After several years of trying, I finally got to see Southern Culture on the Skids in concert. Was it worth the wait? Read on.

By pure chance I checked the Southern Culture on the Skids web site a few weeks back, and much to my surprise they were performing in Columbia, MO on Friday the 25th. The weird part was they were playing at something called ROOTS ’N BLUES ’N BBQ FESTIVAL in downtown Columbia. Er … okay, whatever, tickets were only $10.

Well, they were only $10 if you lived in Columbia and could pick them up.  Ordering two (my father went with me after hearing “BBQ” in the name) via Ticketmaster online ran me $34 after fees.  Love ya, Ticketmaster!

So we headed down, and after having to drive all over God’s green Earth due to the number of streets blocked off for the event, we finally got there and experienced some of the most lackluster BBQ ever.  I mean, not only was it insanely over priced ($6 for a pulled chicken sandwich that had some of the saddest chicken I’d even seen), it just wasn’t even that tasty.  Whatever, I was there for the music.

SCOTS, as they are known, were playing at a stage on 7th & Locust, but they were the second band to go on, so first I had to suffer through something called The Wilders that were … well … horrible.  Musically they were tight, but they played the twangiest, ear twisting kind of country that was enough for me to contemplate putting a gun to my head.  And their audience banter was just painful.  I wandered off a lot during this set.

Anyway, finally SCOTS got on stage, and while I have been listening to their albums for some years, and fully expected to enjoy the show, but I was pleasantry surprised it was even better than I expected.

Recorded albums do not do this band justice on just how tight their playing is.  Rick Miller, guitarist and lead singer, is just a sick guitar player.  His ability to change up styles, tempos and everything else is some of the finest guitar playing I have ever witnessed.  Mary Huff raises the bar for bass players keeping pace with Mr. Miller at all times, and also deserves credit for bring more credit to her instrument, one that I feel never gets enough attention.  Dave Hartman, the percussionist, plays the entire show standing up, something I have never seen a drummer do before, and gets more mileage out of just a few drums than most players get out of a full kit.  Tim Barnes is on rhythm guitar, and, well, I just couldn’t hear him in the mix well enough to be certain, but he sure seems to play well.

The sad thing is, this band has been around since 1983, has released 10 studio albums (with an 11th on the way in December of January), 1 live album and 3 EPs, and I know a goodly number of you have never heard of them.  Considering some of the tripe released these days, it is heartbreaking to see a band this good be so unrecognized.  I spoke very briefly with Mr. Miller prior to the show (more on that later, I hope) while he and Mr. Hartman were setting up their own equipment.  Yes, you read that right, 23 years and they are setting up their own equipment and doing sound check with no roadies.  You have completely untalented people like Brittany Spears going out there with insanely huge productions, tractor trailers loaded with equipment, armies of roadies, and these hard working talented folks are setting up their own show.  Something is very unbalanced here.

If you ever get a chance to see them, do go, they are worth every penny, and they are highly entertaining.  Just watch out for flying pieces of fried chicken…

Check out my photos from the show, and some YouTube clips of them from various shows below.

Here they are playing Mojo Box

This one is a combination of House of Bamboo and The Wet Spot