Memphis Twang Comes to Door County

Last evening (Aug. 9th) at Harborside Park in Ephraim I finally found the sound I've been missing since leaving Nashville in early March: genuine twang. Delivered by Eric Lewis & Tommy Burroughs from Memphis, Tennessee, along with a local drummer & electric bassist. Those fellas dug deep, playing bluegrass/Americana from the heart & soul And a big enthusiastic crowd ate it up like spicy Southern Bar-B-Q too.

I arrived just in time to catch their cover of the Flying Burrito Brothers apocalyptic paean to LA circa 1969, "Sin City": "On the 31st floor/A gold-plated door/Won't keep out the Lord's burnin' rain..." The Dwight Yoakam/k.d. lang duet ballad-style cover of "Sin City" (from the late '80s) is pretty damn good, but Tommy & Eric's harmonies did the song proud while capturing the somber tone of the FBB original.

In addition to a couple of their own originals, Lewis & Burroughs offered inspired versions of tunes by the Grateful Dead, George Gershwin, John Hartford & The Beatles ("I've Just Seen a Face"), closing with a runaway freight train take on "Orange Blossom Special," featuring that diminutive live-wire Tommy on fiddle & lead vocal. His mandolin & guitar playing are excellent, as is Eric's guitar-picking.

Best of all, I get to hear them as a duo on Aug. 11th - and so can you, for free - at A.C. Tap, just a mile down Hwy. 57 from my Pa's place. They're also playing in Fond du Lac soon, Washington Island on Sept. 3rd & at Fishstock in Door County's Camp David on Sept. 12th. Check 'em out, y'all. Lewis & Burroughs are the real deal.