A week in Europe was all it took to get me jonesing for the hometown sound, so when the Sin City Social Club offered the Iron City Soul Shakers at 7pm at Maria’s Tacos on Thursday, I bit. Literally, too, because while we all know Maria’s has muy bueno tacos, chips and salsa and beer are the water of life for me. Plus, the idea of being at home at 9:30pm rocked.
So did the Iron City Soul Shakers. The local sextet fronted by relocated Pittburgh shouter Kristi Johnston weld blues and hard rock into a monstrous sound that counts her vocals among its assets. Working of the strength of their new CD Shake It Up, Judy!, they hammered at a pure molten mix of originals and well-placed covers, and sometimes was hard to tell which was which. Johnston is a frontwoman with black velvet style, barbeque soul, and mighty lungs, and she challenged the pumping Soul Shakers as the audience egged them on past set time. I got more than my fix.
Meanwhile, sitting beside Sin City Social Club’s mistress of all things fun Shilah Morrow is always a hoot because all I have to do it sit there and eavesdrop while people file by to talk to her. L.A. session legend Danny B. Harvey strolled over and joined us, looking so dapper and rockabilly handsome it should be illegal. Then a more familiar, if unexpected face appeared, Anne McCue, who is playing on Saturday at the Continental.
Most descriptions of Anne McCue start with “alternative singer-songwriter,” but a lot of her recent CD Broken Promise Land hollers rock & roll at the top of its lungs. We met about six or seven years ago at Stubb’s when she noted as the Australian opening act for Lucinda Williams, and her unexpected mastery of Jimi Hendrix’s “Machine Gun” that got my attention.
This time, it was the original collection of sultry roots-rock songs that begin fittingly with “Don’t Go to Texas (Without Me).” Such songs as the moody “Motorcycle Dream” and compelling title track reflect her move to Nashville with a hard roots edge. It was the right music to accompany a late night drive home in the dark.
And here I thought I was going to Maria’s for tacos and a little music.
(Anne McCue plays at the Continental, Saturday June 5, 8pm)
This article appears in June 4 • 2010.