Preview: Ha Ha Tonka at White Rabbit Cabaret in Indianapolis



Ha Ha Tonka
Photo Credit: Jason Gonulsen

 

Next Saturday (June 3) the Ozarks, Missouri-based band Ha Ha Tonka will visit Indianapolis for the first time in a few years to perform at the White Rabbit Cabaret in Fountain Square. Touring right on the coattails of the release of the band’s new album, Heart-Shaped Mountain (released in March via Bloodshot Records), its fifth full-length, Ha Ha Tonka has dialed up the signature harmonies and expanded the instrumental palette with an emphasis on choruses tailor-made for singing along with lyrics that eye the horizon as time passes and lives adapt to the changes.

Throughout the run of Buckle in the Bible Belt, Novel Songs of the Nouveau South, Death of a Decade, Lessons and, now, Heart-Shaped Mountain, Ha Ha Tonka has focused on the strength of the song while tapping into an unwavering sense of Midwestern and Southern identity built into the DNA of each record. The studio recordings, all worthy introductions to listeners at whichever point they arrive, are secondary to the charismatic verve and worn-in tightness that anchor the soaring live sets. The ten tunes of Heart-Shaped Mountain, a streamlined, unapologetically melodic and hopeful collection, likely segue right into the Tonk’s already impressive catalog when played before an audience. Barnstorming opener “Race to the Bottom” and the rollicking and infectious anthem “Arkansas” will tower right alongside the dozen or guitar-driven nuggets that populate most live sets, while harmony-rich entries like “Everything,” “The Party” and “All With You” should serve up instrumental flourishes and more communal catharsis for a memorable weekend night in a year increasingly mired in unrelenting despair with each successive day. Having seen and loved three Ha Ha Tonka live shows to date over the years, I’ve been eagerly awaiting my next opportunity to catch them live. Right now feels like an especially ideal time for an hour or two of rock and roll buoyancy on a Saturday night, and the chance to hear how well several of these new songs fit in alongside all the ones I’ve been singing along with for years only sweetens the deal.

MOKB Presents Ha Ha Tonka w/ Trapper Schoepp at White Rabbit Cabaret in Indianapolis

Saturday, June 3

Tickets: $15

Robbie Fulks, Live in Indianapolis

Robbie Fulks performed in Indianapolis for the first time since his most recent excellent album, Upland Stories, earned a 2017 Grammy nomination for Best Folk Album along with the nod for “Alabama at Night” as Best American Roots Song. All the acclaim is warranted for the Chicago-based country-folk musician, who has been picking and playing professionally for thirty-odd years while also putting out consistently impressive records since 1996’s Country Love Songs. His set in Indy on Friday night ran the gamut of his richly stocked catalog, pulling out Country Love Song favorites like “Tears Only Run One Way,” “I Push Right Over” and “Let’s Kill Saturday Night” right alongside newer gems like Upland Stories’ “Katy Kay” and “A Miracle” and Gone Away Backwards’ “Sometimes the Grass Really Is Greener” and “That’s Where I’m From.” Fulks, acoustic guitar tucked in hand, served as the ringleader for his crackling quintet, a new touring lineup featuring longtime collaborator Shad Cobb (Osborne Brothers, Steve Earle) on fiddle, upright bassist Dennis Crouch, mandolinist Matt Flinner and Punch Brothers banjoist Noam Pikelny on just their fourth show together of bluegrass-tinted country jams, and the lively group played off each other with precision and enthusiasm so as to fool anyone into thinking they’d been doing it all together forever. 

 


Upland Stories promo photo
Credit: Andy Goodwin

 

The mostly seated audience of eighty or so looked on and jovially bantered back and forth with the always humorous Fulks between songs as he shuffled impressions and improvisational comedic exchanges throughout the evening. Fulks has breezy, conversational engagement with a crowd that showcases his deftness for being a lauded musician, first and foremost, and also a performer wholly at ease.

 

“I can’t count the number of times I’ve played in Indianapolis,” Fulks joked early. “Yeah, I can: three times. Three times in thirty years.”

 

Soon after, he chuckled at a four-letter quip from the crowd. “It’s gonna be a raunchy show tonight,” he teased.  “You’re a raunchy crowd. And this is from a raunchy 54-year-old white guy.”

 

In Chicago, his residency at the Hideout (he played his resident finale in March) is rather legendary in some circles, an eclectic live theater of original songs, nights covering albums and catalogs of unexpected artists, and a rogue’s gallery of cameos, performances and talents. Not having been privy to experiencing a Hideout set firsthand, a Friday night with Robbie on stage with his sharpshooting players provided a solid snapshot of what’s in store any time Fulks is before a crowd with instruments in tow: great songs and loads of off-the-cuff wit and silver-tongued one-liners that blend into a memorable evening of expertly played bluegrass-folk, open mic comedy indebted to Johnny Carson and little doses of improv theater. It’d be an absolute joy to witness in an even better, non-rundown venue with more character than Birdy’s, but for a Friday night a little off the beaten path in Indianapolis, Fulks provided the entertainment and soundtrack to a delightful couple hours.