If you’re hungering for barbecue and fatback blues, Frankie Dudenhoffer, owner of Frankie D’s, is planning on providing both on Sunday.
Swamp Cabbage will be performing 9 p.m., Sunday at Frankie D’s, 44 West 200 North.
“They’re deep roots Zoho music,” said Dudenhoffer, owner of Frankie D’s. “It’s fatback blues, in a boogaloo jam, in a trailer park funk,” said Dudenhoffer.
The band is stopping in Moab on an Intermountain West tour through Utah, Colorado and Idaho. This is their first gig in Moab.
Their name, Swamp Cabbage, honors an ancient meal served in Florida.
The Seminoles, Timuquans and other Native Floridians harvested, boiled and ate the hearts of the Sabal palm tree. Steamed and served as a stew it’s a rustic delicacy similar to artichoke hearts and traditional cabbage. That essence of the “real” Florida is the basis for Swamp Cabbage’s inspirational archetype: a mish mash of genres boiled into a stew of mixed blues, jazz, soul, southern rock, Appalachian and even classical vibes.
Swamp Cabbage was formed in 2001 by veteran guitarist Walter Parks, who built an international career as the lead guitarist for Woodstock legend Richie Havens. Parks, who recently marked his debut as a solo artist with the release of his self-titled album earlier this year, formed the group along with bassist Jim DeVito and drummer Jagoda as a way to explore his southern musical influences.
Using a guitar, bass and drum format, Swamp Cabbage sounds like a southern rock band but “thinks” like a jazz, blues or classical trio. Harmonically, their sound is more complex than the blues. Rhythmically it’s akin to New Orleans jazz. Lyrically, they offer a comedic travelogue through Park’s North Florida upbringing, all complimented by his electric guitar style — a mélange of Scott Joplin’s ragtime and Jerry Reed’s bayou pickin. DeVito’s bass, barks like a tuba through a fuzz box, and is backed by Jagoda’s New Orleans funeral parade style drummin’.
The band has three self-released albums of original material under their belt: Honk (2006), Squeal (ZOHO Roots, 2008) and Live From New York (2010). This summer the trio will release Drum Roll Please, a disc of re-envisioned, re-imagined and re-swamped 70s classics, presented in a way that only the raspy singing combo of fatback blues and trailer park funk can dish out.
Dudenhoffer starts serving barbecue at 11 a.m. The free music begins at 9 p.m.
“It’s fun. There’s no cover,” Dudenhoffer said. ”These guys are really good. This is danceable. It’s listenable.”
