Same Poo, Different Day.

One really unfortunate thing about buzz is that a band has to live up to it in order to fuel it. I will normally check something out if the buzz lasts long enough, therefore, I ended up at Smith's Olde Bar tonight to see if what everyone is saying about Tim Brantley is true. And, my verdict is . . . "What is the big effing deal?" Now, there will be many who will disagree with me on that, but as I will point out, like I usually have to in instances such as this, it's only my opinion, after all.

I'm wondering if one of the requirements of choosing band members is that you have to wear a hat to play in the band, because all of the members, minus the drummer, were wearing some kind of hat. Sometime during the set, a new guitarist came out to join the band. I think this guy took a wrong turn on his way to Dollywood and ended up on stage with an outfit only Levi Strauss could really be proud of. That was distracting considering the rest of the band were donning frocks of a vintage nature.

You're probably thinking, "Who cares what they look like? Was the actual music good?" Meh. Obviously the guy is talented. He played the keys the majority of the time, so there was this old western bar feel to the relatively folky sound that I could actually appreciate. Honestly, I wasn't blown away just because it didn't really display anything different to me. The band most definitely has a solid following of ex-frat boys and blonde bimbos who like to drink themselves silly and grind up on each other (I'm assuming they didn't get the memo that it really isn't music to "grind" to per se) in a pure college alumni fashion, which is always good for selling albums, but may deter more serious listeners from, well, getting serious about them. Of course, if that's what those guys are going for, then they've certainly accomplished it.

I imagine that fans of Tim Brantley also follow Georgia and the Zac Brown Band. (Note: I think Zac Brown's song "Chicken Fried" is pure genius. Once again, it reminds me of college, but in a good way. Of course, I went to school in south Georgia, soooo. . .yeah.) I've just noticed similarities in all of their crowds. The music seems to be the soundtrack for a good drunken time, but not for a record deal.

Tim Brantley has a video here if you want to test this out for yourself.