This week, the Skipperdome presents album release parties featuring three noteworthy local acts on three separate nights.
Opening the fresh material festivities is Joel Tatangelo Band, its namesake guitarist renowned for slide guitar chops that have only grown more polished over the seven years he’s been active in the scene. His axe skills are on full display in new full-length Heavy Hands, from his more straightforward slides on “Ain’t No Dancing Men at Zen,” to the greasy, funky gliding riffs in the menacing “Someone’s Talkin’” and more mournful wails of the slower-shuffling ode, “Pretty Girl,” his band’s swampy juke joint rock n’ soul and Southern bluesy twang marked by B3 organ grooves and steady-rolling rhythms.
Geoff Abraham & The Stone City unveils third full-length Bleed the People on Sunday, their power trio blues rock lightly reminiscent of ZZ Top, with Abraham’s ragged vocals delivering lyrics like “She’s got everything, ‘cept my rock n’ roll” and “Nobody sees it coming, WOOOOAHHWWWW, you got me with a sucker punch (yeah, I didn’t see it coming)” over the hard-grinding instrumentals.
Finally, Applebutter Express bookends the week of releases with their ukulele-driven, fiddle-and-upright bass-backed newgrass funk as led by husband-and-wife harmonizing and songwriting team, Kyle and Shannon Biss. The quartet recorded their second full-length One for the Home Team in all analog, live, with esteemed mixer Matt Andrews at Nashville’s Sound Emporium (Robert Plant, Alison Krauss, Willie Nelson); the album ranges from traditional tunes to covers to originals.