How Dirtfoot brought the river stage audience to heel at Revel 06

eric gardner & dirtfoot revel 06

"There's an unusual amount of musical talent right now in Shreveport," said Revel director Kip Holloway. He was high on the band Losing Anna; I was high on Dirtfoot.

Inasmuch as I was onstage shooting video of Dirtfoot Thursday night, I can attest to their tightness and energy.

Their riverside stage Revel audience was composed of the main body, a mass of people of all ages, who used the standard seating. Some schlumpfed into folding chairs, others gyrated with hula hoops and played tag while watching the band on the big stage.

The front row dancers - handsome and free young women and men, the camp followers - are integral to the show. They grithed, pashayed and trounced on an abutment directly in front of the stage.

Once I was tempted to say it was hirsute guitarist Matt Hazelton's band. Then I realized that dapper Jay Bratlie, co-singer and banjoist, is an equal partner.

Last night I came to understand how important and active is saxophonist-singer Scott Gerardy. He was a pistol, whether in building the band's vocal fullness, in melodic whistling or in adding the sax growl.

Since I spent much of the set adjacent to bassist Eric Gardner I can testify to his soulful playing and how much his acoustic bass adds to the band's character and oomph.

That said, I cannot offer anthing less about Lane Bayliss, drummer. He knows how to keep the rock energy in the mix. Not a rote sound, but a varied attack. One moment he's swinging and jiving, the next he's driving.

The pots & pans percussionist is currently Daniel Breithaupt. He put on quite a show Thur night. His big hat costume went well with his flailing. He stood on the drum table; he went to the edge of the stage with a scrubboard. Atop the showmanship is the fact that he's a skilled and obsessive player.

Dirtfoot is not destined to have a gigantic audience. Their oeuvre is not mass market kitsch, it's an artful bluegrass-klezmer-folk-rock.
But they've got a schtick that seems to be translatable to club and fest crowds in Arkansas and Texas as well as to home turf.

The dirty little secret of Dirtfoot is audience participation. The dancers grab the band-supplied shakers from the edge of the stage and begin to interpret the music though their walk, their turns, their hair-tossing. Thus the audience gets a double whammy: the maniacally grinning front men, Gerardy, Hazelton and Bratlie. And the whirling, tranced dervishes.

Another way to gauge Dirtfoot's appeal is to note their media magnetism. Alex Kent of the Times was shooting video at the edge of the stage, learning how to use the new Gannett system. Artist and minicine host David Nelson and friend produced a large screen projection of the scene. Perennialmedia.com filmmaker Chris Lyon and I shot a 2-camera documentary. In the audience numerous people shot video with their pocket cameras. There's a front row capture of the sextet doing My Girl on youtube.com by karmaandi that I think is swell.

See them next . . .
Oct 21 10 pm Little Joes Tavern
Oct 28 9 pm Sully's Tavern, on the bill for Chimpstock

See myspace.com/mydirtfoot and, of course, dirtfoot.com

If you hire Dirtfoot for a private party, better tell them you'll feed their dancers. That way you'll be able to revel in the full gypsy boogie experience.