The theme for this week’s free Red Dirt Concert at the Posse Grounds Pavilion is unique takes on familiar genres. Headline act The Swamp Poets plans to blend Southern rock with bluesy Americana and will be preceded by self-described “Country-ish band out of Tempe” Jack OC and The Alien beginning at 5 p.m. on Friday, May 17.
“The distinctive names for the acts and their styles just go together,” Parks and Recreation Special Events Coordinator Jason Vargo said. “They just seem to be a natural complement to each other on all of the levels. From the unique musical twist that they give to their offerings to their names, and how the names complemented each other. It was an organic choice with the [selection] committee.”
Swamp Poets
A typical setlist for The Swamp Poets consists of original songs inspired by the Mississippi Delta and occasional unique covers that might take the listener a while to recognize.
“We do a couple of old Creedence songs, or anything that came from the swamp era,” Swamp Poets’ lead singer Christian Michael Berry said. “Once in a while we do ‘Rainy Night in Georgia’ … almost all the music that we have is roots-based. I have a long affiliation with the San Francisco beat [poets]. I grew up in North Beach, San Francisco, and I was around a lot of that.”
The use of the word “poets” in the band’s name is intended to draw attention to the group’s desire to incorporate colorful, expressive lyrics in their songs.
“We decided to settle on that name [because] we’re a roots music based band, but we don’t just play blues,” Michael Berry said. “We play a lot of different kinds of American music genres. So it was kind of hard to pigeonhole us … we can play classic rock, or we can play country, or we can play blues, so it was easier to say we play ‘swamp’ music.”
Friday’s show will be the first appearance at the series for both groups, although Berry noted that he has previously played the venue before for the blues festivals.
“The view from that amphitheater and the feeling is very magical,” Berry said. “It’s real earthy, and kind of has a spiritual field to it. And, you know, it’s just a lot of, it’s a great place to share an afternoon and hear some great music.”
Jack OC and The Alien
“My dad has a farm out [in Nebraska] that’s where I picked up my country influence with my songwriting,” singer-songwriter Jack Otting-Crandall said. “But I currently live in Tempe … also my mom being [in Tempe] throughout my childhood is where I picked up all that kind of skater culture and kind of punk rock vibes.”
His band, Jack OC and The Alien, plays primarily originals with some covers of country artists Tyler Childers and Zach Bryan and the odd Sublime song.
“You can expect a mixture of big, energetic songs and thoughtful, perhaps lyrical, listening songs, but they all have that country feel to it,” Otting-Crandall said.
“One of the things that they offered in their description was that their drummer ‘The Alien’ was always a punk drummer, and never imagined that he would be drumming in a country band — but here they are,” Vargo said. “So you have this punk ethos, energy coming into what they are categorically describing themselves as ‘country offering.”
Drummer John Wenigformed the group with Otting-Crandall in 2022 and soon picked up his new moniker.
“We were in Camp Verde recording at our producer’s place, ‘Live at the Garage,’ and [Wenig] was running around the studio playing every single instrument that he could pull off the wall from the drum, the guitar, the bass to a saw … all these different instruments, and the producer [said], ‘I think we’ve got an alien on our hands,’ and so he’s stuck with it.”
The spring Red Dirt Concert Series will return next week on Friday, May 24, with opening act Banjo Joe & Danielle and The Storytellers as the headliner.
