5 stars
In his ROGUE Solo tour, Bob Wayne is taking the world by storm. Just a man and his guitar, roaming the world, spreading the Bluegrass spirit and attempting to break World Records.
Last night, no more than 20 people were treated to an intimate, storytelling from no other than Alabama’s Prince of Bluegrass, Bob Wayne. In a concealed corner of Kingsheath, Birmingham, resides The Kitchen Garden Café and Fletchers Bar and Eatery. It is here that Bob Wayne gifted his Birmingham, UK, fans a night of Hillbilly mayhem, truck horns and bewitching narratives.
Bob Wayne kicked off his ROGUE Solo World tour at the start of March, beginning in the Netherlands, stumbling into Germany and then thundering into the UK. Bob’s World tour is no ordinary venture of the globe, it’s also a mission of breaking a World record. ‘I found out the world record for the most shows in a tour cycle is 309. So, I figured why not try to beat it’.
Warning the front row about spit from his truck horn vocal work, Bob kicked off the show with a classic- ‘Till The Wheels Fall Off’. You could never imagine a man sounding so much like a truck horn, until you see Bob Wayne live- the resemblance was uncanny. Just one man and his guitar, no backing track, no sound effects, stripped back and acoustic, Bob had the indisputable stance to stand alone without the support of his band.
With more than 150 songs and 10 albums to choose from, Bob Wayne somehow managed to curate the first half of the set perfectly; spotlighting favourites, such as: ‘Hell Yeah’ and ‘Lysa’. After a 15-minute break Bob came back fiercer than ever, seamlessly pleasing the crowd with a flurry of their requests. In fact, Bob used the 15-minute interval as practice time to perfect cover songs requested at the end of the first half of the set. This included a Led Zepplin number and, of course, Bob’s cover of ‘The Kid’s Aren’t Alright’, by The Offspring. The second half of the set consisted of desperate requests shouted from the audience, alongside a sprinkle of new, unreleased music. He outlined that the next record release is going to be ‘another trucking album’. 13 songs all revolved around the trucking lifestyle. Bob gave us a sneak preview into ‘Trucking for Jesus’, ‘Trucking Woman’, and my personal favourite ‘Space Truckers’. Currently still in an unfinished state, Bob powered through the tracks giving the audience an authentic, raw insight into his creative song writing process.
Having been to Bluegrass/Country gigs before, I can safely say that Bob Wayne’s storytelling ranks the highest of them all. The carefully moulded narratives shaped around fictional Hillybilly characters are entrancing and, almost, transport the audience into a state of
hypnosis. Bob Wayne not only crafts fictional narratives, but also composes stories around his day-to-day life. This came to light when the ‘Devil’s Backbone’ was requested. He admitted that this song is one of his personal favourites and is based around the real characters that dominate his life in his hometown, in Alabama.
For those fans that love Bob Wayne’s fictional characters including the likes of: ‘Mack’ and 'Lysa’, a limited number of official Bob Wayne comic books are available to purchase both at gigs and here.
You can listen to Bob Wayne below. Gig videos are now available on ALTESCAPE’s Instagram page.
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