THE SALTY DOGS
9:30 p.m., White Water Tavern. $5.
Brad Williams might have the most iconic voice in local
music. Rangy and rarely onstage without a cowboy hat, the Salty Dogs front man
sings in the kind of easy twang that comes from growing up in Marked Tree, but
he tempers it with a big helping of Southern soul (you could imagine Williams
doing right by a Dan Penn song). Williams and the Dogs — Brent LaBeau (bass),
Bart Angel (drums), Nick Devlin (guitar) — often get pegged as “new
traditionalists” or “honky-tonk revivalists,” which to these ears is just another
way of saying country music that lasts. On Saturday, the band celebrates the
release of its fourth album and first on Max Recordings, “Brand New Reason.”
It’s full of hot guitar licks, organ workouts and clever lyrics. The lead
track, “Rock and Roll Will Never Stay,” offers a sly rejoinder to a preacher
who’s condemned rock ‘n’ roll. It goes like this: “We’re living in one
accord/we’re living by the spirit and we’re dying by the sooouul.” Stream it at
Rock Candy. And get the CD at the reduced price of $8 at the concert.