THOSE DARLINS
9 p.m., White Water Tavern.
It’s easy to say Those Darlins are Tennessee’s response to the Olympia,
Wash., grrrl scene. The Darlin girls, Kelley, Jessi and Nikki, have
catchy, rock chops like their older genre cousins and certainly
retained a healthy chunk of their forbears’ attitude. Like a female
Black Lips with popabilly tone, they’re the girls who are too cool to
be the lady in your dude crew, won’t hesitate to break a trifling guy’s
car windows and probably do it all with a switchblade in their boot.
When, in “Mama’s Heart,” they tell their mom’s boyfriend to shape up or
ship out (or else), it doesn’t sound like East Nashville posturing;
they begin to touch a Larry Brown-esque level of sinister charm. With
their cover of Uncle Dave Macon’s “Keep My Skillet Good and Greasy,”
they can make even the most dirty-minded guys blush. Make no mistake,
this will be one of the better SXSW-bound shows that Little Rock gets
this year.