Folk Soul Revival | Courtesy Stacie Huckaba

It’s good when Bristol-area Americana/country act Folk Soul Revival comes to town. The band mixes bluegrass, country, plenty of ragtime and even some rock elements into its brew.

Personal bias disclosure: I enjoyed the band on Saturday even more than usual, because my good friend David Cate, from back home in Tennessee, was with the band. Cate, a keyboard man, plays pretty regularly with Folk Soul, but this was the first time he had come to Roanoke with the band.

So it was good to catch up with Dave and hear him play the gig. This guy is way into Thelonius Monk and Jellyroll Morton, among others (the latter’s style fits well into some of the FSR material). But he is a guy who plays for the music, whatever gig he is on.

The band played Schooners for the first time on Saturday, drawing many people that no one around that joint had seen before. The band calls those folks The Congregation, and some of them will travel long distances for shows. So it was interesting to see more drunken sorority girls than one is liable to find at the  Schoon on any other night.

Here is the band playing one of its originals, the raggy “Your Biscuits Are Big Enough For Me.”

The FloorboardsThe Floorboards, opening for Trampled By Turtles in July at Daleville Music Pavilion | File photo

It might not be exactly apparent from listening to this recording, but go to Billy’s Barn sometime and tell me if you agree that the room sounds warm and good.

Jake Dempsey, bassist for The Floorboards, said he thinks it has the best sounding room stage in the valley, and is a really good room. I defer to Dempsey — Music Lab at Jefferson Center recording engineer, Blue 5 soundman, onetime studio owner. The guy has good ears.

Dempsey and The Floorboards, Matt Browning, Bob Chew, Patrick Turner and George Penn Jr., played the room on Saturday (12.15.12), and there was not much of a crowd. There were similar acts in the valley that night — The Boatmen at Growler’s and Folk Soul Revival at Schooners (video from the Folk Soul show is forthcoming today). But part of the problem is that people might think that Billy’s Barn is way out in the sticks.

In fact, it’s less than 10 minutes from downtown, via 581 to  81 to 419 to 311. Check it out sometime, if you like to hear good bands in a good sounding room.

Speaking of both those things, here are The Floorboards playing “New Minglewood Blues,” from The Grateful Dead by way of Noah Lewis.

Chris Blankenship (left) and Jordan Harman | facebook.com/jordanharman

Neo-soul/blues singer Jordan Harman and Chris Blankenship did the duo thing on Thursday (12.14.12) at Blue 5 Restaurant. These two play together a lot, whether in this configuration or with a full band. And they work really well together. Plus, Blankenship is one of the best guitarists going in this city.

Here they go on a bluesy old holidaze classic — “Merry Christmas Baby.” The drinkers and chatters are nearly as loud as the players, but you  can still hear the taste and soul.

Heads up — Harman and Blankenship are getting together on New Year’s Eve with keyboardist Keith Thomas, drummer Carlos Aranguren and bassist Jake Dempsey at The Patrick Henry’s Penny Deux Lounge. Should be hot.

Matt Powell (left) and Corey Hunley | Courtesy Taylor Simmons

Corey Hunley and Matt Powell grew up together in Franklin County, coming up as aspiring guitarists and singer/songwriters.

Hunley stuck around Roanoke, building a nice following, writing some good Americana songs and opening for such national acts as Darrell Scott and Paul Thorn, both of whom dug his work. Powell moved out to Austin, Texas, then to Nashville, Tenn., (and back to Austin) building up his own cache of high quality musical experiences.

At least once a year, they get back together for some picking and singing. Typically, it’s around the holidays. And this time out, the two got a Thursday night gig at the new country joint downtown, Sidewinders Steakhouse & Saloon. They played great together, as they always do, working inversions off each other’s chords and being seamless like the two old  pickin’ buds that they are. Here is a Powell song, and I’ll get the title asap “Don’t Look Behind You.” I maybe had the camera too close to the front for this one, so it gets fuzzed out at times, and one I shot with Hunley singing got way blown out. I’ll have this thing in the back of the room next time!

In fact, Powell and Hunley will be back at Sidewinders same time next week.

facebook.com/reverendhortonheat

Seems that Growler’s American Grill and Venue is the place for rock ‘n’ roll reverends. The Rev. Peyton’s Big Damn Band is a frequent performer there, and on April 14, Reverend Horton Heat will be making a rare appearance in the valleys.

