by MAX ROOKS

It’s amazing what one artist will do to open you to others. Thanks to MJ Lenderman suddenly becoming the talk of every local record store and indie music subreddit, the almighty algorithm started recommending to me what it would consider similar groups. I was already aware of acts like OLDSTAR, UNCLE TUPELO, DRIVE-BY-TRUCKERS and WAXAHATCHEE. One I was not already keen on was FUST, a troop of musicians from Durham, NC that had recently released a new project produced by Alex Farrar entitled “BIG UGLY.” After spinning the first song off that record on Spotify (I know, gross), I ran to Bandcamp and copped a CD. On my way to their Bandcamp page, I saw that they were scheduled to play The Blue Room here in Nashville on April 17th.

Just like that, I was 37 bucks poorer and posed at Jack White’s little fun house to see a possible contender for my new favorite band. Before the show even started, I spotted some local Nashville musicians slipping in and out of the green room. I’ve only been living in the city for a year since moving up from central Mississippi, so I’m sure that there were more that I didn’t recognize. Next to the bar was a man spinning 45s of Guy Clark and Warren
Zevon songs. A group behind me were discussing a killer Bob Dylan cover they had heard at a bar. I knew I was in the right place.

First to take the stage was local heroes STYOFOAM WINOS, a group that I’m sure everyone reading is already aware of. I’ve been fortunate enough to see individual members perform small solo sets, but this was my first experience seeing the group at full strength. In between every song, at least one member would swap instruments with another. Each song was so authentic and homespun, each member having their own distinct voice within the universe of the band. I left their opening set incredibly impressed and thankful that I had wound up in a city with homegrown talent like what I had just listened to.

As FUST took the stage, the audience stood at attention to take in every word out of lead singer Aaron Dowdy’s mouth. Once the reserved opening track was out of the way, The Blue Room turned into a rowdy southern bar like the ones my dad and I had stood in dozens of times catching local bands singing for drinks and tips. Dowdy’s lyrics are specific, referencing names and places casually throughout. The stories he tells in each song feel
like they’re pulled from front porches and kitchen tables all over the somewhat forgotten towns of the South. Along with the writing, the band would routinely take instrumental breaks to allow guitar effects to ring out and create a wave of sound to carry the audience to the next song like passengers on a ship. I came there alone, but I did not feel like it.

Dowdy would stop occasionally to engage with the crowd, field an audience member yelling about his George Jones t-shirt, or another one shouting out “LOCUST” in reference to what Dowdy considers the best Bob Dylan album (New Morning is really good, I have to admit). The Winos even came back on stage to perform “THE MAN IN ME” with the band. By the end of the final song, the audience was smiling as wide as the band on stage. FUST puts everything into the show they are performing, and the audience in Nashville gave back just
as much.

FUST is my favorite band. That claim has only become clearer in the time since I started writing this. Hell, this is the first band I’ve shown
my dad and even he likes them! I can’t wait to see them again when they come to town in support of S.G. Goodman, and I hope I can snag one of those beer-colored vinyl if they ever restock. Long live country writers making rock music! And thanks to the Instagram algorithm for putting me on, I guess it’s good for something.