This Southern-style band will rock again!
A Brooklyn band with a sound out of the Mississippi Delta will wrap up its nationwide tour with a hometown show this weekend. Blues rockers Daddy Long Legs will stop at Greenpoint’s Brooklyn Bazaar on July 14, playing tunes from the new album “Lowdown Ways.”
The band’s frontman and founder said he created the group’s unique, boot-stomping style of music to stand out from the pack of bands playing CBGB-style rock ‘n’ roll.
“The scene was saturated with people doing that, and I wanted to bring something fresh to the table,” said Brian Hurd — so he drew on the music of his childhood in St. Louis, Missouri.
“I know the roots music that comes from my home,” he said. “I wanted to take the Delta blues and gospel and infuse that into the high-energy rock thing that we’ve got going on.”
Hurd began playing his harmonica at house parties and busking on sidewalks, and soon added guitarist Murat Akturk and drummer Josh Styles to the mix.
The band formed in 2010, and “Lowdown Ways” is its third album. Over the years, their sound has become richer and more expansive, said Hurd.
“It was super bare bones and stripped down, just a juke blues trio,” he said. But on the new album, “we’ve added some organ, some gospel, and I’m playing a bit more guitar. We’re still exploring whatever the hell it is we do, this Daddy Long Legs thing.”
He describes “that thing” as “rock and roll salvation through the spirit of roots and blues,” and it has gotten a huge response. The concert on July 14 will be the band’s 70th show this year, and after a few days rest, the band will be off to Europe for another tour, said Hurd.
In the years since the band formed, Brooklyn has a developed traditional roots music scene centered on Red Hook’s Jalopy Theater. But Daddy Long Legs is still doing something different, said Hurd.
“We take the traditional sound and turn it on its ear,” he said. “We’re an electric band, and we’re trying to push the music forward — put a modern spin on the Delta blues.”
Daddy Long Legs at Brooklyn Bazaar (150 Greenpoint Ave. between Manhattan Avenue and Franklin Street in Greenpoint, www.bkbaz
