St. Paul and The Broken Bones
Banditos
Music Farm Columbia
Friday Jan 22, 2016
Doors: 8:00 PM
Show: 9:00 PM
All Ages
$20 – $23

If you haven’t seen the Muscle Shoals documentary track it down and go watch it now. It documents some of the most important music in American history, and gives an inside look at the little Alabama studio that put out music that helped transform the popular music landscape. They talk about how it might be in the water there in Alabama, or maybe it’s in how the wind blows through the trees, but whatever it is that tradition is still being carried on today with bands like the Alabama Shakes, and St. Paul and the Broken Bones who will be in Columbia Friday at Music Farm.

I had the chance to see them two years ago at Fall for Greenville and I was nothing short of amazed by their live show. Every show the band is dressed to the nines, with crisp suits, pocket squares, and the shined shoes to match, and every show they give it all they have. From the horns section to the spinning Wurlitzer speaker mic’d up on the organ, they bring the emotion to the venue nightly. If you listen to them beforehand you’ll be ready for Paul Janeway’s voice, but if you’re not expecting, his roaring voice might make your jaw drop. That’s what happened to me. I’d heard a song or two, but really couldn’t believe what I was hearing live the first time.

St. Paul and the Broken Bones story isn’t all that unique, but it’s one of those that almost never happened. Paul Janeway had really moved away from music after college, holding down a job at a bank, he went and recorded a song with a friend as sort of a last hurrah. During that recording something clicked and they got the band together with the horn section and took it from there. All in the same year their style of retro music seemed to come back into the main stream, picking them up for the ride.

This is one of those shows that Columbia hasn’t gotten all too often in the past, and is definitely worth attending. You’re sure to have a good time.