Justin Townes Earle Set to Finger Bang Ballard

This, gentlemen, is how yer 'posed to dress.

​Early during his Bumbershoot set at the Mural Amphitheatre Saturday afternoon, a nattily-dressed Just Townes Earle (his country gentleman fashion sense recently earned props from Esquire) let slip a little news about a show he'd be playing at Ballard's Tractor Tavern Sunday night at 9:30. Say what? We thought Bumbershoot bands were contractually barred from such double-dipping?

Well, they are. But Earle--who must have some Wainwright blood slipped into his pedigree, so thick and dreamy is his low register--is merely honoring the wink-wink tradition of playing under a goofy moniker at a reputable local club after the Bumber-dealin' is done. Hence, Earle's Sunday night band name: Alabama Finger Bang, which appears to foretell a looser set than the crisp burst of country classicism he delivered down by the Needle.

Hopefully, Jason Dodson of the Maldives--which introduced fans to the opposite end of the Americana spectrum with a scorching set packed with dueling guitars and a flying Jesse Bond immediately before Earle and his acoustic collaborators took the stage--will open under the name "Redneck Riviera Reach-Around." There aren't two truer voices in country music today than Earle's and Dodson's.