The Kids are Alright: Trampled By Turtles at Nashville’s Exit/In (10/18/11)

I’m inspired to see a younger generation of acoustic musicians like TBT, the Avetts, Mumford and Sons, and others cultivate a far-reaching audience among the college set.  I recently sold a banjo to the mother of a 17 yr. old girl whose daughter was inspired to pick up the instrument due to the Avett Brothers.  In another era, she might have been buying a Casio keyboard or a pink rhinestone microphone.  By no means am I trying to patronize TBT, the Avetts, or others as musicians pandering to the young or lacking the sophistication to appeal to an older audience.  That’s not my opinion at all. I’m a fan wholeheartedly, even at the ripe old age of thirty-nine.  I’m just re-iterating what others before me have said better than I could hope to, Americana/Roots/Whatever-you-care-to-call-it is healthier than ever, with a broad audience.  TBT exemplify the resurgence of meaningful, accessible music as their young, raucous audience proved last week.

As the band took the stage, lead singer Dave Simonett enthusiastically informed the crowd that this was their first Nashville gig.  Almost immediately, they launched into the up-tempo “Help You” from their most recent release Palomino.  Like many of their faster tunes, the song is driven by churning fiddling and an insistent mandolin chop below unvarnished Midwestern harmonies.  Before the crowd could catch their breath, the quintet shifted into “Sounds Like a Movie,” an instrumental played at breakneck speed with pulsing riffs traded between banjo, mandolin, and fiddle.  Admittedly, the band’s timing seemed a bit unintentionally elastic, but this is a song born of punk rock energy more than calculating precision.  It also inspired the first mosh pit I’ve ever seen at a roots music show.  While the thought of a mosh pit occurring even at punk gig in 2011 is depressing, I don’t hold TBT responsible for such a hackneyed display of an outmoded ritual.  If anything, I’m impressed that an acoustic band can even inspire an act of collective aroused aggression (but, please, let’s not make this a habit roots music fans; it’s a little embarrassing.)