are a large band, and one that is preceded by a huge reputation — their live act has often been praised as one of contemporary alt-country’s best.
That was all the more reason to hope that last Thursday night’s performance by the six-piece at the — a show that largely had trouble reaching above mediocre — was an anomaly.
While the band certainly belted out a strong litany of well-constructed rock ballads and musical novellas over their two-hour set, they failed to live up to a reputation of live magic, and often felt distanced from the near sell-out crowd.
Led by alternating front men Mike Cooley and Patterson Hood, two of the three guitarists on stage, the sextet was filled out by John Neff, the third gutar in their “triple-axe attack,” who also played pedal steel, bassist and occasional vocalist Shonna Tucker, keyboardist Jay Gonzalez and drummer Brad Morgan. While Cooley and Patterson handled the lion’s share of vocal duties, they also traded lead guitar duties continuously, and more than a few times stepped aside to let Neff have a go.
In the early half of the show, they played recent material from new record “The Big To Do,” which showed the band’s continuing progress away from the alt-country classification and toward a more traditional rock sound. They even included a catchy little song that they were playing for the first time — though I didn’t catch the tune’s title. And there sound did recall more of a flavor of early Rolling Stones than Lynyrd Skynyrd through those songs — heck, Cooley often appeared almost a twin of a younger, much less haggard Keith Richards as he sang in his nasal twang.
The problem was that the life didn’t start to show in the music until they began delving into some of their classics. When they played “Ronnie and Neil,” “72 (This Highway’s Mean)” and “Dead, Drunk and Naked.” from the classic “Southern Rock Opera,” they started to breathe some fire into their aloof stage presence. But by then it was too late. The parts of the crowd that did hoot and holler at the familiar and brilliant ballads weren’t able to reclaim those who’d already checked out.
While Hood showed off his prowess at telling tales about losers, strugglers, drinkers and sinners —most set in the Deep South — often the sound fell into a flat combination of some Eagles-meets-old-Wilco rather than their characteristic passion. And the mix inside the Boulder Theater didn’t help. Where most bands come out sounding better than they may actually be in the venue, the poor Truckers often seemed stuck in mud.
Maybe it was just an off night, combined with much-less-than-perfect sound mixing, but the Truckers just didn’t live up to expectations — and it was reflected in the audience.
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Billy Thieme is a Denver-based writer, an old-school punk and a huge follower of Denver’s vibrant local music scene. Follow Billy’s explorations at , and his giglist at .
Joshua Elioseff is a Boulder-based freelance photographer and regular Reverb contributor. Check out his .
