BURIED TREASURES

Years ago, more years than I want to admit, before I was the vast well of musical knowledge that I am now I would go to the record store and just browse through the albums. I was familiar with all the big names, but I would come across albums from people I had never heard of and would sometimes pick up their album and look at it and wonder what it was. This was before the internet (I told you it was a long time ago) so I couldn't check these unknown bands and singers out on the web. Sometimes I might find a suggestion of their sound in a magazine, but that was rare. Rolling Stone and other music mags covered the bigger name artists. But sometimes I would get brave and pick out an album from someone that I had no idea of what their sound was like. I remember hovering over an album from a group called House of Freaks for weeks. I would go back and pick it up and look at it, the name of the group called out to me, but I knew nothing about their sound. Finally I broke down and picked up the album. The album was Tantilla and I was hooked from the first song.
Bryan Harvey and Johnny Hott comprised the group lineup of the band. Bryan was the lead singer and played guitar and Johnny played percussion on anything he could use. The group had a much fuller sound than you would expect from just two guys.

"Crack In The Sidewalk"


They combined folk, rock and blues into a southern style of music that has been described at the musical equivalent of Flannery O'Connor. Their music was about was about race, religion and life in the South.



The band formed in Richmond Virginia in the mid 1980s and moved to L.A. with the release of their first album Monkey On A Chain Gang.

"Meet Your Heroes"


The group was never a commercial success but their first album did make a lot of critics' lists. They moved back home after their first album did not do as they hoped to.



Their next album was Tantilla and continued their style of Southern Gothic. For a two man band the music was full of energy. Unfortunately this album did not became a chart success either. Their next album was the ep All My Friends.


"Broken Bones"




After the ep the group recorded Cakewalk in 1991 and had a minor hit with "Rocking Chair." In 1994 they released their last album Invisible Jewel. After the release of this album the group split up



Actually Johnny and Bryan formed a new group called Gutterball with Steve Wynn from the Dream Syndicate. This group released two albums.

On New Years Day of 2006 Bryan Harvey, his wife and two daughters were murdered at their home in Richmond Virginia. The killers were later captured and convicted. Over 1400 people turned up for the memorial service for the former singer.

One Woman Band

Tonight Theresa Andersson performed at the Borders in Metairie. It was a small, thirty minute show that highlighted her new album. There was a few awkward moments at the start when she wasn't sure if she was supposed to just start playing or the book store was going to announce her start. With no employee in sight Theresa just decided to start on her own. Forgoing any band, save for her husband who sat off to the right and fiddled with the gear, Theresa was a one woman band, recreating the atmosphere of the album's creation in front of us. She opened with "Mary, Don't You Weep" which is not on the album and is a terrific version. Theresa really needs to put out a live album. After the one non album song the rest of the show were all pulled from her recent album Hummingbird, Go! The song "Na Na Na" is featured on You Tube and has pulled in over a quarter of million views so far. Following was "Birds Fly Away" and than she introduced her back up singers. This was a joke, she was her own back up singers for her album, but she said she named each member of the back up singers and even gave them their own group name: The Kitchenettes. She outlined the background and attitude of her own girl group and than played her final song "Hi -Low." Theresa is always a treat to see live and she put on a great show for the brief time she was on.

At the end of the show someone asked her why she wasn't going to be at the Gretna Heritage Fest tomorrow. Theresa has been a mainstay of the Fest for at least the past decade. She said the Fest canceled her show because they didn't think the audience would accept a one woman band and was afraid she'd get booed off the stage. It's evident that no one from the Fest has seen any of Theresa's recent shows or they'd know better.

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