Massy Ferguson

Massy Ferguson is a bar band in the best sense - not a band relegated to bars because it will never rise higher, but a band that plays music perfectly suited to dark, crowded rooms in which there's at least a possibility of a beer glass smashing against a wall.

Their songs though, filled with barflies, broken hearts and doomed late-night romance, sound good anywhere. Singer-bassist Ethan Anderson aptly describes the band’s sound as Americana that leans more toward rock than country - think Drive-By Truckers or a combination of Son Volt and The Hold Steady, filtered through Springsteen’s Greetings From Asbury Park or Nebraska. All influences the band will readily admit to, along with 70s Southern rock and good-time classic rock bands like Thin Lizzy.

If that means Massy Ferguson is derivative, well, perhaps, but does it really matter, when frankly, the songs, are just plain good, their lyrics abundant with the kind of detail and imagery that any reservations are soon forgotten.