AltCountry: The Bottle Rockets, Live Concert, Manitowoc, WI, June 18, 2005

“The greatest bar band in America” is how the Bottle Rockets were once described. As they opened their set last month at Manitowoc’s Metro Jam, I gave the description just a bit more specificity: Missouri biker bar band (after all, they have Bottles Rockets stickers that are a take-off on the Harley-Davidson logo). Yet, according to the obnoxious, dismissive musings on CityPages AltCountry blog by Jack Sparks, Brian Henneman’s sobriety takes a punch out of their bar band claim. From where I stood, watching Henneman graciously decline rounds of beers placed on the stage by some of Manitowoc’s finest drunks, the Bottle Rockets have become a great singer/songwriter bar band—rocking and rumbling while able to self-consciously reflect on their place in the world of emotions and responsibilities beyond the next big night on the town.

The red light changes to green for the show, and “Radar Gun” comes on like a double-mufflered hot rod, train track rhythm. As Henneman and John Horton exchange guitar licks on “Baby’s Not My Baby Tonight,” it’s clear that the country rock blues will rattle Washington Park. However, by the third song, “Gravity Fails,” which is a little more rock like John Hiatt on his electric days, I’m feeling it is incongruous to have the Bottle Rockets playing an outdoor show before dusk and with a cool breeze coming in off Lake Michigan. This band’s music is made for the dark or the heat or both.

“24 Hours a Day” has a guitar/bass line that borrows heavily from AC/DC’s “TNT.” Horton and Henneman each contribute a solo that really pulls out the lines from that chord progression. A double guitar jam gives full benefits to “Welfare Music.”

Elsewhere, though, the Bottle Rockets orbit in their country rocket, picking up other sounds like satellite. The blues lay in there on “Slo Toms” with its pattern of a slow siren, two-tone wail. “Happy Anniversary” takes the blues slide sound like James McMurtry’s the Heartless Bastards.

Then there’s the country rockabilly a la Mary Chapin-Carpenter on “Blue Sky.” “Knockin’ Your Back Door Down” has a big build beginning like a BoDeans song that then opens up to harmonies and pop song breaks. “$1000 Car” is the kind of song that Jay Farrar’s vamping on. Finally, there’s even some country punk on “Gotta Get Up,” which includes nice bass work from newcomer Keith Voegele.

Henneman now in his sober songwriting days, I guess, could be called as thinking man’s bar band, or a man of the 90’s in touch with his emotions, or perhaps just plainly a rocker who cares. The new SUV song begins with a guitar jam over Mark Ortman’s tom tom heavy beat, but what emerges isn’t “Like a Rock” “Built Chevy Tough.” It’s a green song (on the side of the environment) against SUV’s, or at lest, a song that sees great disparity between wanting an SUV to drive through bad snowstorms when really you only drive it to the mall. Not the kind of song you expect from a band some would disregard as hicks.

At one point in remarking what a great event Metro Jam is for Manitowoc, Henneman reminisces about what a big deal it was when Waylon Jennings came to their hometown of Festus, Missouri. I wasn’t sure if the analogy was supposed to be Waylon Jennings=the Bottle Rockets, or if Festus is greater than Manitowoc, so on the scale of big shows, the Bottle Rockets coming to Manitowoc is about as big as we could expect. That wondering probably only comes from a being a little sensitive about our city on the lakeshore which actually has such a tremendous event like Metro Jam (this its 27th year) and has more to offer than one might think.

Back to those Bottle Rockets detractors, I think the choice to cover Neil Young’s (“My, My, Hey, Hey”) cover for an encore (much like Farrar’s choice for last year’s live CD) shows how dedicated the Rockets are to rock ‘n’ roll. Their version began with a country hard rock distortion, blazed through the chorus, and ended with an extended distortion jam, leaving their guitars on stage to wail against the amps. This band doesn’t seem to have backed down at all. Perhaps they don’t get sloppy, fighting drunk, but their music has all of the fight and buzz that one needs.

Thanks to the Smithereens for their help. And thanks to the organizers of Metro Jam for another incredible event. If you’re musician, Manitowoc, Wisconsin, should be on your list of places to play!