Concert Review- Rev Horton Heat

The answer to the question of which musical artist have seen the most time in concerts (and even then it is a relatively small number) is the Reverend Horton Heat. Horton Heat’s discography is dominated by his first two records released on SubPop in 1990 and 1993. Considering non-fans might see Heat as a gimmick, there are a lot of memorable moments in the 30+ years career comparable to say the Cramps, in that Heat could often find a way to make a new album sound fresh. Des Moines, Iowa post pandemic has went from five small music venues (and two medium and one large) to three small music venues, and Rev Horton Heat played at the “punk” one near Drake University (upcoming shows include DRI and the Cro Mags). He did have a great crowd and I admit there was a good atmosphere for him here It has been 20 years since I have been to that venue and close to 25 since seeing the Rev. This has been the fourth time I have seen him. Two things stand out, one being the opening bands were always slightly better than normal fare (BR549, Amazing Royal Crowns, Voodoo Glow Souls) The other being, the Reverend effortlessly making these amazing sounds from his guitar with seemingly no effort (and of course Jimbo’s stand up bass). I never saw Dick Dale but I suspect he did the same. But as much as I remembered him putting an entertaining show, this concert was really top tier. I know he’s a true road warrior. He had great rapport with the crowd, and thought I am sure some was well rehearsed, he also was adaptable to being spontaneous to the audience. For example, Heat telling the blast he had meeting Carl Perkins or how much the hip “lounge movement of 1998” (the fans, not the bands) hated them but it was ironic since they had recorded “It’s Martini Time” in 1996. Heat is now 63 but as he always adapted the image of an old rockabilly star, it has always felt like he has been 60. Heat’s releases had always been major events but I think the last time I had the Reverend on my radar was 2014’s appropriately titled REV as he changed over from Yep Roc to the hardcore punk label Victory Records. REV was probably the most well regarded Heat album since 2000s Spend A Night in the Box So I either missed or had forgotten 2018s Whole New Life- an album that added a keyboard player making the band a quartet and thus adding Jerry Lee Lewis and Professor Longhair motifs to the band The band is back as a trio with Jonathan Jeter now as the drummer. Jeter also fronts his own band Jonathan Jeter and the Revelators. Heat has a new album -a tribute to his roots named surely enough Roots of the Rev volume one- -a mix of inspirations and friends like Perkins, Ronnie Dawson and Willie Nelson and mixes a few well known rockabilly tunes with a few more obscure ones. One would suspect Heat wouldn’t like streaming but he did mention his most successful song financially was “In Your Wildest Dreams” which had been used in move and televison and was getting royalties for him and co-writer Jimbo. Off of 94s “Liquor in the Front” album, it must have jumpfrogged some of the MTV hits he had earlier. Opener was Scott H Biram. I knew the name but not anything about him. He calls himself the “Dirty One Man Band”. He is as described- making his first big steps into stardom with that movement of the early 00s. His songs have been covered in record by Nashville Pussy, Hank Williams 3 and Whitey Morgan and he has played with Jesse Dayton and Shooter Jennings. His style is hard to describe but fits those mentioned above- usually a metal fan’s image of an old blues belter and guitarist (think Muddy Waters or Mississippi Fred McDowell). He would slide from Nashville Pussy style sleazeball southern hard rock to ZZTop style blues to punk Americana like Dayton to n-th generation Tom Waits (he also gives by the Reverend Scott H Biram) Biram gives a heck of a performance. He’s like some crude, profane, Wild one man band from some imaginary smoky bar in the middle of nowhere More than anyone, his music reminds me of Bob Log III, the outsider blues punk one man band contemporary. Biram isn’t my normal cup of tea but I am glad I got to see him. Local support was Loose Gravel (a Des Moines band not to be confused with a Minnesota Classic Country or Classic Rock New York State band). They played that modern outlaw country sound that is defined by Skynyrd, AC/DC and the Drive By Truckers and were very good.