The Devil Makes Three turn First Avenue into their Back Yard

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14 years into their life as a band, Santa Cruz, CA bluegrass band The Devil Makes Three decided to change things up a bit with their new album “Redemption & Ruin”. The record covers songs by artists that influenced the them covering a wide range of genres from Robert Johnson to the Andrew Sisters. Their tour stopped at the pretty full First Avenue Friday Night.

First up was Lost Dog Street Band the husband-and-wife duo of Benjamin Tod (guitarist/vocalist) and Ashley Mae (fiddle player). The band brings attitude to Lowdown Country Storytelling and started their set by dedicating the first song “September Doves” to yesterday’s inauguration – I did not catch the exact words but I don’t think I was complimentary. An interesting detail was their first trip as a band they hopped on a train out of Nashville to Minneapolis to busk on Nicollet Mall. I liked their set quite a bit.

The Devil Makes Three opened their set old school with “Bullet” from their self-titled 2002 album. The trio of Pete Bernhard, Lucia Turino, and Cooper McBean was augmented by a drummer and for some songs a fiddler. Their sounds founded in Bluegrass and incorporates many influences from other styles with rockabilly prominent a few times. The trio shares singing duties with Bernhard doing the lion’s share.
Fans were eager to see them, judging by the volume of cheers that greeting the band and the crowd’s reaction to their request to get a star on First Avenue’s exterior. I loved their light set up with some bottom lights augmenting the house lights and lightbulbs strung overhead giving First Avenue a summer backyard concert feel. I could almost smell the BBQ. The Devil Makes Three 24 song set was a nice blend of original songs and covers from “Redemption & Ruin” and made for a great show.
Set List: Bullet / Stranger / Man Trap / Face Down / Drunken Heart / Pray For Rain / Uncle Harvey’s / I’m Gonna Get High / Hallelu / Johnson Family / Chains Broken / Puppet / River Deep / Waiting Round / I’m The Man / Come On Up / Old #7 / Paul’s Song / Worse Or Better / Slide / D.W.R. Encore: Bangor / Plank / Dead Body

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