FEBRUARY 18, 2010 ISSUE
Possum Jenkins Return to Murphy’s for 6th Birthday Celebration Saturday
Local alt. country outfit Possum Jenkins will sum up six years of bad habits and rowdy bar shows with a live performance at Murphy’s Irish Pub this Saturday, February 20, at 10:00 p.m. Happy sixth anniversary boys!There once was a time when Murphy’s Irish Pub on King Street in downtown Boone was a smoke-filled bar that served only cold beer and bands played on a tight stage in the corner of the bar. These days the smoky haze is gone and spirits come in shot glasses, as well as pints. And instead of playing right up close to the bar as they once did, the bands play on a new stage near the front of the building that gives the patrons a little more room to get in the groove. But one thing that has remained a constant throughout the many changes at Murphy’s over the last few years has been the rowdy rock-and-roll show of the band Possum Jenkins.
The local bastions of alt. country were born and raised in the smoky barroom of Murphy’s nearly six years ago. Since that time they’ve cranked out three full-length recordings, toured the Carolina’s and have begun to generate some serious buzz with their newest release, Collection of Bad Habits. Possum Jenkins will play live at Murphy’s Irish Pub this Saturday, February 20, at 10:00 p.m.
“The show is the sixth anniversary of their first gig here,” Jon Rush, music manager of Murphy’s, said. “This year they’re coming back as part of the High Country Heroes Music Series and we’re excited to welcome them back.”
This Saturday night’s concert will be the first show that Possum Jenkins has played at Murphy’s since the bar went to non-smoking earlier this year.
“I’m excited about Murphy’s being non-smoking,” Dave Brewer of Possum Jenkins said. “Murphy’s has certainly changed a lot since we first played there in 2004, but most of those changes have been for the better and this one certainly is.”
The changes that have taken place at Murphy’s have been a gradual undertaking that has allowed the venue to accommodate a larger audience in a more comfortable manner. “We used to have a smaller stage and a smaller area for the patrons to see the music from,” Rush recalled. “We really got to know each other well then. It was a tight squeeze. Now we’ve got a lot more space and we’re non-smoking, so we’re ready for the young, healthy crowd to start coming in.”
Since their early days, Possum Jenkins has been playing songs that pay homage to their country heroes, covering songs that range from the North Carolina murder ballad “Tom Dula” to Robert Earl Keen’s ode to a life of drunkenness, “Corpus Christi Bay.”
“When we started out we weren’t trying to have these epic jams, we were just trying to rock out and have a good time,” Brewer recalled. “Initially, we were just going to be a three man acoustic guitar outfit playing ‘90s country songs that we thought were cool. We didn’t really care if anyone else thought it was cool; we just wanted to have fun.”
These days Possum Jenkins primarily plays original music that they have written and performed over the last six years. “As the years have gone by we have tried to play more and more originals and make our cover choices fewer, but more choice,” Brewer said.
Occasionally, the band still goes back to their roots and plays some of the country classics that represent some of their influences as musicians and dip into their old grab bag of country music hits. And when Possum Jenkins steps away from their own material to play these songs they admire, they do so with a uniqueness all their own, lending a potent mixture of blazing guitar riffs, hammer dropping bass lines and heart-felt vocals that cast the originals in a new light.
“Over the years we’ve gotten to the point where we are playing a lot more covers by people who aren’t necessarily obscure, but certainly are not often covered,” Brewer said. “Who else is covering music by Alejandro Escovedo? Who else is playing David Childers and the Modern Don Juans? I’m sure that there are people out there, but it’s a lot less obvious than covering Willie Nelson and Robert Earl Keen and Steve Earl.”
The success of Possum Jenkins at Murphy’s in the past has been legendary—the band has consistently filled the venue for six years of regular shows—and this success is due largely in part to the loyal fan base the band has developed over the years. The fans come for the rowdy songs, and they come for the camaraderie between friends, but mostly they come for the chance to see a young band that hearkens back to the golden era of the alt. country movement when bands like Uncle Tupelo ruled the indie rock scene. And like Uncle Tupelo, the true beauty of Possum Jenkins comes with their all-too-true songs about the trials of love, and the various ways one can cope when it all goes wrong.
“We’re a bar band at heart. That’s how we cut our teeth. We cut our teeth on those rowdy nights and I wouldn’t trade them because they were an absolute blast,” Brewer said. “There’s something just uncomplicated and good about country-influenced rock—it’s something that a lot of people are able to relate to in a way.”
These days Possum Jenkins is touring more across the state, visiting many of the fans who made those early shows at Murphy’s so rowdy and making new fans at every show. But Brewer and the rest of his Possum Jenkins bandmates will always look back at the early days of Possum Jenkins and those first shows at Murphy’s nostalgically.
“It seemed like every show was our own personal party where we were surrounded by a group of our friends and it seemed like we could do no wrong,” Brewer recalled. “It was one of those magical convergences of time and place where people were in their lives and collegiate careers and where we were musically that all came together in such a way that allowed people to come together and cut loose.”
Reese Dorrier, a fan of Possum Jenkins since the very first show at Murphy’s in 2004, echoed Brewer’s sentiments. “The early Possum shows generated tons of excitement because they packed the house every time they took the stage at Murphy’s. Possum did a hell of a job feeding off the booze-fueled energy of the crowds....the energy was always there because you had about 50 people crowding in a 5-foot-by-10-foot space directly in front of the band and Possum wasn’t shy about cranking up the volume,” Dorrier remembered. “Every show continued on well past last call, and usually culminated with the women dancing on the bar or shaking a tambourine in the audience. Even the bartenders had a good time when Possum was rocking.”
For more information on the band and/or to listen to music from their new recording, Collection of Bad Habits, click to www.possumjenkinsband.com.
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