To today’s critical and jaded music fan, in terms of musical taste, the word “country” is often met with the same grimacing look of disgust associated with words such as “nu-metal” and “Ke$ha.” However, there are very genuine and talented country artists performing today that don’t sing about their pick-up truck or perform with Gwyneth Paltrow at the CMT Music Awards, and Ryan Bingham is one of them.
Bingham has enjoyed well-deserved commercial success with his small role as Tony in the 2010 film Crazy Heart and his win for Best Original Song at the 2010 Grammys for the film’s title track, “The Weary Kind,” but none of this appears to have affected the thin, long-haired and plaid-wearing front man for Ryan Bingham and The Dead Horses.
Performing to a sold-out audience at DC’s 9:30 Club on Friday night, Bingham’s main opening act was The Americans, a rockabilly-style country band complete with stand-up bass, ’50s greaser haircuts, and white tees perfect for rolling up your pack of cigarettes in the sleeve. On more than one occasion did members of the band actually take out combs from their back pockets and comb their hair back into the perfect greaser coif.
The lead singer’s low and warbling voice also evoked thoughts of music’s past, as it was reminiscent of an early Elvis Presley or Hank Williams. These elements of country’s old school got the audience moving and conveyed to the audience what they were going to need to know about that night’s performances, which was… You are going to hear some real country music tonight.
By the time Ryan Bingham and The Dead Horses took the stage, the audience was packed in tight, a buzz emanating both from excitement about the band beginning to play and the three or four overpriced Bud Lights every fan had somehow managed to collectively consume. Like many hard-working bands that put musicianship before entertainment, Ryan Bingham and The Dead Horses played a solid two-hour set with nearly no breaks in-between songs. No one told a trite anecdote, and there were no special effects, costumes, or big hair. Just five southern gentlemen that love to play country music, and are happy to be promoting their most recent album, 2010’s Junky Star.
While Bingham and his band have many songs in a classic country drawl that work very well, they really come alive with tracks that alternate between beats that are slowed down and then speed up, teasing the listener’s ears and delightfully engaging them with every heavily electric guitar-driven chorus. “Day Is Gone” and “Bluebird” off of 2009’s Roadhouse Sun especially show off this skill and drove fans wild during the band’s set.
Now leaving to depart on a European tour, Friday night’s show was the last chance any of us Americans had to see Ryan and his boys play for a while. But don’t fret; all you have to do to create the ideal Ryan Bingham listening environment is to blare his songs while driving down a long country road, or for us more city-minded folk, sip a glass of whiskey while sitting on your front stoop. I promise that you will achieve the desired effect.
