On June 11th I attended Chicago's Annual Rib Fest It was a wonderful experience. I had and excellent time I had the pleasure of sitting down with one of the bands afterwords because I was blown away by their performance.
The Legendary Shack Shakers’ hell-for-leather roadshow has earned quite a name for itself with its unique brand of Southern Gothic that is all-at-once irreverent, revisionist, dangerous, and fun. Led by their wildly charismatic, rail-thin frontman/blues-harpist, J.D. Wilkes, the Shack Shakers are a four-man wrecking crew from the South whose explosive interpretations of the blues, punk, rock and country have made fans, critics and legions of potential converts into true believers. With the recent addition of former Jesus Lizard guitarist Duane Denison (Hank III/Tomahawk) and drummer, Brett Whitacre, the Legendary Shack Shakers have quickly become known for providing some of the best entertainment in the chicago area.
Having toured both the U.S and Europe relentlessly for the past two years, the word of mouth on the live Shack Shakers experience is so strong that it reached the likes of Robert Plant, who made it a priority to see them at the 2005 SXSW Music Festival in Austin, TX. One performance was all it took for Plant to join the converted. After seeing the band’s show at SXSW, Plant invited the Shack*Shakers to support him on his recent European tour, which kicked off in Paris, France on November 9th. “It’s Great,” said Robert Plant on the Legendary Shack Shakers.
“We try to tap into basic primal instincts,” said Wilkes. “Rock ‘n’ roll is a cathartic release. Anything that doesn’t realize that bestial nature isn’t rock ‘n’ roll.”
Listeners be compare his unique storytelling abilities to that of other Southern voices such as William Faulkner, Johnny Cash and Muddy Waters.
They were the highlight to me at this years annual Rib fest. I thoroughly enjoyed their set and will defiantly go see them again.
Great piece!
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