Straight country

No chaser with these Brooklyn boys

by Don Fluckinger

Trying to pinpoint just what country music is can be maddening, just like trying to define whether a group were "alternative" a few years ago. There are Willie Nelson "outlaw" country and Garth Brooks "new" country and variations like punkabilly, combining rockabilly and punk.

The country musicians of Brooklyn and the greater five boroughs fall on the punkabilly side, and the Ex-Husbands, who play Northampton's Silent Cal's on Wednesday, hail from that scene. But now they live in Nashville, and they play their country a little straighter than their New York peers.

"We ended up playing in rock clubs and punk-rock clubs up there because we decided -- as a tactic -- to play whenever we could, wherever we could; it didn't matter," says Lansing, Michigan-born lead singer Anders Thomsen. "Some bar bands don't like to play too often because they don't draw as many people, but I figured that we'd all been in so many bands over the years that our friends didn't come see us anyway."

The Ex-Husbands' self-titled debut CD on Somerville's tiny Tar Hut Records shows hot flashes of rockabilly, as in "Run Until I Die." They serve up great drinking songs -- "I Have a Ball" (each time I fall off of the wagon) and "Tequila Salt & Lime" -- that all country fans will relate to. Overall, though, they lean toward the rock side of country with their tight trio sound, free of sonic fillers like an extra rhythm guitarist or background singers.

Bare-bones arrangements spotlight the players, testing their abilities. All three musicians play and sing, with Thomsen covering lead vocals and lead/rhythm guitar. Occasionally the rock side comes through; the intro for "Ain't You Been a Cowboy for Too Long" recalls R.E.M.'s "Begin the Begin." Thomsen's voice, confident and clear, swaggers at the right times, but it doesn't feel fake. His down-to-earth sensibilities show during slow songs like "Country Speed," where he talks about getting away from the urban bustle.

The CD's best tune, "Johnny Walker Redneck," is about a man, "mellowed with age," driving a NorthStar Cadillac . . . who's cool. Most of the time, country music gives older people short shrift -- like talking about old cowboys being put to pasture, or how some young gun fondly remembers grandma's traditions. The middle-aged hero of "Johnny Walker Redneck" remembers his youth fondly but is content where he is now. Thomsen wrote the song about several different characters in his life, an Iowa uncle in particular.

"I don't get to see him that much," Thomsen says, "but as he got older -- and continues to --his attitudes have become [those] of an `amused onlooker' rather than somebody who has an opinion on it; you know, he's kind of loosened up a little bit."

When playing live, the group play their own songs and have a lot of others worked up, mostly covers of classic country tunes. When pressed, Thomsen says, they'll dip into some Southern rock repertoire and even play tunes by their idols, ZZ Top.

For the record, none of the Ex-Husbands has been married. Although the three argue about how they came up with the name, Thomsen's version is set in a bar, with the three thinking about band names. Someone suggested the Ex-Boyfriends, considering all three had recently ended romantic relationships. "Ex-Husband sounds a lot better," a patron chimed in, and the name stuck.

At the moment, the Ex-Husbands remain a trio partly by design, partly due to economics. The band are struggling to get known, still playing gigs in Nashville for tips. On one hand, it's fiscally insane. On the other hand, they're duking it out with the best country musicians on the planet, letting the consumers decide who are the best by voting with their wallets.

"We've played down here a couple times in Nashville at Robert's Western Wear, which is a bar that BR5-49 started playing at," Thomsen says, referencing the wildly popular '50s traditionalists. "One day we did eight hours there, and you play for tips, of course, there's no money involved. It's pretty grueling, but it's a really great gig to do. . . . [BR5-49] were doing the weekend nights and weeknights, and they were making cash money hand over fist. We, on the other hand, made $15 one afternoon, and up to a couple hundred in the evenings."

Such is the story of Nashville -- one guitarist who also played at Robert's now plays for Merle Haggard and the Strangers. The Ex-Husbands might not be well-known today, but give them a couple years and who knows? They're spunky, they can rock out, and they're devoid of the syrup mainstream country radio serves up. When country fandom finally gets tired of the status quo, these boys will be around to fill the void.

The Ex-Husbands play Silent Cal's, in Northampton, on January 14 at 10 p.m. There is no cover charge. For information call (413) 587-9876.