I caught the end of an outstanding show by Calgary based western swing sextet the Hackamores playing the last Lethbridge Folk Club show of the year, Dec. 8 and was glad I did. They had approximately 50 people at the show who were nodding their heads and tapping their toes to upbeat, traditional hurting country music which took them back to the ’40s and ’50s heyday of Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys.
There was plenty of honky tonking piano from Ron Casat, sighing steel guitar from Charlie Veilleux and a toe tapping groove throughout.
Lead guitarist Tim Williams, who is a fantastic blues guitarist and singer who also has has encyclopedic knowledge of blues music history, proved equally adept on the Telecaster and showed he knew just as much about Texas swing and country music. He sang excellent harmonies with frontman Allen Baekeland.
He talked about some of the major players of the day and joked about a lot of the songs having “sprightly melodies with miserable lyrics.” The band played an array of songs from Bob Wills and Cindy Walker’s vast catalogue, plus a Johnny Rodriguez number. Cindy Walker’s “Bubbles in My Beer” was one of the highlights.
They added an excellent original called “No Answers In The Bottle” which featured more bright piano playing and “miserable lyrics.”
They were called back for an encore of “Pale Blue Eyes.”
