Whiskey Myers at Irving Plaza

Cody Cannon was given an acoustic guitar by his grandfather. Inspired by southern rock and outlaw country music, Cannon and his friend Cody Tate began playing guitar together in Elkhart, Texas. In short time, they added John Jeffers and called themselves Lucky Southern. In pursuit of a professional music career, the three friends relocated to Tyler, Texas, and added a rhythm section consisting of Cannon's cousin Gary Brown on bass (Jamey Gleaves replaced him in 2017) and their friend Jeff Hogg on drums. Renamed Whiskey Myers in 2007, the band played a blend of southern rock and outlaw country music on flatbed trailers at private parties in small East Texas towns until a debut album in 2008 led to national tours. Whiskey Myers has released four studio albums; the most recent, 2016's Mud, introduced Tony Kent as the band's newest member on percussion.

At Irving Plaza tonight, Whiskey Myers looked very much like an old-school southern rock and outlaw country music band. As the band prepared to start its first song, the bearded faces and cowboy hats moving about on the dimly lit stage seemed out of place in cosmopolitan New York City. There is another America, however, where long-haul truck drivers, NASCAR, and football are the axis of daily life, and Whiskey Myers brought that reality to the Big Apple with soulful singing, searing guitars, and gritty rhythms. Whiskey Myers offered something fresh amidst the greasy southern rock riffs. The lyrics told stories of ordinary Americans and their struggles. "Trailer We Call Home," which Cannon performed solo on acoustic guitar, relished the beauty in simple things, concluding that "times get tough but love is strong here in this trailer that we call home." The twin guitar leads were most prominent when they roared, yet the musical range seemed wider when the band edged into sentimental power ballads. The set pivoted on songs from the most recent album, but also included as-yet unrecorded songs like "Bitch," which featured Jeffers on lead vocals. Whiskey Myers took its audience on a journey to the southern life, and for a couple of hours it felt good to leave behind the big city existence.

Setlist:

1. Frogman
2. On the River
3. Deep Down in the South
4. Bar, Guitar, and a Honky Tonk Crowd (Brent Cobb cover)
5. Broken Window Serenade
6. Bill
7. Cut from a Different Mold
8. Early Morning Shakes
9. Mud
10. Hammer
11. Virginia
12. Gasoline
13. Bitch
14. Headstone
15. Trailer We Call Home (Cody Cannon solo on acoustic guitar)
16. Ballad of a Southern Man
17. Home
18. How Far
19. Stone