Bob Wills was on to something that pre-dated rock ’n’ roll. When the King of Swing was asked about the forthcoming musical revolution, his response defied a definintion for the music he had been playing since the 1920s.
He certainly didn’t need a phrase to define the originality, style and class of his upbeat music. The gaps that have existed between early hillbilly, swing and rock are shrinking every time a rock band covers an Earnest Tubb song in a style more like Chuck Berry than country music. The marriage of genres is fitting in the world of rock music, where the influences of country, early jazz, swing and blues have given way to all things rock.
The local rock quartet Carcosa is doing what it can to shorten that ambiguous gap, a rock quartet that swings between the influences of guitar-driven rockabilly and alternative country.
They are Russ Crossland on guitar and vocals, Wally Cockcroft on bass, David Rodriguez on drums and Bill Adams on pedal steel.
Carcosa will play Friday at Moe’s and Saturday at the Balcony before and after the fireworks.
What started as a guitar- and pedal-steel-based swing thing has grown to encompass original tunes, as well as a wide palette of covers.
“It started out as kind of a swing-rockabilly-type thing, a little bit of older music. ... It’s evolving, and we’re feeling out how the pedal steel fits in with everybody,” Adams said in a recent interview. “We’re feeling it out as we go, and we’re having a lot of fun.”
Cockcroft and the rest of the band are capable of name-dropping a bunch of obscure but salt-of-the-earth roots bands, tattooed punk rockers and early American musicians, taking the definition of Americana well beyond Willie Nelson, Lucinda Williams and the polished sounds of festival-driven and studio bluegrass bands. The band’s infectious excitement leaves audiences wondering what musical well they’ll dip their bucket into next, along with playing Crossland and Cockcroft originals.
“It’s not segmented, it’s not driven towards a certain person, it’s driven toward dancing and having a good time,” Cockcroft said of his band’s music. “That’s what we want the show to be, and that’s what we do. We have so much fun playing with each other, that’s another element. People are going to feed off that and want to dance and say, ‘Wow, listen to this music.’ I think all of us want to have a good time.”
Liggett_b@fortlewis.edu. Bryant Liggett is a freelance writer and KDUR station manager.
Bryant’s best
Friday: Jazz with Jeff Solon, 5 p.m. No cover. Animas River Café in the DoubleTree Hotel, 501 Camino Del Rio, 259-6580.
Saturday: Roots rock with Carcosa, 5 p.m. No cover. The Balcony, upstairs at 600 Main Ave., 422-8008.
