Folk-rockers hit the spot
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“Anyone here have a hankerin’ for folk-rock?” asked the Thorns’ Pete Droge during the band’s House of Blues set on Thursday, co-headlining with the Jayhawks.
Droll Droge knew darn well that many people there didn’t just have a hankerin’ but a heart-felt passion for the music. And both his band, a new harmonizing trio formed with Matthew Sweet and Shawn Mullins in a Crosby, Stills and Nash mode, and the veteran Jayhawks rewarded that desire generously.
With the Jayhawks, a Minneapolis band that is an alt-country keystone, there were nods aplenty to the Byrds and Buffalo Springfield, including a version of Neil Young’s Springfield classic “Expecting to Fly.” After some experimentation on the 2001 album “Smile,” the band went back to its leaner origins for the new “Rainy Day Music.” Live it’s now a robust quartet of founder-frontman Gary Louris, bassist Marc Perlman and drummer Tim O’Reagan, with newcomer Stephen McCarthy adding authoritative edge on guitar and a sweet touch on pedal steel.
Louris’ solo acoustic performance of “Waiting for the Sun” best captured the muted ache that’s the essence of the form. But it was a community feeling that stood out, including encores in which Chris Stills (son of Stephen) and the Thorns joined in spirited harmonies. The Thorns are a harmony fest on their own, with the three voices blending smoothly in prime CSN-meets-Beach Boys fashion. And what they (and the Jayhawks) lack in invention is at least partly compensated for by a sense of renewal that fulfills any hankerin’.
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The Jayhawks
Where: House of Blues Anaheim, 530 S. Disneyland Drive, Anaheim
When: Today, 8 p.m.
Price: $25
Contact: (714) 778-2583
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