Blue Monday with The Tiger Beats

Blue Monday with The Tiger Beats

If you find yourself rolling your eyes at all of the dubious product and six-string wankery that gets passed off under the label “blues” these days, come have your faith in the music’s power renewed on Mondays at The 5 Spot. At about 6 p.m., The Tiger Beats take the stage for their weekly deep dive into the relentlessly grooving, no-nonsense 1950s and ’60s heyday of electric blues and soul, when folks like Elmore James, Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf and Bobby Blue Bland ruled the roost. It may sound cliché to say the blues is all about the feel, not the notes, but it’s still a revelation when you hear a group of players really — and I mean really — nail it, and The Tiger Beats are that kind of band.

Featuring ringleader Patrick Sweany, who’s been making his own righteous blues- and soul-influenced music for a couple of decades, the standard lineup also features the remarkable father-son duo of drummer Jason Smay (JD McPherson, Los Straitjackets) and his son McKinley James, an exceptionally tasteful and gifted blues and soul prodigy with a burgeoning career of his own. Throw in veteran bassist Ted Pecchio (Doyle Bramhall II, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Col. Bruce Hampton and the Codetalkers), and you’ve got one of the leanest, meanest blues combos around. With players of this stature, naturally, the lineup rotates as folks take their own shows on the road, but Sweany has no shortage of exceptionally capable players at his disposal to take the reins.

6PM every Monday at The 5 Spot!

Source: Nashville Scene