By GORDON GUILD
Austin's Jesse Dayton is a fresh face in the world of Americana and old-time honky-tonk.
Standing onstage at Knuckleheads dressed in black, with a dangling chain wallet hanging from his pocket, Dayton looked like a clean-cut kid with early Elvis sideburns. But with a strum of his guitar and his raspy voice, the youthful guise dissipated and a vintage vibe permeated the bar. With two-stepping shuffle beats, a slapping stand-up bass and whiny steel guitar, Dayton and his band rocketed the crowd back to a late-'50s venue of swinging rockabilly. While staying true to the old country themes of crying in your beer and being an outlaw, he also brings a new, fresh edge to his music.
Dayton reeled out boot-scooting songs about how home is where the hat is, running from the law and ending up in the county morgue. But with his rockabilly background (he was the former frontman of the Road Kings), Dayton brought a progressive twist to the country sound with lyrics in songs like "Honky Tonk Halloween" about trick or treating with trailer park trash.
Just as his music contained influences both old and new, Dayton paid tribute to those who have inspired him from the past and the present. He talked about working on soundtracks for Rob Zombie movies. He also thanked Willie Nelson for asking him to help record what Dayton considers to be the "ultimate outlaw song" (Townes Van Zandt's "Pancho and Lefty") before breaking into a nearly spoken-word version of the tune. As the lyrics say, Dayton's voice seemed at times to be as hard as kerosene during the rendition, but he kept it true to Van Zandt's form.
Keeping in line with the humor of outlaw life, for a toast to a birthday girl in the crowd Dayton raised a glass and wished her, "May you get to heaven 10 minutes before the devil knows you're there." This brought a roar from the audience. The crowd--while somewhat small--was energetic and pleased that Dayton delivered to their expectations. At one point during the hour and a half set, the trains that run next to Knuckleheads blew their whistles almost in unison with the sound of the harmonica and slide guitar on stage. It was a little magical for the crowd and the band. In turn, for his encore, Jesse performed a brilliant version of another Van Zandt song, "White Freight Line."
When Jesse found out that The Pitch was there to review the show, he was happy to chat. He is a very energetic guy who is proud of his sound and its origins. He explained that he has a big following in Texas (of course) as well as the East and West Coast cities, but he strongly expressed a desire to bring that fervor to the Midwest and see it grow.
While walking out the door, one audience member commented that Jesse Dayton was "the real roots - the real deal of honk-tonk and country music, nothing like the radio plays." With Dayton's authentic Texas twang and undeniable outlaw swagger, that's certainly the case.
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