Music Menu (3/25/09)

Dave Rhames & The Westchesters “Southern Fried Rock ‘n’ Roll, Country Style” is how Rhames has always described his music, and methinks he’s onto something. Hints of Merles both Watson and Haggard, Kris Kristofferson, and Bocephus share the stage with Street Survivors-era Skynyrd and David Allan Coe. Mostly, it just sounds like Rhames – whiskey-strong, homey and a little rough around the edges, with just enough danger and drollery mixed in with the ballads to keep you guessin’. This is a man who wrote a song about Satan as a no-count NASCAR racer, after all (the amusing “The Devil’s in the 666.”) The Evening Muse (Timothy C. Davis)

DD/MM/YYYY Mark your calendar for dd/mm/yyyy. The Toronto-based quintet brings a cornucopia of sounds as the five guys jump between two drum kits, two guitars, and two keyboards with transitions as smooth as melted butter. But don’t expect to be able to place them into any one musical genre; their sound is almost as hard to define as their name is to pronounce. Despite the fact that nobody really seems to understand this quirky group, crowds across the States (and our neighbors to the north) can’t seem to get enough of them. With Bob Fields and No Shoulders. The Milestone (Jill Jacobs)

This article appears in Mar 24-31, 2009.