By Spencer Lewis

No one ever said Rock and Roll was dead; it just takes on so many forms these days that it’s difficult to know where to turn to find it. Yes, we can sit safely in our preferred camps of rockabilly, blues, metal, alt-country and so on but if we do, we may never know what lies around the corner.

So it was when I ventured out last Saturday night to White River Junction’s new Tupelo Music Hall to witness the CD release party of Bow Thayer & Perfect Trainwreck’s second CD, “Bottom of the Sky.”

I’m sorry if ‘blown away’ is an oft-used word in anyone’s language, much less a music reviewer’s, but I was. Bow walks out on stage and picks out an instrument from a rack, in this case a five string electric banjo, the round skin framed by two menacing black cutaways, looks down at the floor, presses down one of his effect pedals, and with Jeff Berlin’s drums setting the pace launches into one of the many infectious groove riff’s that are the hallmark of his songwriting. In a matter of musical seconds the rest of the six-piece band joins in like a semi truck running through its gearbox and plowing into the hearts of a full house of responsive fans.

The Perfect Trainwreck thrives on playing close to the edge of abandon yet remaining fully disciplined with seamless transitions that keep every song sudden and vital. One second it’s down and dirty, reeling, careening and the next it’s uplifting or melodic. Unpredictable might be an understatement, but Bow’s songwriting is always one step ahead.

The lineup that night included: Jeremy Moses, Curtis power bass and spot on vocal harmonies; James Rhor’s serendipitous lyrical piano or organ washing over all like musical mortar; Bethelite Jeff Berlin’s impeccable drumming, intuitive and unmerciful when called for; and Chris McGandy’s pedal steel guitar that alternately knifes across the spectrum with soaring leads or soothes the savage beast in between.

For this special night, former Bender’s bandmate Jabe Beyer played insightful electric guitar with candor while adding passionate vocal harmonies as well. Tim Mickowitz is their live mixing engineer who adds special effects and assures that every note is heard.

Then there is Bow forging new territory on electric banjo and running the core of the grooves with his two electric guitars or flaming out his own leads when space and time allowed.

A Live Recording

Such inventive arrangements were, no doubt, the result of extensive rehearsals for recording “Bottom of the Sky” live at Levon Helm Studios in Woodstock, N.Y. Tracking live is no small feat although it seems to be more and more prevalent as an antidote to today’s sometimes-sterile digital over-dubbing studio environment. In the recording, Bow’s vocals have never sounded better, often changing texture from one line to the next, gritty and direct. His lyrics run deep one moment and ride loose and free the next, never taken seriously when they don’t need to yet plenty to hang your hat on when you do.

As Bow himself said about the title track “Bottom of the Sky”: “We know it means something, but we’re still not sure what that is.”

The engineering and mixing by producer Justin Guip is executed at the highest level in full, rich, old-school tone. Speaking of which, the proceeds from their CD sales will go to releasing a vinyl LP edition, a move that is sure to reach discerning music fans of the new underground.

National touring artist and a rising alt-country star Jeffery Foucault opened the evening with his band Cold Satellite, which was also celebrating an album release. Their pure artistry danced on the edge of shimmering ballads to cold metal country rockers highlighted by Foucaults “stop-you-dead-in-your–tracks” vocals.

Forgive me again for not finding a better way to say this, but Bow Thayer and Perfect Trainwreck have a major hit on his hands here. It's Triple A radio-ready without one ounce of compromise to be heard—anywhere. They laid it down on record and can play it on stage, as they did last Saturday.

As the lyrics from “Epitome” proclaim:

“I can see your galaxy’s on fire. “

For this band, right now, it is.