Covington’s Frontier Folk Nebraska has been around for 10 years (which the members celebrated last year with a career-spanning live album), and most of those years the group has been one of the best original Rock bands in Greater Cincinnati. And, as the band’s latest EP, Warpig, puts on glorious display, they are only getting better as the years go on.
The group’s ever-sharpening songwriting skills have been at the core of its greatness, and Warpig (released in conjunction with Cincinnati-based indie label Old Flame Records) contains four of the band’s most memorable songs yet, each guided by soaring melodies that worm their way into your brain after just one listen. That has a lot to do with guitarist Michael Hensley’s powerful, high-ceilinged voice, which delivers the melodies with a force and urgency that’s undeniable. The vocal arrangements on Warpig are especially strong, fleshed out by guest vocalists Lauren Houston and Heather Turner (of local group Honey & Houston).
The EP opens with “Girls Like Wine,” a perfect example of the band’s ragged glory, with guitars that swagger like vintage Stones or The Replacements at their bash-and-pop best. “Song In A” puts the “power” in “power ballad” and shows the emotional weight the band is capable of injecting into its songs (think “Tuesday’s Gone” if it was written by Neil Young and covered by My Morning Jacket).
Speaking of power, EP closer “Cut You Loose” is a Power Pop gem that would make Robert Pollard smile like a proud papa, complete with a shimmy-shaking British Invasion-like rhythmic bounce.
Frontier Folk Nebraska recently returned from a tour jaunt that took the band to South By Southwest in Austin, Texas and included several other shows in Texas and throughout the South.
The band — which is working with Shake It Records on a forthcoming single for Record Store Day next month — hosts an EP release party Saturday at Southgate House Revival (111 E. Sixth St., Newport, Ky., southgatehouse.com). Dayton, Ohio’s The New Old-Fashioned opens the show at 8:30 p.m. Admission is $10.
Warpig will be available at the show as a limited-edition cassette. The EP will also be available for download at frontierfolknebraska.bandcamp.com (click below to stream it) beginning Friday. (The cassette version can also be ordered through the Bandcamp site.)
More Local Notes
• One of Cincinnati’s best venues for live music (and one of the leaders of the “no cover” trend in the city), Northside Tavern (4163 Hamilton Ave., Northside, northsidetav.com), officially turned 15 years old on March 21. This Saturday, the club celebrates with a free (of course) party that includes drink specials (starting at 5 p.m.) and catered food from Ruth’s Parkside Café (beginning at 6 p.m.). At 9 p.m., “Cosmic Roots” band Shiny Old Soul (a Tavern regular) performs in the venue’s front room. The back room lineup features local Rock greats The Tigerlilies (who’ve consistently played the Tavern since it opened), as well as acclaimed rockers Lemon Sky and Garage Rock duo Toon Town. Music in the back begins at 10 p.m.
• Featuring some of the top names (and music educators) in local Jazz and noted for its creative programming, the 17-member Cincinnati Contemporary Jazz Orchestra — the reigning Cincinnati Entertainment Award winner in the Jazz category — and its smaller CCJO Chamber Ensemble have explored the music of everyone from Bill Evans, Duke Ellington and Frank Sinatra to The Beatles and Radiohead.
This Thursday, the Orchestra unveils new arrangements of songs by late music legend Prince, with guest vocalist Adia Dobbins of The Everyday People Band, at a 7:30 p.m. show at The Redmoor (3187 Linwood Ave., Mount Lookout, theredmoor.com). Tickets ($10 for students; $15 for adults 18 and up) and more information are available at artful.ly/cincinnati-contemporary-jazz-orchestra.
CONTACT MIKE BREEN: mbreen@citybeat.com
This article appears in Mar 22-29, 2017.