Bluegrass is having a moment right now and Montana’s the Kitchen Dwellers are clearly in the right place. This was evidenced by their sold out show at the Aladdin Theater in Portland, Oregon on Saturday, February 11th. Though the current excitement around bluegrass revolves primarily around acts like Billy Strings and Molly Tuttle, who have been selling out arenas and winning Grammys like nobody’s business, credit is due to the Kitchen Dwellers for proudly carrying the torch for the genre’s jammier side. The group is currently in the midst of an expansive U.S. tour that stretches well into the summer, which you might say it is in support of their 2022 album Wise River.
One might have expected the band to ease into the heavier jams throughout the night, but in Portland they wasted no time getting down to business with the tripped out opener “Covered Bridges” that transcended traditional bluegrass picking with its onslaught of effects. Musically, the band took a solos-in-the-round approach for much of the show and worked together to give each song twists and turns. “High On A Mountain Top” began as a work of rustic folk before dropping into a bouncy yet sinister jam with “Big Mon.” Despite less than optimal sound that found the bass drowning out the other instruments, the crowd couldn’t get enough. They danced and sang along to songs like the Bruce Springsteen-like anthem “Stand At Ease,” hooting with joy during their cover of the Jerry Garcia tune “Run for the Roses,” and cheering on Shawn Swain’s mandolin solo during the signature banger “Drowning (…Again).”
By the end of the first set, the sound had gotten noticeably better and the band kicked off their second set by sandwiching a rowdy cover of Bob Dylan’s rambling tune “Tombstone Blues” between their own tune “Comet.” Set two featured several standout moments, including the Lindsay Lou joining the band and lending her soulful vocals to “Santa Fe,” a boisterous and speedy take on the John Hartford tune and longtime jam grass favorite “Cuckoo’s Nest,” and a sprawling “Seven Devils” that segued into a commanding bluegrass cover of Radiohead’s Kid A favorite “Optimistic.”
If you’re a jam grass junkie chasing that first high and that first high was Jeff Austin, then this is the closest dragon you can currently ride, Billy Strings be damned. In Portland, the band demonstrated their ability to to ramp up intensity and inject their bluegrass with a healthy dose of rock and roll fervor. Though they don’t possess the same magnetism and onstage charisma that comes from having a rock star front man like Billy Strings, the late great Jeff Austin, or even Sam Bush, they make up for it with their tight musical chemistry. At the Aladdin, this came to fruition in the form of nearly three hours of well-crafted bluegrass songs, creatively executed covers and plenty of jamming.
All photos by Greg Homolka
