Several people told me that I needed to see The Sacred Shakers perform because they thought I would enjoy the band’s country-gospel sound. I decided to catch their show at The Sinclair last week, and am so glad I did!

The Sacred Shakers (except Daniel Kellar)

I appreciate gospel music not for the religious nature of the songs cut for the quality of the musicians and the music.  The Sacred Shakers delivered great music and musicianship!

What started as researching the roots of some of the blues they loved evolved into an omni-religion full-on revival meeting! I was there, as I suspect were many others, to worship at the altar of music. We were rewarded with country-gospel and some bluegrass (and probably other Americana styles) thrown in for good measure.

Jerry Miller and Daniel Fram

Their set list drew from a wide variety of artists, including a song Elvis Presley performed! I admit to not knowing Elvis’s catalog well, but I don’t think of Elvis and gospel in the same sentence. I did not know any of the music they performed which included songs by Hank Williams, the Swan Silvertones, The Stanley Brothers and George Jones.

Eilen Jewell

The music made me want to move, which caused me to ponder the decision to present this as a seated show (don’t get me wrong, I rarely feel that I NEED to stand at a show in order to enjoy the performance).  This is lively music!

Jerry

Each member of the group has a solo career, although I do not believe I had seen any of them (other than Greg) prior to this show.  The talent on stage was astounding! The band includes Eilen Jewell on vocals, Johnny Sciascia on bass, Jason Beek on drums and vocals, Daniel Fram on guitar and vocals, Jerry Miller on electric guitar, Daniel Kellar on violin, Eric Royer on banjo and vocals, and Greg Glassman on guitar and vocals.

Jerry

Greg Glassman

Daniel Kellar

Jason Beek

Eric Royer

Eilen

Johnny Sciascia

Daniel – a skull shaker???

Probably because I did not know of him prior to this show, I was especially impressed with Jerry Miller and would like to see him again. Every one of the Shakers is equally as impressive, but Jerry was given many opportunities to demonstrate his guitar skills.

Jerry

The vocals truly shine. Eilen has a fabulous voice, as do Jason, Daniel, Eric and Greg, and their harmonies are soulful.

Eric, Jason, Greg and Eilen harmonizing

Opening the show was country band Zoe Muth and the Lost High Rollers. I knew Zoe’s name, but was not familiar with their music.

Zoe Muth and the Lost High Rollers

I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed them. Their style is fairly straight-forward country, which I am enjoying more and more recently. Performing mostly (and possibily exclusively) original songs written by Zoe, their set made me want to hear more from them.

Zoe

Zoe on guitar and vocals, Greg Nies on drums, Eric Hisaw on guitar, and Sean Jacobi on bass comprise the band.

Zoe Muth

Eric Hisaw

Greg Nies

Sean Jacobi

Zoe and the Lost High Rollers are touring in support of their recent release, ‘World of Strangers’.

Zoe Muth and the Lost High Rollers

This was an evening of fabulous music at one of my favorite venues in the Boston area. I don’t know how much either of these bands tours, but they are worth seeing in a city near you.

Ticket courtesy of The Sacred Shakers; all opinions are my own.