We know D.C. Get our free newsletter to stay in the know.
TUESDAY
“We’re all as crazy as a bunch of fox squirrels,” said Jerry Lee Lewis back in the ’50s of his Sun Records brethren, but he could have been talking about an entire generation of Southern farmboys who juiced up the old blues and country forms into the concoction known as rockabilly. Like punk, it demanded more attitude than musicianship, but even more important were the working-class, Bible Belt roots of its practitioners (excepting for Jack Scott, who hailed from the North.) What remains a mystery is how aging rockabilly legends manage to rave on so convincingly in a musical style that’s supposed to be all about raging hormones. Not only Lewis, but lesser figures like the late Charlie Feathers, Billy Lee Riley, and Ronnie Dawson have made records in their 50s as vital as the red-hot singles that launched their careers. Known as the “Blond Bomber” from Waxahachie, Texas, Dawson had a regional hit with “Rockin Bones,” later memorably covered by the Cramps. The Payola scandal sabotaged a promising future, and he spent several decades playing country rock and commercial jingles. His comeback was spurred by a British rockabilly fanatic, and he’s recorded three albums in England that deserve their laudatory reviews. His latest, Live! At The Continental Club captures a particularly crazed show in Austin, further proof that rockabilly is by no means dead as long as the original rebels like Dawson are still around. Steve Owen opens at 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 13, at Iota, 2832 Wilson Blvd., Arlington. $10. (703) 522-8340. (Eddie Dean)