The first time I experienced these Seattle heroes (and this is a band you experience more than just watch from the bar) they were headlining the High Dive on a night before I had to be to work in the morning at a time profanely earlier than I’m comfortable with. I was actually there to see one of my favorite Seattle local bands, the Young Evils, unlock the bill with their magically catchy charms. Normally I’d stick around for the main event, but the thought of waking up to the same night sky I would fall asleep under was hastily closing my tab. However, Mackenzie Mercer, co-singer of the Young Evils, slyly convinced me to stay for Brent Amaker and the Rodeo with two enthralling words: whiskey baptism. This was like telling me there’s a voluptuous, young red head listening to Elliott Smith in my bedroom while on my way to take the SAT. Well, maybe it wasn’t quite the same thing, but suffice it to say, I reopened my tab with a bourbon, straight as the crow flies, ready to be reborn in some way.

Don’t get me wrong. A Brent Amaker and the Rodeo show isn’t the milestone I might make it out to be, but it’s certainly an occasion to be reckoned with. Each performance begins with a “please stand by” sign limelighting the stage. Amaker enters his arena with a shiny red cape that he often has removed by Bunny Monroe, the band’s burlesque hostess/mascot. In a Johnny Cash like-fashion, these guys sing classic country anthems draped in black, though raising the stakes with lone ranger masks, matching cowboy hats, and handlebar stashes. Their songs are bouncy, heartfelt, and frequently tongue in cheek, straddling the chicken fence between self deprecation and mock narcissism. But as Chris Burlingame wrote in his recent interview with Amaker for Another Rainy Saturday, Amaker may have “the sense of humor to play along with the joke of the exaggerated alpha male presence he revels in while on stage, but […] [his] music, while often very funny, is hardly novelty.”

What’s refreshing about Brent Amaker and the Rodeo is that though they embrace the country/western variety, singing about drinking whiskey and making ends meet, they’re falling in to a genre as opposed to writing around one. In a time where southern influences are in the orifices of every indie Americana band singing rugged farm songs about train hopping and blue collar back bending, Amaker says “We’re all rock band guys […] [making] music that is at least inspired by all of the old time greats,”  but writing “songs inspired by us and the lives we live” (ACR).  In short, you can be a folk/country artist and still write from the heart, and from the heart doesn’t mean milking cliche western motifs like dancing with the devil, southern sunsets, and troublesome women with names like Darsi and Clementine.

Amaker also revealed to A.R.S. that while he thinks Seattle “is the coolest city in the world,” his “focus is else where.” B.A.R. (as Amaker likes to call his band) incessantly tours the US, have even ventured to Europe and back, and were featured in the season two soundtrack of Showtime’s modern hit: Californication. Still, while Amaker aims his cap guns at the world, he admits Seattle fans get a more gracious pour as far as live shows go because he doesn’t “have the finances” to bring his entire collection of tricks on the road.

Brent Amaker and the Rodeo are releasing their new and appropriately titled album, “Please Stand By,” during the City Arts Fest this weekend, October 22 at the Crocodile with Head Like a Kite and Automatic Bombshells Burlesque. If this will be your first B.A.R. show, dress for a funeral and you’ll feel like a veteran.

You can purchase tickets to see Brent Amaker and the Rodeo  or for any other City Arts Fest event here.

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