Joe Buck plays White Water Tavern Friday night.

  • Joe Buck plays White Water Tavern Friday night.

JOE BUCK
9 p.m. White Water Tavern. $7.

Advertisement

Several years ago, a buddy of mine — he’s a good man, but was also a very thirsty one back then — bought himself a big bottle of economy brand gin and decided to get down to the bottom of it. Keep in mind this was in the era before your plastic liquor bottles that are so prevalent on the bottom shelf nowadays. He went to a party and shared copiously, but somehow there was still a good amount of gin left over as the festivities began to run on fumes, so he skipped out and commenced to drinking with some hobos on the train tracks near White Water Tavern.

Anyways, he woke up back in his bed the next afternoon and, when he started to get up he found that his pillow was adhered to the back of his head with dried blood. He hadn’t a clue what had happened, but there was a good handful of broken glass enmeshed in the scabby carnage that was the back of his noggin. He still had his wallet and had sustained no lasting injuries, and he got the pillow unstuck without too much fuss. But he never did suss out what had transpired and was thus resolved: No more drinking with hobos.

Advertisement

But if his night had had a soundtrack, I imagine it would have sounded like hellbilly wild-man Joe Buck: crazy, blurry, liquor-fueled, touched by mysterious violence and tinged with foreboding evil. Buck’s played with Hank Williams III and The Legendary Shack Shakers in previous years and has played WWT several times. The Hooten Hallers hail from Missouri and truck in similarly stripped down rockabilly racket. So go to this show and have yourself a good time. But stay off the tracks after it’s over.

Arkansas Times: Your voice in the fight

Are you tired of watered-down news and biased reporting? The Arkansas Times has been fighting for truth and justice for 50 years. As an alternative newspaper in Little Rock, we are tough, determined, and unafraid to take on powerful forces. With over 63,000 Facebook followers, 58,000 Twitter followers, 35,000 Arkansas blog followers, and 70,000 daily email blasts, we are making a difference. But we can't do it without you. Join the 3,400 paid subscribers who support our great journalism and help us hire more writers. Sign up for a subscription today or make a donation of as little as $1 and help keep the Arkansas Times feisty for years to come.

Previous article At the Capitol — politicians and bill passing Next article Win a pair of tickets to ‘Young Frankenstein’