The family trio of Barbara “The Shredder” Keith,  Hubbie Doug “Finger Slammer on the Snare” Tibbles, and son John “The Pose Machine” Tibbles were in very fine form. Sporting a bad back at the always reliable venue  Mucky Duck for a double gig night, Barbara showed no ill effects whatsoever. The best quote I’ve ever come across as a description of SC is “Patsy Cline meets AC/DC!” That is so nails.

Barb smoked the sexy rock soundin’ title cut, “My Turn”, three songs in and it fit well. In fact, I’ve seen these guys for almost ten years now and have never seen them do so many new tunes live. “Roses and Bones”, “Ship of Fools”, “The Boy from the Rodeo”, and “Threw a Rock in the River” sizzled with killer “wow-wow” guitar antics by BK on the latter. This new CD flat out brings it in your face folks.

The Coyotes fill a void ALWAYS with their fan friendly rock tunes and ballads. None is more touching than “The Ghost of Vicksburg” , which Barbara dedicated to good friend and fan Peg Miller at the other venue on this tour, Dosey Doe. This place made a strong comeback with HMR and we’ll have more on that later.

“Johnny Rocks Cantina” was sweet, which also was a dedication TO Johnny Rocks, who had driven in from San Antonio for the gig! Classic. “Detroit or Buffalo” is a chestnut that always sounds so tender. “Odessa” is a Texas favorite and is the heaviest sounding “ballad” you’ll ever hear from this trio.

But the main reason these folks keep their cultish deeply passionate following is there torching rock roots. Looking rested and having fun, the group seemed at ease with all the tunes. War horses like “Old Oak Tree”, “Hammer on the Nail”, “In the Church of the Falling Rain”, “Rock Harder Than You”,  and “First Lady of Rock” were all killer knockouts.

Barbara made a tender dedication to the poor souls who perished in a West Virginia coal mine recently by saying: “Here’s a coal mine story that had a better ending” and proceeded to churn into “Pennsylvania Coal Mine”!

Each of the three gigs on this mini tour spanned at least 25 songs! Impressive. A fitting end to the DD gig was encore “Born to Howl”, which appropriately I was wearing THAT shirt!

In closing, the Coyotes baited us with a possible return in the Fall, proclaiming “Make us come back”. Well I’ll be the first to ask them to come on down after the blistering heat dies down and we get re-scorched by their shows!  Judging by the packed crowds I doubt if they would be disappointed either.

As far as the venues these 2 nights, I cannot praise either one enough. The Mucky Duck has always rolled out the great seats and good service for going on 10 years now for HMR and we repay them with frequent visits. The Dosey Doe reversered their previous stance by setting us up with killer seats and excellent service-including buckets of beer (instead of attitude about drinking even with a designated driver last visit) and getting my sweet Rosie the hardest to make dessert AFTER the kitchen had already closed! Very nice gesture that will not be forgotten. If this joint wasn’t so far we’d go more often, but at least HMR is back looking at this venue for future coverage.  All in all both of these places make my “job” so much easier.  Please go out and support LIVE music someplace soon and God Bless y’all!