When I sat down to write this review of Lucky Tubb’s Buffalo show (12/08/09 at Mohawk Place), I said to myself, “Should I focus on the abundance of great shows and things to do in this City on any given night or should I just stick to the music itself?”  Well, I’m still not sure how to answer my own question but here’s my two cents on one of the best live shows I have seen in quite some time.

Let me start with a little background about “yours smoothly”.  I love music!  All kinds of music; underground hip-hop, old time country, heavy metal, experimental, avant-garde, classical, etc.  Hell, I even own an album of Mike Patton (Faith No More, Mr. Bungle, etc.) recording noises into a tape recorded while setting in a hotel room… and I love it!  I also hate mainstream music.  If you really want to find good music, then don’t turn on the radio.  That’s the last place you’ll find good music in my opinion.  Well possibly on satellite radio because there are so many options.  You’ve got to be able to find something palatable, right?  So there’s the skinny on what I dig.  

When I stumbled across the advertisement for the show in the Art Voice and I was surprised.  I usually have something like this on my radar screen but I missed this one.  So I contacted a few of the crew to see if I could persuade any of them into coming with me.  I found one taker but many still decided that staying home in a vegetative state was a better option.  It’s not easy getting “30-Somethings” out on a work night.  Boy when did THEY get so old? 

We arrived at Mohawk Place at approximately 8:30 and as always I misjudged the time that the opening act would go on, so we did what anyone else would do in this situation – sit patiently and drink!  PBR’s with Jack is my typical poison when in Rome, and this night would be no different.  We enjoyed a few and while we waited Lucky stopped by and thanked us for coming to the show.  I told him that we had seen him open for Hank Williams III a few months back and were excited to see him back in town.  We also said hello to his fiddle player Natalie Page Monson.  (Our friend “Hot Buffalo” has had a school boy crush on her for quite some time and I figured a properly placed picture message would do the trick and get him to come down for the show.  Wouldn’t you know it – it worked!  Making our head count three.) 

The Steam Donkeys hit the stage about an hour after we arrived.  These local legends always offer up a great show.  They were solid as always and primed the pump with their brand of honky-tonk.  It was a very nice way to kick off the night’s music. 

When we had spoken earlier with Natalie, she had told us that forty tickets were sold before the show and she was pretty happy with that number.  I would estimate that there was double that when Lucky went on.  Not too bad of a crowd considering it was a cold, snowy Tuesday night in Buffalo. 

Lucky and his crew covered all of their hits and plenty of material from Johnny Cash, great uncle Ernest Tubb and many other country legends.  (Let me tell you that the combination of Lucky and Natalie is reminiscent of the legendary duo of Johnny Cash and June Carter.  Boy that gal has some pipes and Lucky is no slouch either.)  At one point our good friend “Hot Buffalo” yelled out a request for the song “Bakersfield” and they played it without hesitation.  They played two sets and really set the house on fire.  The night concluded about 12:30 and we stayed just long enough for one shot with our new fiddle playin’ friend. 

What more is there to say but; Great tunes, great friends and a great show!  The best Tuesday night I’ve had in years!!  (…and the hangover on Wednesday coupled with a twelve hour work day was a small price to pay for that kind of enjoyment.) 

So the next time someone tells you that real country music is a thing of the past or there is nothing to do in Buffalo, tell them to go stick it where the sun doesn’t shine! 

Thank you Lucky and the Modern Day Troubadours!

(http://www.myspace.com/luckytubb) 

BTW – Kudos to Scott Leary (the new owner of Mohawk Place) for updating the sound system.  If you have not attended a show at the Mohawk Place since, you don’t know what you are missing.