Phosphorescent

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More About

• Matthew Houck
• Chris Kornelis

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If Matthew Houck didn’t stumble out of the top-floor bedroom of a Texas saloon, slide down the banister, tucking in his buttoned-down white shirt en route to the bar’s upright piano to record the dusty, jubilant “It’s Hard to Be Humble (When You’re From Alabama)”, the first track off Phosphorescent’s May release, Here’s To Taking It Easy, he did a good job faking it. “Humble,” like the rest of the album—with its easy pedal steel, clinking piano chords, and drawled howls—is marked by its effortlessness, grin, and authenticity, not to a specific genre, but to the musicmaker himself. There’s no indication that Houck is attempting to do anything here other than what comes natural to him when he rolls out of bed in the morning, or at least his hour between sleep and breakfast. With J. Tillman, Grouplove. CHRIS KORNELIS
Sat., July 31, 8 p.m., 2010