The Gatlin Brothers in Concert...

One time I was sitting out in the hot New Orleans spring sun at Jazz Fest watching the great blues/swing/cajun guitarist Gatemouth Brown. He went to play one of his signature tunes "Pressure Cooker" and he said "All you would be guitar pickers sitting out there in the sun drinking beer, slick this." Last night I sat in a cool comfortable seat and saw the Gatlin Brothers at the Temple Theater as part of the Angelina Arts Alliance concert series. They were a replacement act for the Steep Canyon Rangers and while they were not my first choice to see I would not want to have to stand up by these brothers and "slick this." 

The Gatlin Brothers have more awards that you can imagine. Larry Gatlin had Elvis record his tunes, they sang at June Carters funeral, were pallbearers for Johnny Cash and had the hang chops to carouse with Roger Miller. The are celebrating their 65th year of performance and touring and the voices and tunes have held up well. 

Cathy admits to seeing Larry Gatlin as a solo act in the mid 70s. He was opening for Willie Nelson to an auditorium of rank teen agers that smelled of hippie. There was some heckling that went back and forth between the crowd that seemed to think Willie and Larry were an unusual paring. Larry gave as good as he got but his show never got off the ground that evening. He was pretty mouthy last night as is expected of a man with gold records and sky high success in the music business. All it would have taken to see an exchange would have been a smart remark by a witty concert goer that felt picked on. Those, like Larry that do the best in a cutthroat field like music think, "me, me, me, me, me, me,... you."  

Brother Steve certainly gets cool points for playing a Fender Mustang bass guitar and other brother Rudy still has fine pipes for the high part. 

Word on the street was that the Steep Canyon Rangers canceled because the venue could not ensure that all were vaccinated or recently tested for Covid. These requirements are becoming more common in the concert industry and I hope they do not hamper our ability to bring good shows to Lufkin at a time when we are starting to attract the hot acts. There were not a lot of masks in evidence last night. I wore mine and I hope all in in attendance stay happy and healthy and that old acts like the Gatlins continue to rack up the hits.