By David O’Neill
They say the years go faster the older you get, and this could well be true, as it seems like nothing more than a hot minute since I first came across comparative musical pubescents (well, they’re celebrating 13 years together as a band in 2024) The Cadillac Three, and I was delighted to reacquaint myself with these three fine southern chappies as they pulled into Cardiff for the penultimate night of their latest whistlestop of this ‘ere li’l ol’ Uber Kingdom…
As with the rest of the ‘The Years Go Fast’ tour, Jaren, Kelby and Neil were joined in Cardiff by Stephen Wilson Jr and Willy Cobb (cousin of Brett Cobb). Whilst the former has a fair selection of music on streaming platforms (and an album, ‘Son of Dad’, released last year), there was very little to find on ‘Wild’ Willy Cobb’s music. He recently toured the ÜK with Chris Shifflett, so I guess he is no minor player in the American country rock scene. Added to that is the fact that Jaren has been producing his music, and both Jaren and Neil played on stage with him for his set… well, watch this space.
With his shoulder length blonde hair and white wraparound sunglasses, his first appearance struck me as a bit of a cross between Kurt Cobain and Garth from Waynes’ World. His 20 minute set was a mix of grunge/country/rock and alt rock, so a bit of an unusual combination. His energy (on the rather cramped stage) was infectious. I found the musical offering to be a bit unusual and not quite what I was expecting. However, from other information I have found, this appears to be his direction of travel at this point in time.
If you wanted a counterpoint to that then Stephen Wilson Jr came on stage in a baseball cap brandishing an acoustic guitar, looking every bit a southern musician. He was supported on stage by Scotty Murray on slide guitar, who looked every bit country, with his long hair, Stetson and dark glasses. However, it was initially difficult to understand what Stephen Wilson was saying, in part due to his accent, partly because the sound wasn’t quite right but mainly because he had a tendency to speak without moving his mouth. It reminded me a bit of when Elvis used to speak on stage in later years, a bit mumbly and the most people got from Elvis was “Than you vry mush”.
Anyway, the sound improved when he started playing, he was a really accomplished acoustic guitarist, and used his pedal board to very good effect as a booming kick drum throughout the set that really shook the walls. Kicking off with ‘Billy’ from his ‘Son of Dad’ album, the hookline of “you can call me Billy, but the hills come with me” was soon picked up by the sellout crowd. The acoustic sound was really well supported by the slide guitar playing of Murray. Following this with ‘Cuckoo’ espouses the demise of many trials and tribulations of life and its effect on mental health driving you all cuckoo.
The cover of Nirvanas’ ‘Something In The Way’ was a reference to his early days listening to grunge before he discovered his style, which I have to say is quite unique. He struts around the stage between vocal sections plucking and strumming his guitar. He has obviously recently lost his father as the retrospective ‘Father’s Son’ was an emotional reflective on his father’s influence on himself as a person, his attempt to not become his father and the recognition that we all have these influences on us.
‘Year To Be Young 1994’ is another personal reflection on what made him before the culmination of the set with Holler from the holler. The crowd loved it and shouted to find out if he was coming back anytime soon! To which he replied “Yep, in the Autumn”.
The headliners TC3 came on to rapturous applause and cheers. Kelby Ray led the way to his slide set up stage left with Jaren perching in the small centre stage pocket and Neil perched on his drum riser stage right. Whilst I have been in the pit for the band previously this is the closest I ever been to them, the sound system at the back was so far forward that I could almost touch them all from the pit. Whilst they are not renowned for a great deal of activity on stage, Jaren had some difficulty maneuvering the small area at time.
Anyway, kicking of with ‘I’m Southern’, they had the crowd in the palms of their hands from the outset: after all they were in SOUTH Wales. Jack that up with slide and Tennessee Mojo and if anyone was in doubt what they were going to get they weren’t after these three.
Whilst the tour was titled ‘The Years Go Fast’, the majority of the set was from their older established albums. Only ‘Double Wide Grave’, ‘The Worst’ and ‘Love Like War’ were from the album of the same name. Personally, I think they missed a trick as Stephen Wilson would have been a good choice to sing along to ‘Hillbilly’!
Nevertheless, the rest of the set was sung, shouted, cheered and hollered by the sellout crowd. I for one was one of these people as the songs are catchy, have good hooks and can easily be picked up. Whilst most were upbeat, ‘Runnin Red Lights’ was well received and accompanied. They actually commented on not having performed ‘Whiskey Soaked Redemption’ previously on this tour.
Finishing up with ‘American Slang’, ‘White Lightning’ and ‘The South’, the crowd were buzzing and when the a capella end of ‘The South’ came about everyone was singing along ( I feel sorry for the people close to me, as I joined in, despite being unable to hold a note if you put it in my hands).
Great night, thank you TC3, you have been one of my go to feelgood artists since the pandemic and you have accompanied me on many of the 3500 miles I rode my pushbike through 2021 and 2022 and beyond. Hopefully meet up with you again soon…
