Credit: Melissa Ruggieri
Credit: Melissa Ruggieri
BY MELISSA RUGGIERI
“This could be good…this could be terrible,” Kristian Bush joked immediately after stepping onto the Eddie’s Attic stage.
Of course, anyone who has attended Bush's annual post-Thanksgiving gatherings at the venue knows that it would be impossible for the warmhearted, respectful evening of music to be anything less than extraordinary.
At the first of four shows (the final pair take place at 7 and 9:30 p.m. Monday – a handful of tickets remain for each), Bush and guests Canaan Smith and Larkin Poe shared their songs in rotating format, with guitarist Kenny Fuller and Bush’s keyboardist brother Brandon adding musical shadings and textures.
Along with the unknown possibilities of what might occur during the set, the other great joy in these shows is watching how the musical collective augments each other’s songs.
As the ruggedly handsome Smith, a Nashville-via-Virginia songwriter and guitarist unleashed “Mad Love,” Bush knocked out a beat on the body of his acoustic guitar while Atlanta's Larkin Poe sisters Rebecca and Megan Lovell added electric mandolin and lap steel guitar.
The lovely ladies, who have performed with Bush for some time and recently released their full-length debut, "Kin," after a series of EPs, mesmerized with the ethereal, minor-key story-song "Mad as a Hatter" and "Don't," their self-described girl power anthem infused with a bluesy swagger.
One of the more touching unscripted moments of the show came as Bush was crooning the early Sugarland hit “Baby Girl” and Rebecca Lovell choked up on the song’s chorus while seemingly looking at her parents in the crowd. Even sweeter was when Megan subtly wiped her sister’s tear away at the end of the song.
As usual, the tenor of the two-hour-plus show veered from silly fun (Bush’s new Christmas song, the highly relatable “Drinkin’ for Christmas”) to melancholy (Smith’s touching ballad “Bronco,” written for his brother who died in a car accident and performed with little accompaniment besides his own acoustic guitar).
Bush, of course, is the ringleader of this loose-yet-controlled presentation and charmed the crowd with his ever-present grin and soulfully delivered songs such as “Light Me Up” and his current hit, the finger-snapping “Trailer Hitch” (with a little of Katy Perry’s “This is How We Do” thrown in for added inspiration) from his upcoming solo debut, “Southern Gravity.”
“Music should do one of two things,” Bush said. “Shake your hips or explode your heart.”
At Sunday’s early show, suffice to say check…and check.
Take a listen to Bush performing "Trailer Hitch."
Hear Canaan Smith singing "You Bring the Party."
Hear Larkin Poe singing "Crown of Fire."
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