The EvinRudes w/Sherry Cothran, Bulb & Maggie Rose: at 12th & Porter (Nashville, TN) Fri. February 22, 2013

The EvinRudes w/Sherry Cothran, Bulb & Maggie Rose

Pop/Rock

Nashville Scene Critic's Pick …

If further proof is needed that it’s nothing new for Nashville to produce high-quality non-country stuff — despite what the “finger-on-the-pulse” trend and travel pieces say — The Evinrudes ought to do the trick. The razor-sharp alt-pop group came on the scene in the mid-’90s with acts like Swan Dive and Fleming and John for peers, and — on the strength of Brian Reed’s savvy, hook-rich songwriting and guitar playing and the arresting sultriness of Sherry Cothran’s singing — snagged a deal with Mercury before the decade was out. Once the band members went their separate ways in the Aughts — with Cothran departing the rock ’n’ roll career track to become the minister of a multicultural church — a reunion didn’t seem all that likely. Not too long ago, Cothran enlisted her fellow ex-Evinrudes to play on an innovative scripture-inspired solo album, and something must’ve gone very right. She, Reed, bassist Kevin Hornback and drummer Andy Hull are teaming up to take the old tunes for a spin, with various side projects and friends as openers. And that’s way better news on a Friday night than somebody proclaiming that we’re the “it” city.

—JEWLY Hight