Band of Heathens

The Double Down: Live in Denver Vols. 1 & 2 (BOH)

With these two CD/DVD sets, each available separately, the total number of Band of Heathens live collections reaches four. It’s become obvious that Colin Brooks, Ed Jurdi, Gordy Quist, and company are most comfortable recording from the stage. Cervantes’ Other Side in Denver fits that bill here for two nights, the local crew boiling down six hours of music into two discs, each just over an hour long. Both overflow with the sextet’s sharply composed Americana, a sound borrowing liberally from Little Feat and the Grateful Dead with a side order of loose-limbed Texas funk. Check the guitar interplay on “Somebody Tell the Truth,” and try not to move to the boom-shaka of “Gravity.” If you had to choose just one, Volume 2 boasts a longer set list that includes favorites like dirty groover “Medicine Man” and the gospel swing of “Shine a Light.”

This article appears in August 31 • 2012.

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