Written by Eddie Ferranti
Folk Alliance International has spawned many a good act for HMR to follow over the years. One such act has been superlative in the form of Knoxville,Tennessee’s The Black Lillies. Even on a school night and over 50 miles away there was no way we were missing their gig at the acoustic master piece of Dosey Doe Music Café. Rose and I weren’t alone as many folks felt the same way and packed the joint for yet another stellar performance. This outfit was founded by Cruz Contreras in 2009 and they just keep steam rolling their way up in popularity. Lead by a bubbling always glad to see you attitude of Contreras, the band carries his persona and blows it out at the crowd non-stop. Dual vocals from him and sassy Trisha Gene Brady is worth the price of admission alone. Backed by Bowman Townsend on percussion, Sam Quinn on bass, plus the double ended flamethrower licks of Mike Seal on electric and Jonathan Keeney on pedal steel and you had the makin’s for a blow-out of fun!
This was our third time to catch them here and they busted out the psychedelic drawn out guitar on opener “Two Hearts Down” followed by keep ‘em comin’ rock of “Gold and Roses”. Contreras is a lyric writing machine who fills the tunes with haunting and longing words to live by. To say this band live is freewheeling would be an understatement. Raucous blues belted out passionately by the underrated Brady was highlighted on great song “The Fall”. The group has so much energy and nothing displays it more than the build up and jam effect of “Smokestack Lady”! “Hard to Please” is the latest CD and it is a goodie. The band has endless accolades including playing the Grand Ole Opry like 30 times and being mentioned by Rolling Stone as one of 10 Artists You Need to Know. No small potatoes there for sure.
They never took their foot off the gas especially on new one “That’s the Way It Goes Down” which registered a 10 on the Jam meter! MORE highlighted gems included “Shepherd’s Song”, “40 Days and 40 Nights” about early career living in a van and another newbie “Hard to Please” where the drummer proclaimed he’d been working his fingers to the bone. It is great to see a band who is putting out new music and touring relentlessly to spread the word. This band exudes a family togetherness that is both refreshing and unique in today’s musical landscape. “”Walking Through Your Town in the Snow” featured beautiful harmony singing and the ovation for an encore brought them back for a stone cold made it sound like their own version of Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth”! The drawn out 60’s style to the song gave this reviewer goose bumps and left the crowd exhausted from the fun overload. God Bless this talented tireless touring bunch of laid back fun lovin’ musicians and come back to Texas soon!
A footnote to this gig is the band had their van and trailer full of gear stolen after the show. $100,000 . Please hit this link to help these deserving folks if you can:http://theblacklillies.com/2016/01/27/how-you-can-help/
Here’s hoping they rebound and like CC has stated: “We’ll be back to Texas. Don’t want a few bad apples spoil the bunch!” Dude has a great attitude about life period………….Peace