Last night, Austin’s “Paper Moonshiners” played the Starlight Theatre in Terlingua.

From their website:

Paper Moon Shiners is a duo from Austin, Texas. They specialize in vintage songs and originals inspired by American music from the early Twientieth Century including blues, jazz, swing, ragtime, americana roots and folk. Elena Antinelli fronts the band with her shoo-fly pie syrupy vibratos and turpentine tinged belly growls.
Frank Meyer toured with Gary Primich, played bass with B.B. King and roadied for Junior Brown once. He’s the string man in the band and his fingers pull thumpin’ notes from the stand up bass, delicate ripples from the ukelele, and soothing rhythms from his jazz guitar. Mix all that with deep vocal tones that resonate like shifts in tectonic plates and yes, you’ll feel the earth beneath your feet move.

All that and a bag of chips.

Although I’ve played with Frank on the porch and at the Boathouse, I’d never heard the band before. They’re like a musical time machine, showing how and why the 20’s and 30’s were so musically interesting and fun.

Elena has an amazing voice, with shadings of Ella and Janis, with the occasional Billie Holiday inflection. Frank is tasteful on guitar, uke, and national steel, and his deep voice provides an interesting counterpoint and contrast to Elena’s.

Local sax-whiz Chase Peeler sat in on Tenor and added some spicy leads.

All in all, it was a surprising contrast – music we don’t normally hear in Terlingua that fit right in.

They’ll be at the High Sierra Friday, 3/28/14.

Here’s how it looked:

Continue reading “The Paper Moonshiners at the Starlight”