A Wood River Valley favorite, The Gourds, will step on to the new Whiskey Jacques' stage to play a Ketchum show on Monday, Feb. 15, at 10 p.m. Traveling from Austin, Texas, The Gourds have been defining their own sounds since 1997. Band members Jimmy Smith, Kevin 'Shinyribs' Russell, Keith Langford, Max Johnston and Claude Bernard are known as cosmic country rockers, especially with the release of their latest album, "Haymaker!"
"If I frame a song in history, or use real names instead of pronouns, my content might be less cryptic to the listener," Smith said. "So it's win-win. I get to be the usual freaky lyrical scag and sharpen the listeners machete at the same time."
"Haymaker!" marks the return of engineer Stuart "Cow Fish Fowl or Pig" Sullivan to the studio, and is considered the best documentation of the Gourds' trademark live energy ever captured in the studio.
"Jimmy, Keith and I went and laid down some raw live demos of the songs and ended up using what we did for those sessions as the basis for the album," Russell said. "I think it really captures the intangible qualities of a Gourds' gig in a way we haven't been able to achieve before."
The Gourds live is a show of high energy and incredible musicianship. The band is not just country, honky-tonk, rock or bluegrass—it's a combination of all those sounds, which make The Gourds unique and extremely entertaining. This valley has a deep affinity for The Gourds, so get tickets early and enjoy some the best music Austin has to offer.
Tickets are $15 and available at Whiskey Jacques'. For a complete listing of music events in the valley, see the Music, Dance and Theater section of the Calendar on Page C9.
Courtesy photo by Andy Goodwin
The Gourds play Whiskey Jacques’ in Ketchum on Monday, Feb. 15, at 10 p.m.
