THE LEGENDARY SHACK *SHAKERS: SOUTHERN BY THE GRACE OF GOTH!
Fri 3/7/08 Little Rock, AR Sticky Fingerz Chicken Shack
Sat 3/8/08 Tulsa, OK Unit D
Sun 3/9/08 Oklahoma City, OK VZD's
Sat 3/15/08 Beaumont, TX Vortex
Mon 3/17/08 Hot Springs, AR Maxine's
Tue 3/18/08 Baton Rouge, LA Spanish Moon !
Wed 3/19/08 Hattiesburg, MS Thirsty Hippo %
Thu 3/20/08 Birmingham, AL The Bottletree %
Fri 3/21/08 Atlanta, GA The Earl %
Sat 3/22/08 Huntsville, AL Flying Monkey
Fri 5/16/08 Austin, TX Stubb's - Outdoors *
Sat 7/19/08 Lake Elmo, MN Deep Blues Festival
Part of The Valley of the Vapors Independent Music Festival
* Part of the Texas Rockabilly Revival
! Part of Gas, Food, Lodging Fest
% Featuring a pre-show screening of Seven Signs
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Th' Legendary Shack*Shakers started their hell-for-leather, Penta-caustic roadshow just a few years ago and have since earned quite a name for themselves with their unique brand of American Gothic that is all-at-once irreverent, revisionist, dangerous, and fun. Led by their wildly charismatic rail thin frontman, the blues-harpist J.D. Wilkes, the Shack*Shakers are a four-man wrecking crew from the South whose explosive interpretations of the blues, punk, rock and country have made fans, critics and legions of potential converts into true believers.
Described as "...the last great Rock and Roll frontman" by Jello Biafra (of the Dead Kennedys), Shack*Shakers front man J.D. Wilkes began yelpin the blues through a ham radio microphone at his boyhood home of Paducah, Kentucky...a short farmer's blow away from where his future bassist Mark Robertson was cutting his teeth on punk rock and gospel in Nashville, Tennessee. When their paths crossed a few years later in the lawless honky tonks of Music City's Lower Broadway scene, they found their individuated styles and common interests meshed and that's when the like-minded, red-headed musical misfits began their crusade. With the addition of guitarist extraordinaire David Lee (South Carolina's preeminent bad-ass and "Illustrated Man") and drumming wunderkind, Brett Whitacre, th' Legendary Shack*Shakers have quickly become known for providing some of the best entertainment (live or otherwise) that you can get for your hard earned money.
For the uninitiated, the band's debauched live show is the necessary counterpart to their hard-hitting recordings. Hillbilly royalty, Hank Williams III once said after touring with them that it was "like having SLAYER open up for you every night," and called J.D. Wilkes and his crew, "the best damn front man and band in America." On stage, J.D. Wilkes is like a mad southern preacher with a bible in one hand and a glass of strychnine in the other. Meshing Pentecostal themes with pained lyrics and show-stopping moves that draw comparisons to Tom Waits and the grotesque facial and bodily contortions of Iggy Pop, the band has developed a live show like none other.
Having toured both the U.S and Europe relentlessly for the past two years, the word of mouth on the live Shack*Shakers experience is so strong that it reached the likes of Robert Plant, who made it a priority to see them at the 2005 SXSW Music Festival in Austin, TX. One performance was all it took for Plant to join the converted. After seeing the band's show at SXSW, Plant invited the Shack*Shakers to support him on his recent European tour, which kicked off in Paris, France on November 9th. "It's F***ing Great," said Robert Plant on th' Legendary Shack*Shakers.
"We try to tap into basic primal instincts," said Wilkes. "Rock 'n' roll is a cathartic release. Anything that doesn't realize that bestial nature isn't rock 'n' roll."
The band is also well known for "The CB Song", a.k.a: the soundbed for the long-running "Sunglasses" Geico commercial, featuring the famous gecko spokeslizard.
In addition to his musical accolades, J.D. Wilkes has also been recognized as an accomplished illustrator, painter, and filmmaker whose works further the band's mission of celebrating and honoring the tradition of the American south. Alarm Magazine recently described him as the "Ambassador of Genuine Traditional Southern Culture" and compared his unique storytelling abilities to that of other Southern voices such as William Faulkner, Johnny Cash and Muddy Waters.
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