Minneapolis City Pages
April 28, 2007

A-List Pick

Andy Friedman calls what he does "art country," but he should really stick an ampersand in there somewhere. He's an artist, certainly: a painter, photographer, and former New Yorker staff illustrator, in fact. And he plays country music, no doubt: Taken Man, his second record, honors Waylon and Willie in ways other Whiskey River paddlers only dream about. But Friedman, a Williamsburger, plays it straight, and if you don't read his bio or listen closely to his lyrics ("Guys like me don't get grants") you'd miss the soul of a visual artist in his barroom drawl. He thinks they're one and the same—"When I feel like a song, I paint the blues all day/And when I feel like drawing, I sing the night away"—and maybe he's right. But in the end, his literate wit, lumberjack hollers, and flagrantly out-of-tune guitar strumming paint a striking picture of bums, bummers, and booze. And I just call that country. With the Defibulators and Two Man Gentleman Band. 21+. Free. 8:30 p.m. —Chuck Terhark