Michael Vermillion + Eric Miller + Jack Wilson + the Whiskey Swillers

Man, talk about sad bastards. In case you couldn't make it to headliner Michael Vermillion's Sad Bastard Monday DJ set at Havana the night before, this show is chock full of tear-in-beer material. Eric Miller and Jack Wilson (that name just screams "sad bastard, if not "corn-liquor bootlegger") are two local singer-songwriters specializing in spare, finger-plucked lonesome-highway balladry. Fans of Townes Van Zandt take note of these two. Sandwiching them on the bill is the aforementioned Vermillion (who we've written about a lot these past few weeks) and the Whiskey Swillers. While Vermillion also maintains a fondness for the late, great Van Zandt, his tunes are a little more theatrical, echoing Tom Waits and Skip Spence. And though sad bastards will love the banjo and boot-stomp Appalachian stylings of the Whiskey Swillers, they sound more like their name suggests: good-timey music to swill whiskey to.

Listen to a sample of Michael Vermillion's "I Hate Losin'."