Muscadine Bloodline @ Tannahill’s Tavern & Music Hall – February 17,2022

Lets first start with Tannahill’s Tavern & Music Hall, the fairly new establishment, a creation of Celebrity Chef Tim Love, is in the Historic Mule alley in the Stockyards of Fort Worth. We arrived to security checking ID’s and putting wrist bands on us if we were over 21, we were then sent down a alley and not invited into the tavern as I can only assume they wanted to get us into the Music Hall. The Music Hall is a Concrete Box with a Cat walk overhead that doubles as access to VIP and has VIP tables along the edge. Having never been before I was surprised at the smaller size of it compared to the renderings I had seen. Never the less we made our way down to the pit, where if you are a fan you are happy because the fence is right up against the subwoofers, if you are security or a photographer you wish they had left a little extra space.

We arrived to Cole Chaney on stage just him and his Guitar, and though I didn’t know any of his songs he kept the crowd of I would say 800 at the time entertained. His last song he said it was a little rowdy and it was just what the crowd needed as he let out a high energy song that got the crowd moving and cheering. All in all Cole’s performance was enough that he is an artist of interest for me so you will probably hear me talk about him again.

During the intermission when we were waiting on Muscadine Bloodline to take the stage I witnessed something quite amazing. If you have ever doubt the power of Tyle Childers Little Feathered Indians before I can say it is probably now up there with good ole Sweet Caroline. The DJ put it on and the crowd ever lost in their own conversations all at once in unison sang every word of that song like he was on stage before them. It was a moment that gives you chills for sure.

Now the Music hall is a little packed, and if you are up front, you are probably going to stay there. Good news is they have a bartender in front of the stage running drinks to you. Drink prices on beer weren’t that bad either a 24oz Miller Lite will set you back about $10. Last thing on the facility before the performance coverage. The Bathrooms are clean and nice, like suspiciously clean, the soap bottles and soap come in two flavors so to speak, you have your choice of a blanco or a reposado soap out of a tequila bottle, a rather nice touch. There is only one bar and last night they had 5 bartenders and 2 barbacks working for a sold out crowd, if your goal is to get drunk at a concert this probably isn’t the venue for you.

Muscadine Bloodline took the stage and the crowd erupted, they knew every song until we reached the fourth song where they had even more people singing along but didn’t know what was going on, we all sang along to Pickup man, then Killin’ Time, then it was Queen of My Doublewide Trailer, followed by Be my Baby Tonight, and wrapping this strange tribute with It’s your Love. They then announced they have a new song dropping in one week Pocket Full of 90’s, the song itself was quite amazing, but you will have to listen for yourself when it drops.

The Crowd continued to sing along to every song and I swear I was at a Garth or George concert with the fan loyalty, but what really set me back was the age spread amongst the fans, I mean everyone from the poor 21yo to the rich 65yo knew the words. I honestly felt like I had been missing out on something and I can promise you I had been. Though the guys aren’t dancing around on stage their energy comes from their artistic prowess and their ability to convey emotion in a song. The stage pumped music out non stop for an hour and they only stopped to talk maybe twice.

An interesting element to their music is a sound the plays throughout the concert, it took me half a concert to isolate it and figure out what it was, the sound was like someone was playing a mouth harp and it was subtle in every song they played, it was cool because it tied the concert together. When I realized no man could have the stamina to play the mouth harp that long, I realized that Gary Stanton playing his guitar and the guitar player that stood out of sight most of the night unless he was shredding an epic solo, they were working their guitars in a manner to mimic a mouth harp, it was impressive to say the least.

Mid way into the show Charlie Muncaster who I would say is the default lead singer of the duo slowed things down a bit and allowed the rest of the band to catch a breather. Two slow songs was all they needed and when they came back it took just one guitar chord to get the crowd roaring back to life, you would have thought Slash was in the building or someone played the intro to Friends in Low Places.

Shortly before they ended the show the band was introduced and I was pleased to hear that the Bass Player Justin was from Fort Worth. They then rolled into Me on You which was amazing, and they wrapped the show or so we thought with Porch Swing Angel which had the crowd holding on tight to their dates, I even had one Fort Worth couple tell me and my wife that it was our lucky night if we wanted kids, quite an entertaining crowd for sure.

The band left the stage and I would say maybe 50 people left and the rest would not stop screaming until the band came back out, they eventually did and they wrapped with their song Dispatch to 16th Ave. The verdict on my part is this, Muscadine Bloodline puts on a show better than any duo I can think of in Country Music right now. Their sound is completely their own and they have everything from slow dancing songs to getting your truck stuck in a bog songs. One thing is for certain, Muscadine Bloodline has some of the kindest most loyal fans I have seen at a concert. I have been to concerts where the crowd knew the lyrics to most songs, but this crowd knew every word, tonal inflection, and they felt every emotion Charlie and Gary wanted them to feel.

Be Sure To Check Out Muscadine Bloodline on our Artist Page

Brian Sprague- Texas Country Music News