6 Day Bender

So The Gourds hicked-up hip-hop covers opened your ears and mind. Or perhaps it was The Avett Brothers sweet-and-sour mix of emo and SoCo. Maybe your first hit goes back 15 years to Leftover Salmons polyethnic Cajun slamgrass, or the so-called alt-country explosion of Old 97s. Maybe its even a habit you acquired decades ago, pounding shots alongside Lynyrd Skynyrd or in between hash-tokes with 60s-country counterculture dark knight Johnny Cash. Whatever musical gateway drug got you stirring some hillbilly heroin into your rock n roll speedball, 6 Day Bender is your next step toward complete addiction.

Like all the aforementioned modern favorites, the main hook to this Charlottesville, VA, act is a sharp, Southern twang that blasts the senses, particularly from some pungent bluegrass-inspired banjo. But even though 6 Day Bender puts on a hell of a live show filled with hot licks, this aint no tie-dye-wearin, consciousness-expandin, high-falutin jam band noodlin to nigh on eternity. They hit hard with pounds of solid structure for every four-minute tune, and in 16 short cuts, you wont find a single maudlin mandolin or acoustic six-string; its all dirty Telecasters and bent solos. Its kick-drum-boosted, bass-line banging, shitkicking stomps. Its train-chugging ditties with rambling breaks of fingerpicking goodness. Its painful ballads. Its even confused alt-rock angst, borrowing a healthy dose of blues to thicken things up with gritty topics to boot.

From just-out-of-jail, down-on-your-luck first-person reflections, to scathing wartime protests, 6 Day Bender always maintains that tongue-in-cheek, life-sucks-but-shit-on-it-lets-just-get-high-and-forget-it-for-now appeal thats impossible to resist. And whether new or old, happy or sad, pleading or just plain pissed off, if theres one skill any good Southern act knows better than anyone, its how to tap into every level of the human condition while having a good time and sounding good doing it.

Originals:

Going Back Again
Kick Out the Fire
Wobbly Ladder
Devil Lets You Dance
Down the Line
Wartime
Girlfriend Blues
Jail Blues
Best I Can
Hurts Me Worse
15 Years, Whiskey Dont Burn
The Times
Blood on Your Pillow
Miss Linda
Mad as Hell
Your Good Name
Clover
Waco
Leavin Today
Disgrace My Name
Out There
Ride The Wind

Covers:
Going Down the Road Feeling Bad (Grateful Dead)
You Dont Know How it Feels (Tom Petty)
Thats All Right Mama (Elvis Presley)
Cocaine Blues (Johnny Cash)
Folsom Prison (Johnny Cash)
Orange Blossom Special (traditional bluegrass/country)
Salty Dog (traditional bluegrass)
The Weight (The Band)
Tell it to Me (Old Crowe Medicine Show)
Wagon Wheel (Old Crow Medicine Show)
Sweet Jane (Velvet Underground)
Lust For Life (Iggy Pop)
Honky Tonk Woman (Rolling Stones)
Jumpin Jack Flash (Rolling Stones)
Lovin Cup (Rolling Stones)
John Hardy (traditional)
Hey Hey We\'re The Monkees (The Monkees)
Tuesday\'s Gone (Lynyrd Skynyrd)
Piss up a Rope (ween)