This Little Underground

LOCAL RELEASES

After teasing single “Swamp Sistas Cosmic Drifter” in March, local songbird Beth McKee now makes a fuller outing with brand-new mini-album Monday After Sunday, her first collection since 2018’s Dreamwood Acres. While she’s spent a career exploring the many sides of Southern style, this work is probably McKee’s most honed and cohesive capture of its essence to date.

Although it’s another of McKee’s trademark Southern mosaics, Monday After Sunday is the one that coalesces all her best sensibilities. It’s also her most Americana record yet, due largely to the excellent pedal steel work of renowned North Carolina Sacred Steel guitarist DaShawn Hickman. It’s a look that McKee wears well.

In fact, the two songs featuring Hickman — “Strange Cookie” and “Railroad Ties” — are instant standouts because of his twangy grace. Another highlight is McKee’s regal rendition of Tom Petty’s “Down South,” which strokes the great original with impressive elegance. Among the rest are some of the best distillations of Southern soul in McKee’s catalog. Overall, the sixsong suite is a lush affair where rich, easy vibes of pianos, organs, pedal steel and accordion are further bolstered by lots of backing vocals from longtime collaborator John Pfiffner, Jeffrey Dean Foster, Terri Binion and Swamp Sistas E-Turn, Rachel Decker, Amy Robbins and Bunky Garrabrant.

Although still prismatic as McKee likes to be, this concise work benefits from more focus and judiciousness. Never before has she been more contemporary and tasteful as she is here. A document of refinement and renewal, Monday After Sunday is the best angle from McKee so far and is the monument of a veteran at the top of her game.

The EP now streams everywhere and is available on CD through Bandcamp.

While Beth McKee has spent a career exploring the many sides of Southern style, her newest album, Monday After Sunday, is probably her most honed and cohesive capture of its essence to date

CONCERT PICKS THIS WEEK

This week, some good freebies and fresh looks.

Gene Loves Jezebel, Rosegarden Funeral Party, Super Passive, Sandman Sleeps, DJ Lavidicus:

When I first saw Gene Loves Jezebel in their prime, my teenage excitement was somewhat blunted by the incestuous stage interplay between twin brothers Jay and Michael Aston. Well, what you get isn’t always what you seek — SU-GAR! — and fraternal acrimony ultimately split them into two separate versions of GLJ. In case you’re keeping score, the one coming here is the U.K.-based Jay Aston band. The loaded bill also features pre-eminent Dallas goth rockers Rosegarden Funeral Party, Orlando post-punk group Super Passive, South Florida’s Sandman Sleeps and Memento Mori’s DJ Lavidicus. (8 p.m. Friday, June 17, Will’s Pub, $20)

BY BAO LE-HUU

THE BETH MCKEE BAND | PHOTO BY ALLISON ISLEY

Permanent Makeup, Wet Nurse:

Usually, the Will’s Pub patio shows are understandably chill. But this one’s gonna get loud. Tampa Bay art-punks Permanent Makeup blend progressive ethos and aggression into a high-tension attack. Bad news for the neighbors perhaps, but great news for us. (6 p.m. Saturday, June 18, Dirty Laundry, free)

Sad Halen, The Trans- Dimensionalizers, Surf Witch, LeLe

and the Bloodspitters: A little later and a block over will be this notable local bill anchored by two solid native bands in superlative fuzz-rockers Sad Halen and punk group the TransDimensionalizers. But it’ll also feature peeks at some new homegrown bands. LeLe and the Bloodspitters, whose debut EP will be released this very day, are an outlandish punk act whose members pack heavy pedigree from bands like Bubble Boys and Country Slashers. And Surf Witch are a young band fronted by Megan Cahill and backed by Chris and the Chemtrails. (7 p.m. Saturday, June 18, Uncle Lou’s, free)

Jordan Foley & the Wheelhouse,

Feverdreams: As one of the area’s leading Americana acts today, Jordan Foley and company are always a reliable force of power and soul. But this will be the first Orlando peek at Feverdreams, a promising new act that’s risen from the ashes of excellent Ocala band the States. With this year’s sweeping debut single “Wildfire (Everything Dies),” Feverdreams are staking claim to territory that’s as rootsy as it is indie and should make fans of Mike Dunn and Gasoline Heart swoon hard. (8 p.m. Saturday, June 18, The Imperial Orlando, free)

baolehuu@orlandoweekly.com orlandoweekly.com ● JUNE 15-21, 2022 ● ORLANDO WEEKLY 33