Homefront stayed true to its roots for its November show, booking the Appalachian-rooted duo Texas Rubies and the Cactus Brothers. The Nashville-based Cactus Brothers are a roots-rock bar band expanded by one dulcimer wizard and a dobro player of considerable reputation. Add to that a drummer with nerve enough to drink beer in church and wired enough to play like the Duracell bunny on speed and you have all the ingredients for what could be a verry innterressting evening.
The Texas Rubies, two Chicagoans with Kentucky roots, stand out with their vocal work and good songwriting. Guitarist Kelly Kessler managed to handle both the rhythm and occasional lead parts, with infrequent instrumental help from Jane Baxter Miller. No matter. The vocals were quite enough to carry them, especially in the case of a rap version of a tune called "Home-Grown Tomatoes."
The duo ripped through a string of tunes, some from their two recordings, including such self-penned tunes as "This is Gonna Hurt You More (Than It Hurts Me)" and "He's No Cowboy, He's My Spouse," as well as cover tunes such as "Blue Diamond Mine." They had the complete attention of the audience.
The Cactus Brothers, recently signed to Liberty Records, seemed to have studied the self-described Celtodelic world beat rock and reelers Boiled in Lead and arrived at a variation: Irish reels and country music played on bluegrass and rock instruments at country-punk speed. The World's Greatest Dulcimer Player, David Schnaufer, played a black enameled dulcimer with a rock guitar neck for the tuners. The fiddler, Tramp, likewise had a black enameled, solid-body violin. Tramp dressed to suit NWA aficionados, which made for a bit of a dissonant visual effect.
Shreveport, Louisiana, native Sam Poland, au contraire, dressed like a Shreveport native and handled the lap steel, pedal steel and dobro parts with all the flash reserved for the music.
Dave Kennedy, the aforementioned drummer, ended every tune by doing a one-man version of the wave, encouraging the audience to applaud ever more enthusiastically. Brothers Will and John Goleman covered the banjo and bass parts, respectively, and Paul Kirby played guitar and sang most of the tunes.
The seven-piece group, when fired up and rolling, produced quite a volume. Their material was curiously mixed, ranging from such tunes as Dylan's "Quinn the Eskimo" to "Spanish Harlem" and "Sixteen Tons," interspersed with originals like "Bubba, Bubba."
Alas, the First Unitarian Church, while wonderful for worshipping the elegant majesties of The Almighty and fine for unaccompanied folk performances, is quite unsuited for rock 'n' roll, however much one might wish it were otherwise. The volume and mismatch drove some members of the audience to flee to the rear of the room and hence out the door.
It will probably sound better on WFPL FM 89.3. Homefront is broadcast on Sundays at 1:00 p. m.
Their original home, Stuart Robinson Auditorium, has gotten too expensive for the group, so the First Unitarian Church will be their home for the forseeable future.