Singer/guitarist Jim “Reverend Horton Heat” Heath and his act have become a cult sensation over the years, with their psychobilly/country mix. But the Heat hasn’t been around these parts in many years. I seem to remember the band playing at Radford University a few years back, before I had this job, but my memory might fail me. At any rate, the newspaper hasn’t written about Heat since a 1992 show at the old South Main Cafe, in Blacksburg. Anyone know of any other dates the act has played around here?

Opening acts at Growler’s are The Continental and Roanoke’s own The Woody Nelsons.

Get your tickets here, and keep an eye on facebook.com/LemonheadBooking for more locally promoted shows. Among them, Wilson Fairchild with Lowlife at Growler’s on March 2.

Check out the Rev. and his men on this video for the song “Lie Detector.”

facebook.com/TobaccoApache

Ah, the pluses and minuses of new gear. Music can still be too loud for this Canon HD camera, and that’s the case here. Plus, I’m still getting the hang of moving around and zooming, as you’ll see here. But I just got hold of a tripod (thanks, K. Tulloch), so things will be looking better.

That mea culpa aside, Tobacco Apache brought a lot of energy, and yes, volume, to the cavernous sounding Awful’s downtown early Saturday morning (12.8.12). Here is the band, with randoms walking in from backstage, doing “Virginia Breeze.”

Next time, I’ll set up farther back in the room!

Jim Campilongo | Courtesy Jefferson Center

Jim Campilongo has an ancient Fender Telecaster with all kinds of sweet spots, and Campilongo knows how to manipulate every one of those spots to get a wild variety of spooky, bendy effects that sound as close as one can get to a pedal steel guitar without adding a B-bender to the neck.

You won’t hear that so much when he’s playing the sweet country of “The Prettiest Girl in New York,” but on the following number, “I’m Helen Keller and You’re a Waffle Iron,” he gets pretty freaky.

It was quite a display of texture all set for Campilongo, who has speed but doesn’t overuse it. Instead, it’s about creating dense chords, layered harmonies and manipulating the Tele’s neck and body to make it sound mysterious.

With rock-solid and tasteful “Ramblin’” Rob Heath (drums) and Jeff Hill (bass) onstage with him, he played two sets on Friday night at Jefferson Center‘s rehearsal hall. “The Prettiest Girl …” and “I’m Helen Keller …” are among several songs I shot. I’ll try to get a couple more up soon.

Tim O’Brien | File photo

From the out-of-limbo file — Tim O’Brien played Kirk Avenue Music Hall on Sept. 21. Joining him for a portion of his set was Australian banjo man Mark Collins, an audiophile traveling to the states for a piece of vintage recording gear.

Collins and O’Brien had met in Colorado, O’Brien told the standing room only crowd at Kirk Ave. Obviously, the two have a musical rapport, as you’ll see on this video.

Speaking of the video, this is one of several I shot recently with a Canon HD rescued from limbo in The Roanoke Times multimedia room. It took forever to get it compatible with my computer — thanks, Jared Davis from IT — but now that it’s working, I’ll be uploading several things I shot during the fall, including some great stuff from Todd Snider at The Sanctuary.

Back to the show at hand — Bill Monroe’s “Roanoke,” appropriately enough, and O’Brien’s own “Look Down That Lonesome Road.”

A quick note for starters: This video had horrible lighting, so there’s no real use watching it. Just listen. These cats groove.

I don’t know if this band will keep playing, but I sure hope so.

The Funk Cousins (No Relation) features the multi-talented Sam Lunsford (The Young Sinclairs, Sammy Suede & the Strays) on guitar and percussion, Lorenzell Wilson on bass keys and keyboard, Carlos Aranguren on drums and a couple of funky horn guys — Houston Cadette on sax and John Stump on trumpet.

The full band performed for an audience for the first time on Thursday night at Fork in the City, immediately making that joint about 30 times cooler.

Back to my opening statement. Everyone in this band is busy with lots of other things, but it sure would be nice to have it playing regularly. With Lunsford going psychedelic jazz and Wilson playing some nasty bass lines on his keyboard, it’s a lot of fun.

Last June, Roanoker James Pace returned to town with the Tommy Castro Band — Pace’s new gig — to play a show at Jefferson Center. Before the show, he talked about his excitement for Castro’s latest project, which was taking the guitarist and singer in a new direction. Here is the first evidence of that, in a video for the song “Greedy.” It features Pace and his buddy, drummer Byron Cage, with whom Pace used to play in the Wednesday night house band at Blues BBQ. Here’s to ‘em.