By Kimberly Caterino for Live Music Capital Radio (LMCradio.org)
I knew not to miss this. King Corduroy with many guests covered the Rolling Stones’ Exile on Main Street from beginning to end at Momo’s, with a bonus round that followed. After witnessing Phish cover Exile from beginning to end on Halloween 2009 (Indio, CA) with Sharon Jones, Saundra Williams, and some of the Dap Kings on horns, I knew. As if the album doesn’t speak enough for itself, I had already witnessed its live recreation from beginning to end, with full memory of the double-album’s emotional peaks and valleys, its rootedness in the blues, its raw venture into rock and roll, and its 3-way marriage between longing, grit, and redemption.
In the dog days of Austin’s hottest summer since 1925, (we’re 4 days away from breaking the record.. 69 days over 100 degrees).. what better album to stay sweaty and revel in the grime with?
Kurt McMahan, harmonica player and songwriter of King Corduroy, organized the evening, hosted it, and performed harmonica and vocals throughout much of it. The players shifted a few times, or were added to many times, and made this crowd member happily dizzy.. but the core of the music was primarily held steady by some of the members of Wisebird & Noble Dog & pals (Jonah Kane-West – keys, Will Webster- guitar, Preston Wimberly – guitar, Joe Beckham- bass, Jeffery Bouck - drums). Mad props to these players, who never un-Stoned themselves for a minute all night. From the album’s opener “Rocks Off”, with Kurt taking the first turn to sing with a good dash of guttural raunch, the band’s vibe—including the horn section-- was base, loose, and seemingly unaware of itself—and stayed that way all night. I have a feeling, if you try too hard to be the Stones, you won’t be the Stones. It has to be something you ease into.
Will Webster made an excellent Keith Richards, with relaxed, jangly, yet precise riffs just where they needed to be—although it was not he, but others who were smoking while playing. (In a smoke-free bar. Rock and roll!) Big shouts out to Mick Taylor, i.e. Preston Wimberly, and the horn section too-- Ponder East on tenor saxophone and Shane Pitsch on trumpet (Smokestack Revue).
Some standout performances happened right away: T-Bird and the Breaks came up for “Shake Your Hips”.. (Tim Crane on vocals and harmonica, Sam Patlove – drums, Cody Furr – bass, John Allison – guitar), Jeremy Nail sang for “Casino Boogie”, and then Emily Hello and Kelly Galvin (T-Bird and the Breaks) stepped up during “Tumbling Dice”. Adoniram Lipton (Slowtrain) sang with the ladies in “Sweet Virginia”, Adam Raven and Dave Meservy (Wisebird) did "Sweet Black Angel", and Nathan Singleton (Sideshow Tragedy) alongside Dave Meservy on keys/vocals led us all through an emotive, climactic “Loving Cup”.
Nate got comfortable as the evening’s resident Mick Jagger for “Happy”, “Turd on the Run”, and the show-stopping “All Down the Line” (Nate must have studied how to dance like Mick too).. Emily and Kelly kept up strong background harmonies when fitting, and Kurt took his turn again at Mick for “I Just Want to See His Face” and a duet with K. Philips for “Let it Loose”.
The album’s Robert Johnson cover, “Stop Breaking Down” gave Jonah-Kane West on keyboards a chance to shine, and Preston Wimberly got to show off some slide guitar.
Another climax of the evening was “Shine a Light” featuring Kurt and Drew Smith on vocals.. and an invitation for all the evening’s singers to join on stage. Click here for the youtube!
And as if Exile on Main Street from beginning to end wasn’t enough, the Stones fever—literally, it being so hot—kept going after a midnight set break. Exile played in continuum brings you to another level, and we all kept letting it hang out, especially on the dance floor.. to classics like “Jumping Jack Flash” and “Honky Tonk Women” (which takes on a whole new flavor in Texas)..
At one point I was talking to Kurt during this midnight mash-up all-star jam, and said to him: “Look what you started. We’ll be doing this until sunrise.” What a tribute to a stellar band and album! If the bars in Austin stayed open all night, we would have been getting our rocks off til sunrise..
