Jonathan Warren & the Billygoats gruff psychobilly folk-grass

(this piece was published by Planet JH Weekly)

The Payette River area north of Boise is raw, rugged and at times, its currents unpredictable. The same can be said for the progressive psychobilly folk-grass Boise band, Jonathan Warren & The Billygoats.

Let’s start with the Goats’ unusual instrumentation. Warren writes a majority of the material with some help from his bandmates, usually playing acoustic guitar behind his voice, but also contributing banjo, harmonica and on studio albums, upright bass. Rather than a thumping upright bass in the stage lineup, cellist and harmony vocalist David Sather is capable of low-end bass lines, a wide range of bowing timbres, even horn-like qualities. Having grown up in Jackson, Mississippi, Sather’s vocals pair well as a Southern counterpart of Warren’s. He grew up around classical music and was a Vocal Performance major in college where he grew found of crooning Sinatra tunes. Rounding out the core trio is drummer Andrew Smith, an L.A. native that wound up in the Latin funk scene of San Francisco as a teen.“We usually pick up an [extra] instrumentalist to travel with us. Last tour we had a rockin’ guitar player and were more of a rock band, this time we’ll likely have a fiddle player and have more of a folky vibe,” Warren said, who works part-time for the Knitting Factory, but is primarily a full-time musician. “It’s fun adding different instrumentalists because they put their own feel on it and I’m not one to tell someone exactly what to play. If I like it, we’ll keep ‘em, if I don’t, we won’t.”Warren got his musical start in Knoxville, Tennessee as original upright bassist for folk/swing band Christabel and the Jons. He began experimenting with his own songwriting while getting to know is own voice as a new singer. He took a job leading backpacking trips for troubled youth in the small town of Shoshone, Idaho before eventually landing in Boise to form the Goats. Since then, he’s found a group of guys that share his musical vision and are compatible travel companions.Over the coarse of three studio albums—You Just Relax Honey (2010), A Little Something Stronger Than Wine (2011), and the recently released On This Very Evening (2013)—Warren and the Goats have put out a slightly more polished product while remaining true to its uncooked live feel. Often rollicking and whiskey-drenched, their tunes have a certain spark fire that’s upfront in the mix. This is not the squeaky clean approach you’d hear out of Music City, but rather a gritty Appalachian campfire version of the hard strumming, early Avett Brothers with raspy, Southern-drawled vocals that fuse the qualities of Wooden Wand, Steve Earle, even a dash of Tom Waits.“When I was started writing music, I was listening to a lot of Mason Jennings, his first two albums,” Warren said. “Townes Van Zandt has been a big influence. I was born in Texas and developed the Texas songwriter style without realizing. Of course, there’s Bob Dylan too.” Jonathan Warren and The Billygoats, 7:30 to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Silver Dollar Bar. Free. 733-2190.