The Beer Dawgs - Blonde On The Bayou (1999)

"The Beer Dawgs" are arguably one of Sacramento's best-known bands, having been playing six days/nights a week for over ten years. Their trademark blend of bayou blues and swamp boogie has become a staple of Sacramento nightlife, bringing freaks out of the woodwork whenever they play.

The sixth song on A Little Luck, album number eight from one of Sacramento's hardest working bands, is titled "Tony Joe." Now any combo that pens and records a love letter to Tony Joe White, whose 1968 hit "Polk Salad Annie" is such a touchstone of Southern-fried skank rock, is alright. Chalk that strike of white lightning up to Bawb Pearce, whose cigs 'n' Jack-tainted vocal cords slouch toward the Dr. John school of dissipation, possesses a musical vision that's retro and quite Southern, reminiscent of another California band with a keen understanding of Highway 99, Little Feat. And Pearce's partner in crime, guitarist Steve Wall, coaxes the kind of noises from his ax that made Little Feat's Lowell George such a threat. This set is a huge leap forward for the Dawgs, in production and in its attractive presentation. The Gator got your granny, indeed.~Jackson Griffith