MUSIC

-- Dave McKenna

Felice Brothers and Justin Townes Earle

On Thursday, Iota hosted a pair of acts that exist in the shadow of preceding musical heavyweights. One does so by circumstance, the other by choice.

Justin Townes Earle's career path was pretty much determined the day his daddy Steve named him after one of his heroes, Townes Van Zandt. But unlike his famous father and middle-namesake, Earle is more old-time country than outlaw country. With a pomade-aided pompadour, aw-shucks attitude ("Thank yuh, now!" he said after most songs) and songs about hard livin' and being lonesome, the 25-year-old Nashville-based singer-songwriter harked back to the Dust Bowl folk of Woody Guthrie and Grand Ole Opry sounds of Hank Williams.

His songs weren't particularly rugged or nuanced, but succeeded thanks to a studied craftsmanship that may as well be intrinsic. As with any drumless act that plays the Arlington club, Earle was constantly on the verge of being drowned out by the notoriously chatty crowd; but with Cory Younts accompanying on mandolin, banjo and harmonica, he rose above the din to provide 40 minutes of old-fashioned fun.

To say headliners the Felice Brothers are influenced by Bob Dylan and the Band's "The Basement Tapes" is like saying human life is influenced by oxygen. The former simply doesn't exist without the latter. Most songs, such as "Frankie's Gun!" and "Ruby Mae," were variations on "Please, Mrs. Henry" or "Yea! Heavy and a Bottle of Bread," with the Felices (three of the five members are actual brothers) adding their own twist with accordion and washboard. The celebratory atmosphere the quintet created was more memorable than most of the actual songs, suggesting a bit more time in the basement might be for the best.

-- David Malitz