Concert review: Fish Fry Bingo at the Wild Rooster

I'd been hearing about this band, this unholy mixture of hip-hop and hillbilly music, for a long time now. Last Saturday night, the stars finally aligned properly, and I found myself over on Seventh Street at The Wild Rooster to hear Fish Fry Bingo.

Let's just say it was, well, different.

The Whisky Prophets were up first, and although they were a little too country for my taste, that's not a crime. What is a crime (or it should be) is what they did to Steve Miller's Take the Money and Run. When Miller did it, we could overlook the bad lyric writing -- like rhyming "facts is" with "taxes" -- because the song had such interesting dynamics and so much life to it. Yet all of that was missing in this cover version, making it just another garage-band song.

They did, however, redeem themselves by doing a surprisingly good cover of Superstition by Stevie Wonder. Win some, lose some.

But on to the main act: As Fish Fry Bingo began setting up, someone in the crowd asked the banjo player, Tony Drewery, what kind of music we were about to hear. Drewery replied: "Hillbilly hip-hop." Adrian Cook, who plays washboard, assured the bewildered patron that his bandmate wasn't kidding.

Fish Fry Bingo -- which also has Dan Benjamin (guitar), Mathew Broyles (guitar) and Greg New (stand-up bass) -- opened up with the Old Crow Medicine Show song Cocaine Gonna Kill My Honey Dead, followed by Salty Dog, Truck Drivin' Man by Terry Fell and an absurdly upbeat version of Folsom Prison Blues by Johnny Cash.

The songs were all done in a hillbilly jug-band style, with Drewery switching between banjo and an actual jug. Cook provided the rhythm on a washboard run through, and -- I'm not making this up -- a wah pedal and guitar effects. At one point, a cymbal stand broke, and Cook duct-taped it together without missing a beat.

We continued with the traditional music, getting a cover of Hey Good Lookin' by Hank Williams, followed by perhaps the strangest hillbilly rendition of Skate or Die by No-Cash imaginable. Not that such a thing is really imaginable, of course. Next came a cover of -- wait for it -- Gin and Juice by Snoop Dogg. Jug-band style, natch.

We then got a modified version of David Allan Coe's Longhaired Redneck, then my least favorite song in the world -- Wagon Wheel. I don't think Bob Dylan even likes this song (and he wrote it), but it has become the Proud Mary of the folk-music scene.

But they won me back with a terrific and inventive version of Take a Whiff on Me. That made my night.

Generally, when a band adopts a put-on hillbilly style as a serious attempt at being "down home," I find it annoying. But this band makes no attempt at seriousness, so I enjoyed it thoroughly. The stage banter was entertaining, and the bizarre blend of real folk and hip-hop works. You can catch the band Friday at Fred's Texas Cafe, and I highly recommend you do.

Online: www.Fishfrybingo.com