Country/Folk
Knut Bell’s Blue-Collar Aspirations
“My voice is kinda unique . . . or something,” says 38-year old Knut Bell, Seattle’s hardest-working country singer, who regularly performs marathon four-to-five-hour shows at bars and pubs around the Puget Sound with his band the Blue Collars. Bell’s latest album, Wicked, Ornry, Mean and Nasty, finds the singer with strong connections in Nashville (you’ll hear Merle Haggard’s guitarist Redd Volkaert and Johnny Cash’s piano man Earl Poole Ball all over it), and his self-branded “honkahillarockabilly” music is quick becoming Seattle’s unofficial honky-tonk sound. He’s kicked a nasty coke habit and labored in every vocation from fisherman to truck driver, and, in a rumbling baritone, has volumes to say about it all.
Knut Bell & the Blue Collars With the Maldives, Cissy Tolls, Davidson Hart Kingsbery. Tractor Tavern, 5213 Ballard Ave. N.W., 789-3599. $10. 9 p.m. Wed., Sept. 2.
Reverb Recommends
Sweet Dreams: The Music of Patsy Cline/Thursday, Sept. 8
On what would be the iconic, star-crossed country crooner’s 79th birthday, Seattle gals Star Anna, Maggie Bjorklund, and others join for a celebration of her music. With Kim Virant, Rachel Lyn Harrington, Victoria Wimer-Contreras, Jeff Fielder, Chris Friel, Shane Tutmarc, William Stover, and Rebecca Young. Neptune, 1303 N.E. 45th St., 467-5510. 7:30 p.m. $14. All ages.
Eddie Spaghetti/Friday, Sept. 9
Raucous Supersuckers frontman Eddie Spaghetti presents cuts from Sundowner, his latest solo release, along with what’s shaping up to be a spectacle of beer-soaked shenanigans. Slim’s Last Chance Chili Shack, 5606 First Ave. S., 762-7900. 9 p.m.
Bobby Bare Jr./Saturday, Sept. 10
Growing up with dad Bobby Bare Sr., Steve Earle, and Shel Silverstein for musical influences, Bare Jr. walks a not-so-straight line between old- and new-school country, with a stash of rowdy, irreverent alt-rock anthems. With Carey Kotsionis, Gabriel Mintz. Sunset Tavern, 5433 Ballard Ave. N.W., 784-4880. 10 p.m. $12.
Bourbon & Broads/Friday, Sept.16
An evening of hard-living, hard-drinking tunes in celebration of National Bourbon Heritage Month, with Sera Cahoone, Betsy Olson, Side Saddle, and more. With Alessandra Rose, Maggie Bjorklund. Neptune, 1303 N.E. 45th St., 467-5510. 8 p.m. $10 adv./$12 DOS. All ages.
Shake the Shack Rockabilly Ball/Thursday, Sept. 22-Saturday, Sept. 24
Commemorating 24 years of KEXP’s long-standing rockabilly show, the Tractor presents three nights of honky-tonking tunes from local bands Knut Bell and the Blue Collars, Whitey Morgan and the 78’s, and more. With the Tomorrow Men, Insect Surfers, Aloha Screwdriver, Banzai Surf, Nikki Lane, Lucky Lawrence & the Souvenirs, Hillbilly Casino, Kim Lenz & the Jaguars, Billy Dwayne & the Creepers, Captain Jeffrey & His Musical Chumbuckets, The Wild Snohomians. Tractor Tavern, 5213 Ballard Ave. N.W., 789-3599. 9 p.m. $18 adv./$20 DOS; three-day passes $45.
Hillstomp/Friday, Sept. 23
If you like your bluegrass with a bit of do-it-yourself-jug-band instrumentation, this Portland-based, self-described “junkbox blues” band is just your thing. With I Can Lick Any SOB in the House. High Dive, 513 N. 36th St., 632-0212. 9:30 p.m.
Trace Adkins/Friday, Sept. 23
For your glossy pop-country fix, Grand Ole Opry regular and “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk” singer Trace Adkins visits the Puyallup Fairgrounds to round out the last days of summer. Puyallup Fair & Events Center, 110 Ninth Ave. S.W., Puyallup, 253-841-5045. 7:30 p.m. $25–$50. All ages.
Dwight Yoakam/Thursday, Sept. 29
With so much overproduction and gimmickry in pop country these days, Yoakam—who writes his own songs and delivers them with a luscious, authentic yodel—doesn’t act like a country singer; he simply is one. Snoqualmie Casino, 37500 S.E. North Bend Way, Snoqualmie, 425-888-1234. 7 p.m. $40–$150.
