Duncan May and the Resonators

Tonight was a trip down to Franklin for a show at The Pond. This little club has been open for a few years now and has grown into a nice little place to see a band. They have a pretty fancy sound system and if you're lucky, there might be a competent sound engineer. Might not, but the vibe is laid back and the staff is cool.

Adam Livingston (from Boom Ticket, as we were repeatedly reminded) did the opening honors with an acoustic solo set. It was interesting to hear his Boom Ticket songs stripped down to sketches. With a guitar amplified by microphone, the sound was about as bare as you can get, but Adam still managed to deliver his earful. The addition of Curt Redding on the djimbai drum for the last half of the set gave a vital rhythm that seemed to make the songs make more sense. With covers of The Beatles and the Chili Peppers mixed in, it was a good set and another different way to see Adam perform.

It's good to see Franklin rock legend Duncan May is still at it. His most recent ensemble might be his best yet. The Resonators, minus vacationing Percussionist Tony, excelled in delivering Duncan's tricky funk tunes. Drummer Curt and Guitarist Scott Hall have mastered May's style of songwriting. The band stays tight through all of the trademark stops and starts and melodic curve balls. With songs ranging from upbeat funk, to smooth love songs, to latin based feels, there was no shortage of room for Duncan to thump that bass and Scott to take his machine gun solos. And with Curt's drumming versatility, these transitions are seamless.

The second set included Adam Livingston (from Boom Ticket) on sax for a nice version of crowd favorite "Chimichanga" as well the ever silky "Sweet Thing". It was a good mix of older songs and newer ones from the new upcoming record. Adam had the almost impossible task of keeping up on these complex songs without rehearsal, but he did a pretty good job. There was a classic moment where a false ending totally fooled the audience and Duncan chuckled while the crowd applauded before he broke back into the song. It's great how these guys always seem to be having a good time, even if the attendance numbers aren't as high as they should be. I'm glad these guys play around town regularly. You can pretty much count on a good show whenever these guys show up at their next local dive.