The Oxford American is an American quarterly literary magazine that features writing and art from Southerners or about the South. We prefer how they describe themselves, ” The Southern Magazine of Good Writing”. The Magazine started a special focus on the music of each of the southern states and as luck would have it the first happened to be Alabama. This lead to a series of concerts called “ABALABIP!” around the state featuring Alabama artist of both past and present. The last of such concerts is Saturday night at Tuscaloosa’s Bama Theatre.
The event begins at 8 p.m. and also will feature jazz bass superstar and Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame Inductee Cleve Eaton & The Alabama All Stars; North Alabama alt-country folk players The Bear; Huntsville hip-hop sensation G-SIDE: and Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit. You get a heaping helping of all that for only $10…now that’s a steal.
To give you a little background on each artist this is what the internet has to say;
Cleve Eaton is an American jazz double bassist from Fairfield, Alabama, a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama. His most famous accomplishments are substantial playing stints with the Ramsey Lewis Trio and later with the Count Basie Orchestra. His 1975 recording Plenty Good Eaton is considered a classic in the funk music genre. (Wikipedia)
The Bear is one of many bands emerging from the Shoals’ indie scene, bringing together
artists from other projects to create a unique alt-country, pop and, yes, folk sound. (TimesDaily.com)
G-Side is an American hip hop duo from Huntsville, Alabama. Stephen “ST 2 Lettaz” Harris and Yung “David Williams” Clova met at the Boys & Girls Club in Athens, Alabama. G-Side says that artists like 8Ball & MJG, UGK, Outkast, Geto Boys, Scarface, Master P and 2pac influenced them both at an early stage of their lives and career. Their music has been described as a mixture of Dirty South and G-Funk. Although they have created some more up-tempo tracks, they mainly create laidback, suggestive music often described as “Film music symphonic” or “Hypnotic” and “Spellbounding”. Block Beataz has provided the duo with beats that sample artists not commonly associated with Hip Hop music like Enya, Beach House and Dune. (Wikipedia)
in 2001 Isbell joined the rock band Drive-By Truckers while they toured in support of
their album Southern Rock Opera. Isbell recorded and wrote with the Truckers for their next three albums… On April 5, 2007, Isbell announced that he was no longer a member of Drive-By Truckers. Jason Isbell released his first solo album, Sirens of the Ditch, on July 10, 2007. Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit’s eponymous album was released on February 17, 2009, on Lightning Rod Records. Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit is Isbell’s second solo release and his first release with his band The 400 Unit. Matt Pence of Centro-Matic serves as co-producer, drummer and engineer. Isbell and the 400 Unit released their second album, Here We Rest, on April 12, 2011, on Lightning Rod Records. (Wikipedia)
So after you’ve watched the Tide at 2:30 and let the fog of beer and whiskey dissipate, head over to the Bama for a musical treat that people always bitch about Tuscaloosa never getting. This is a chance to prove that there are people here in town that don’t want to hear some shitty cover band play “Sweet Home Alabama” and “Brown Eyed Girl” over and over again. I know we’ll be there and hopefully you will be too.