a term for “homeless”. In late 2011, Josh Erwin and Michael Paynter found themselves with a handful of new songs that didn’t have a home in The Packway Handle Band, the acclaimed bluegrass-based group from Athens, GA, that they co-founded. Using a cajon to loop live drum beats and alternately adding acoustic and electric guitar and mandolin, the band creates a sound that steps away from their bluegrass roots and finds itself wading firmly into Americana waters. With only Erwin and Paynter at the helm, the songs possess a sophisticated character with wide and transcendent appeal.
The songs on the duo’s first release, Shelter (November 2013, through Twin Cousins Records) often tackle the inevitable predicaments inherent in modern life. The songs range from dark to playful, entailing both sad and funny themes, and are performed with a professional and skilled musical sensibility that only comes with the years that Erwin and Paynter have spent playing music together. Erwin’s “The Scientist” asks the difficult question, “Are we someone’s experiment?” It combines satire with genuine curiosity that has puzzled mankind for millennia. In “One Pill A Day,” a Paynter composition that progresses around a clutching mandolin riff that is doubled by the guitar, one is led to believe that perseverance lies in the form of the pharmaceutical-induced peace of mind of a haunted person that can’t ever reach homeostasis without crashing back to the ground. Paynter’s “Winds Me Up,” the more somber number that closes out the duo’s debut release, showcases Erwin’s deftness on electric guitar and the duo’s tight-knit vocal harmonies.
Those who give Shelter a listen will surely be pleased that these songs have found a home and a fruitful place to grow and evolve.
Caleb Warren & The Perfect Gentlemen are a Western Swinging, Jazz Stringing, Ragtime Blues Band from the foothills of North Georgia. Not your average Blues your grannies and poppas listened to. One thing's for sure, though, these tunes will have you cutting a rug before you know it. Cheers!
Justin Hylton is the man behind Reverend Hylton & The Devil's Hands and Nine Years Apart. He's also the winner of our first ever RLC Americana Open Mic Spotlight!
Reverend Hylton and The Devil's Hands is an Americana Outlaw band that mixes rowdy country songs and heartfelt ballads — a sound that showcases Rev. Hylton's relatable songs of traveling, heartache, and addiction. So watch out 'cause you might just find yourself singing along or doing a little shit kickin' boot stompin'!
Justin Hylton on Facebook
Reverend Hylton & The Devil's Hands on Facebook
Nine Years Apart on Facebook