Vancouver rockabilly trio Cousin Harley knows how to alternately bring the party and humble any guitar players in the audience. Both happened at the Geomatic Attic, Friday, June 15. The red hot rockabilly rockers featuring loquacious upright bassist Keith Picot, the rock solid rhythm of drummer Jesse Cahill and the blazing fingers of frontman Paul Pigat, all of whom were dressed 1950s style.
Pigat can pretty much play any style of music, but as he’s touring in support of his new country fried CD “Blue: Smoke: The Music of Merle Travis,” was in a country kind of mood as he picked a tricked out Telecaster style guitar. So there was plenty of twang, Merle Travis songs and lots of finger bleeding guitar picking.
They began their set with three songs from the new CD including the instrumental “ Blue Smoke,” and “Deep South.”
A full throttle rockabilly number brought applause from the almost sold out crowd after one of many of Pigat’s hot solos.
He dove back into the well of Merle Travis for “Fat Gal” which Pigat introduced by saying Travis wrote a lot of songs in the same vein “because he had a type.”
He went back to rockabilly for another fast paced, toe tapping rockabilly numbers, which had the audience cheering and a few dancing in the atrium.
Having warmed up by playing a whole lot of notes, he proceeded to humble the guitarists in the room with greasy, blazing surf tinged instrumental “El Swartho.” Picot joked all the lyrics had been changed to protect the identity of the bad man it was written about. Pigat joked it was about Picot.
They ended the first set with a fast paced rockabilly number and took a well deserved break.
During the break, Geomatic Attic owner Mike Spencer made the draw for two guitars autographed by all of this season’s performers and talked about the Wide Skies music Festival coming up at the end of July featuring Shovels and Rope, Harpoonist and the Axe Murderer, The Weber Brothers band and Little Miss Higgins to name just a few.
Cousin Harley was just warmed up and supplied more of the same, hot, sweaty rock and roll , country and rockabilly music for the second set.
He played a new instrumental and channeled his inner Brian Setzer then returned to the new CD for “So Round , So Firm, So Fully Packed.”
They slowed down slightly for a tough of jazz music and Pigat crooned a great version of “ Ain’t No Sunshine.”
They wound down the set by turning things up again for a solid number with a Bo Diddley beat.
They were called back for an encore, which they began with a few bars of Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man,” before sending people on their way with “Happy Trails.”
