Honky Tonk Highway

For the two of you who read this, I can say without any reservations - at all - the Inner West is about to be served by what might be called the "new home" of country/honky tonk music. The Balmain Bowling Club (BBC) was, once again, in full party mode last night when the Hunter & Suzie Owens Band took to the stage after a long absence following their unfortunate demise, almost a year ago, from their old Orange Grove gig. Arriving just in time to get the break after the first set, it was obvious the word had filtered out to almost all of the regular followers of this excellent band. A measure of the type of crowd it was can be gauged by the amount of time meeeting and greeting rather than listening to the music once the band started the second set. It was as if Hunter & Suzie had put on a party and it was an open invite . . . with everyone accepting!

With so many close friends and familiar faces packing the recently-refurbished lounge of the BBC, it reinforced the feeling to many of us that this band is the hub of a friendly network of like-minded folk who like their music, dancing and a few drinks. It must be coming up to nine years since Hunter & Suzie set out as an acoustic bluegrass band at the Tatts Hotel in Rozelle and last night saw them take yet another step further along that road with one of the best line-ups of their continually-evolving state. Not that they're a bluegrass band anymore - at least not in the style of all those years ago. We've seen it all before - a while back - at the Orange Grove and the Tatts and we've possibly seen them in a more up-tempo mood now and again but, for their first night back after almost a year, the band rocked and swayed many of their hits and popular choice songs back into the heads of their faithful followers. In top gear, they're possibly the best bar-room band in the Inner West - along with their alternate-Friday-night-at-the-BBC compatriots, Rob Luckey and the Lucky Bastards.

Hunter told me the next day he'd almost had a nervous breakdown as the gig came around to reality and he even admitted a couple of flubbed lines and notes. If he did, I don't think there would be many who noticed. Behind Hunter's almost faultless vocals and rhytym guitar, he has an excellent engine room driving the band: Doug Bligh, possibly the most under-rated drummers in Sydney and Hunter's partner-in-all, Suzie, on impeccable electric bass. If you were there you may also have noticed that "man from the mountains", Jake Lardot, picking up where he left off a year back with his controlled guitar lines and explicit solos. I say explicit here, because we have seen Jake set the place alight with "explosive" solos when the band played rooms which didn't have a soft carpet of a hundred or more patrons filling all the spare sound spaces. If I can say one thing, it would be to request a tweak in the volume when there's another crowd like that. But, because it was their first night back and most of us were too busy "networking" again to notice, I'll say bloody good gig, guys!

Last, but certainly not least, in the line-up is the incomparable Tomi Grasso on pedal steel who can send shivers down the spine on a good night and send you into a dream-state on any other. Hunter & Suzie have always been able to connect with the best in the business when they need players to fill in or to take a residency in the band, and hopefully Tomi will be able to stick around as a permanent member for a long time. And have I mentioned before, most of the numbers this band plays are penned by Suzie with the odd one from Hunter. Superb! Of course they always throw in their (and our) favourite cover songs from the likes of Steve Earle, Jimmie Rodgers, John Prine, Dylan, etc.

There was a couple of grumbles about the venue - ". . . it's too much like a club, etc . . ." - but I really don't know what these people want out of a venue. It has dirt cheap drinks, friendly and helpful staff, it's clean, warm, close to public transport, has a reasonable dance floor and is a good sounding room. If there is ANY complaint, it would have to come from the non-smokers (who else!). That issue will probably be resolved forever in the next year or so when the new non-smoking laws begin to kick in, so if those few can manage to stop breathing for a while, they'll have it all! :-)

The BBC management were more than happy with the patronage (the best they've seen in years!) and Hunter & Suzie will be back with the same line-up in a fortnight (April 1) with Rob Luckey and his Lucky Bastards doing the Thursday night before Good Friday next week (March 24). Start time 8 pm. Hopefully this alternating arrangement will carry on into the future, making the BBC a possible home to Friday night country/honky tonk music in the Inner West.

On a final note, I'll leave it to a line from one of Hunter & Suzie's songs: ". . . . take me back to Friday night again!"