Lonesome Shack is a Scruff Blues band out of Seattle that keeps it real and unpretentious. Consisting of founder Ben Todd on guitar, Kristian Garrard on drums and Luke Bergman on bass, the trio goes out of its way to sound as “un-modern” as possible.
Seattle is known for music, though not necessarily for the Blues. Bandleader Todd, however, came to the Northeast from the Gila Wilderness region of New Mexico. And while the Land of Enchantment is not known for the Blues, either, that is where he studied the genre and honed his chops.
With Lonesome Shack, the band’s grooves suggest the trio is not interested in fancified sound equipment and instruments. Todd’s singing sounds as if he went out of his way to find as old a microphone as he could to keep the timbre of his voice chitlin’-circuit worthy, and he never overplays his hand on guitar.
Lonesome Shack’s latest album is a live recording called City Man, which features all original songs recorded at the Café Racer club in Seattle, where the band held court for more than two years. And, to keep with the old-school theme, you can buy the trio’s music on suitably retro formats — vinyl (from Knick Knack Records) and cassette (released through cassette-happy imprint Burger Records).
LONESOME SHACK plays Wednesday, July 24 at MOTR Pub in Over-the-Rhine. Check out performance times and get venue details here.
