Ryan Bingham and the Dead Horses

Anyone familiar with his stuff?

Listened to some of his stuff after seeing the film 'Crazy Heart' where his band both featured as a bar band backing Jeff bridges character and he also wrote and performed some tracks for the soundtrack to the movie.

I liked what I heard and so decided to catch him live on Tuesday in Hamburg. There was a reasonable sized crowd at the club, which is quite small, so the 250+ there looked good and boy was it warm. It had been 35 degrees outside all day and the temperature was about there too!

Long story short I confess to being disappointed. Nr. 1 they were too loud, yeah I know, its an old theme with me, but I hold true to the point that in venues of this size, if you can't understand what he is singing about whats the point. Trust me, the PA was up enough because his guitarist also did solo support artist duty and nearly blew our drums with the vocal!

So it was the Motorhead theory of everything louder than everything else. Dumba$$ Theory?

Fact is, whenever Ryan had the acoustic on with his harmonica he sounded the dogs doo dahs.

But when its the full band it was just a mess. Well rehearsed mess, but a mess all the same. He admitted they were doing a kind of 'Roadhouse' set, and it did rollick along but I didn't stay for the encores. I'm guessing the albums sound a whole better with a lot more mood.

He reminded me of early Steve Earle ca 'Copperhead Road' but without the light and shade. He should seek it out as it will serve him better IMHO.