Cold Hard Cash Free at the New Deal

There’s no better end to a long work week than a Friday night spent with Cold Hard Cash — the men in black who sing Johnny Cash and other country hits. These local favorites were back on the stage after a triumphant performance at the .

The Johnny Cash tribute band opened with “Folsom Prison Blues,” its background bass line sounding like a chugging train. This was quickly followed by another Cash rockabilly hit, “Get Rhythm.”

Lead singer Rob Petrie introduced the next song with, “One Piece at a Time,” an amusing story about a man from Kentucky, working on the line in Detroit, who coveted a nice Cadillac. He decided to steal it  — one piece at a time in his large lunch box — with some help from a co-worker for the larger parts. The heist took 24 years!

Rob Petrie is as skilled in spinning a good yarn as he is calling up Cash’s deep, rich baritone. He recounted Cash and the Tennessee Two’s (Luther Perkins and Marshall Grant) Nashville audition for Sam Phillips and Sun Records — and then Petrie launched into Cash’s audition song, “I Was There When It Happened.”

Petrie went on to recount that after the Nashville audition, Phillips had explained that he had all of the gospel acts he needed, so Cash mentioned there was another piece the band was working on — and later when Cash played “Hey Porter,” rockabilly history was born! Petrie played it as well, weaving story and song together seamlessly.

If — as Petrie explained to the audience — Cash, Perkins, and Grant played on the “raw edge of their musical talent,” improvising as they went along, the Cold Hard Cash band members exemplified the original spirit, performing with raw talent that had been honed to fine musicianship.

Patrons were treated to this night of talent with no cover charge, as is the general policy of the New Deal Café, but listeners were encouraged to show their appreciation and to support the musicians' work through their tips.

Petrie sang a few Buck Owens tunes, and his voice notably changed to a twangier tone and higher pitch. Danny Stellabotte’s skillful rendering of the intricate rhythms of “Buck's Polka” had audience members dancing in front of the stage and marveling at his amazing picking.

Geff King sang an old George Morgan tune, “Roomful of Roses” as well as a Dave Dudley song about coffee addiction — in honor of National Coffee Day — for a change of pace, and Mark Lucas played several inspiring drum solos.

As for Greenbelter Jamie Krauk — a saucier and sexier June Carter Cash — she recreated several duets with Petrie such as “Jackson” and “Daddy Sang Bass.” Oh, what she could do with “Wildwood Flower!”

Cold Hard Cash didn’t slavishly imitate, instead it brought its own stamp — excellent musicianship, humor, pure fun and a real appreciation of the genre — to such Cash favorites as “I Walk the Line,” “Ring of Fire,” “Cocaine Blues,” and “A Boy Named Sue.” So, where and when is their next gig?