All Bucked Up

Local getup Red Meat may be Bay Area born and bred, but its sound is pure Bakersfield. For those of you who don't own Wrangler jeans, the Bakersfield sound is the slick hick style of the early 1960s made famous by Hee Haw alum Buck Owens and (somewhat inexplicably) adored by a certain strain of punk rock fan. But before anyone cries "ironic appreciation is BS," consider that Red Meat met Buck's own specifications to the point of once opening for him. The band has also backed up rockabilly superstar Wanda Jackson, and she's hardly ever in the mood to suffer fools. But Red Meat doesn't need anyone in front of it. The group's signature manly vocal harmonies and devastatingly twangy Telecaster frame the catchy and often funny originals perfectly: The breakdown on "12 Inch 3 Speed Oscillating Fan" blows our skirt way, way up. Yet Smelley Kelley's sweet voice also makes us drop tears in our beers on songs like "Broken Up and Blue." Must be the Bakersfield in us.

Eilen Jewell, Axton Kincaid and DJ Lenny & Squiggy open.
Mon., Dec. 10, 8 p.m., 2007