Country-rock outfit Pecos & The Rooftops played at Brewsky’s on Saturday in support of their debut full-length album, ‘From Me To You.’ The Texas-born rockers went viral a while back for their 2019 single “This Damn Song.” While that song certainly got the biggest reaction from the crowd, their set proved just how much more raw power the band has.
After Baton Rouge’s KG & The Bad Habits opened the night (and played a stellar set in their own right), the lights dimmed, conversations dissipated and an ominous spoken-word intro readied the audience. After the band found their places, frontman Pecos Hurley walked on stage and immediately launched into “Yesteryear,” wasting no time in filling Brewsky’s with white-knuckle, twang-infused rock and roll.
The band introduced a new lineup last year, with Hurley joined by Garrett Peltier (drums), Steven Buehler (bass), Jessie Santos (lead guitar) and Jared French (guitar/keys). All of them had time to showcase their own talents and musical influences but combined together were a rock-solid force of nature.
Hurley seemed unperturbed by the screaming audience or his own band’s untamedness. Throughout the show, he kept a calm demeanor in line with his deep, ached voice. His anchoring stage presence, from stomping in rhythm during “Crazy Is Her Name” to quieting down introducing “Wouldn’t Have to Miss You,” was the kind of silent authority you want in a frontman.
The band also debuted a new song, “Concrete Shoes,” which at points bordered on straight-up doom metal. During the song, Buehler suddenly ran off stage and through the crowd to check his bass tone with the sound tech, and I couldn’t help but feel like the night was veering further from Koe Wetzel and towards Van Halen. Immediately as I had that thought, Santos launched into a solo which, indeed, included a snippet of “Eruption.”
In a world where too many rock veterans complain that the genre is dying, newcomers are too busy joining rock with other genres like Americana, hip-hop, reggae and folk and seeing tremendous success. While the “country” in their country-rock is unmistakable on the record, Pecos & The Rooftops’ live performance is heavy, overdriven and raucous. If you were at Brewsky’s on Saturday and could see over the sea of trucker hats, you were experiencing one of the best country-rock acts in recent memory and arguably one of the best new rock bands performing today, period.
Pecos & The Rooftops new album, ‘From Me To You,’ was released Jan. 9 and is available wherever you hear music.
