Almost like it was meant to be, the weather decided to cooperate as, Southern California based, Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys made their way to upstate NY for a show at the Hangar On The Hudson. Fortunately, their Drummer Ricky McCann was able to make to their show the previous night in Sellersville, PA, as his flight from London to NYC was cancelled forcing him to miss their show in NYC. Luckily, Shaun Young, High Noon frontman, was able to fill in. Now, at the Hangar, and Ricky able to get some actual rest, the band was up to their normal high standards. Throughout their set, the genial Big Sandy entertained the audience with a mix of Fly-Rite songs and stories extolling the talents of the Fly-Rites.
Of course, much of the show was a highlight reel of their 3 plus decades of Western Swing, with such mainstays as “Hot Water,” “Heaven Is The Other Way” and one of my favorites, the latin tinged “Spanish Dagger.” There were a few additions to the set list, such as “Bad News.” While it’s always wonderful to hear these songs, the part of the show that gets me in the heart is Big Sandy’s ode to Freddy Fender with “Wasted Days And Wasted Nights” and “Before The Next Teardrop Falls” from their Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys “Sing and Play The Songs Of Freddy Fender” EP he released a few years ago. This also gets to me after seeing Big Sandy sing with original Texas Tornado players Augie Myers and the late Flaco Jimenez in Austin, Texas as part of the 2024 Ameripolitan Award Show. As always, the main set ended with “Chalk It Up To The Blues” while inviting a bunch of people up to the stage to sing back up “ooooh Chalk Chalk.”
Opening the show were local Honky Tonk favorites, The AMs, who put on a master class on songwriting, as their entire set were originals, all of which sounded great. With frontman Steve Hammond doing triple duty as lead guitarist, steel guitarist and most of the vocals, with rhythm guitarist “Pony” Dan Prockup stepping to the mic for a couple of songs. Adding to the harmonies was drummer Dave MacDonald. New to the band, bassist Will Fredette sat nicely in the pocket, especially considering, other than practicing, this was his first gig with the band. My only regret is that I got talking and totally forgot to pick up their new album, available Bandcamp.
The crowd may have been a little less than I have seen before for Big Sandy, but it was not small by any means. It did, however, allow a little room for the dance floor, which got ample use for both bands. I was disappointed the last time Big Sandy & His Fly-Rites were in town as I was out on the west coast, so, basically, while they were in my home area, I was in theirs. Although, I must admit, the true highlight of the evening came as I was saying goodnight when I got to do an acapella duet with Big Sandy on Ken Boothe’s “When I Fall In Love” at the bar, a song he introduced me to, years ago.
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