Cat’s Cradle Carrboro, NC
Contact: ken@bighassle.com
Web: pattersonhood.com
Players: Jay Gonzalez, keys, guitar; Lydia Loveless, bass, backing vocals; Brad Morgan, drums; Ben Hackett, keys, guitar, horns; Patterson Hood, guitar, electric piano, vocals
How is it that whenever Patterson Hood pulls into a new musical truck stop, it’s not to tank up? Because somehow, after 29 years on the road, his tank is still full...? Huh?
This time out, Hood and Co. walked on to Sam the Sham and The Pharaohs, crankin’ over the house PA, a perfect intro as they opened with the title song off their latest release, Exploding Trees and Airplane Screams. Throwing it straight into the adoring crowd at Cat’s Cradle, the title track of Hood’s latest record came roaring off the stage like a duel-carburettin’ boot-blasted whirlwind, launching this rhythm roller-derby outta the gate like a toupee in a hurricane!
Hood’s signature “Aw, shucks” demeanor belies the powerful nonchalance of his storytelling, which was on bare knuckle display. His intros feel like you’re catching up with an old friend outside Walker’s on College Avenue in Athens, GA—warm, defiant, and disarmingly personal.
The near-capacity crowd at Cat’s Cradle couldn’t have cared less about the lineups’ storied history. They erupted in “Trucker Tornado Thunder” as Hood and The Sensurrounders hit the stage and Sam the Sham faded out. "Heavy and Hanging," with its unmistakably Clash-like intro, was a groove-laden beast, beautifully setting up "Pollyanna." Meanwhile, the unbalanced yet intriguing "Uncle Disney" stitched the middle of the set together with a quarter note quilt.
A highlight? There were so many, but try this one on for size: imagine Hood sitting at the stage’s edge with his '38 Gene Autry guitar in hand, singing straight into the heart of the storm.
Tonight, Hood was high on the groove train, riding a transcendent setlist that bounced from the confessional "Van Pelt Parties" to the brooding "Last Hope," a ghostly homage to Athens, Birmingham, and the wreckage of dreams, lives and whiskey’d excuses strewn along Route 20. "Pinocchio" and "Uncle Disney" rose up with bombastic Hoodergy, while "Pollyanna," stripped of pedal steel, was a somewhat softer, intimate moment.
He closed the night full circle with "Airplane Screams," the second half of his new album’s title. By the end of the night, one thing was crystal clear: Patterson Hood remains an American musical hero.
