Photo credit: Jordan Brethauer
Only a giant red barn door in white trimming behind the band might have made a more old-fashioned country experience out of Friday night's Pabst Theater performance by Ricky Skaggs, The Whites and Ry Cooder.
The last of those names, known for his adeptness at blues and other roots forms, may seem out of place amid such stalwarts of old-time country and bluegrass, but Cooder’s involvement in Colorado’s bluegrassy Telluride festival already proved him up to such billing. Skaggs, too, has a history of crossing boundaries, having recorded an album with Bruce Hornsby several years ago and jammed with Phish on at least one occasion. An appreciation of old-time country is where the two find common ground. That commonality was made a family affair, too, as Skaggs’ wife, Sharon White, and his in-laws shared the stage with Cooder and his son, Joaquim, on drums.
Skaggs announced early in the evening that nothing they were to play would likely date from later than 1965. That included a couple of bluegrass chestnuts that he reworked into hits during his ’80s-’90s tenure as a mainstream country act, “Don’t Get Above Your Raisin’” and “Uncle Pen.” The former found him playing mandolin with the sort of ferocity that doubtless recruited reformed punk rockers such as those in erstwhile Milwaukee insurgent bluegrass group The .357 String Band into the genre’s fold, while the latter is what Skaggs deemed the style’s national anthem.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, much of the night’s music came from sacred repertoire. Neither Skaggs nor any of The Whites proselytized, though their Christian convictions are well known, and Cooder has assayed spirituals in the past. Skaggs confessed that numbers such as “The Family Who Prays” and Cooder fave “You Must Unload” by Blind Alfred Reed are simply fun to play.
Abject romantic yearning and the marvels of locomotive technology figured into the mix of subject matter as well, thanks to Sharon White. She and her acoustic guitar led on Hank Williams, Sr.’s class-informed “Mansion on the Hill” and The Delmore Brothers’ “Pan American Boogie.” Sister Cheryl only intermittently joined in on backgrounds vocals, but father Buck was a more consistent presence on piano. He traversed a middle ground between Floyd Cramer’s smooth countrypolitan mode and the more raucous way with a keyboard of a Southern gospel ivory tickler from back on the day when quartets such as The Blackwood Brothers and The Stamps would storm churches as much for their entertainment value as theological edification.
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Skaggs kidded Cooder that he could have been a gospel bass singer. His finest vocal contribution for the night, however, was arguably his take on a song by childhood hero Hank Snow, later brought to greater popularity by Elvis Presley, “A Fool Such As I.” Whether this was the context many of Cooder’s Milwaukee fans would have wanted to see the man in during his first appearance in the city in about 30 years, his love for country and bluegrass is unquestionable. He even picked up a banjo for a couple of numbers. That his brief bits of raconteuring recalled the tone of humorist Roy Blount Jr. made for a fun bonus, too.
Though today’s country radio music directors may deem the work Skaggs, Cooder and The Whites assayed as passé, they imbue it with vitality, enthusiasm and wit. It’s no wonder it continues to inspire players and singers intent on maintaining and expanding upon its verities. No barn door needed.
