George Arsene celebrated his birthday, Jan 31 by doing what he loves— playing music with his band Rancho Deluxe at the Slice.
There were only 25 -30 people there, but they were enjoying the music of Arsene on guitar and vocals, Taylor Ackerman on guitar and bass, Tyler Bird on bass and fiddle, drummer Brad Brouwer and steel guitarist Ryan Dyck.
They opened their show with a cover of Brock Zeman’s “ Boxcars” though popular covers including Little Feat’s “Willin’” were part of the set. But it was mostly about original music including crowd favourites “ Back Up Against the Wall,” and newer originals like “ Fear and Common Sense, ” which Arsene said he wrote about something his father used to say.
They played a tight set of twangy, country and roots music.
Tyler Bird switched to fiddle, giving Ackerman his bass for a cover of John Mellencamp’s “Small Town”and an excellent song “Hard Cards.”
Bird also sang lead on the set ending highlight “318,” originally done by the Volebeats.
