Rex Hobart solo performance
Mike's Tavern
07.22.2001

Review by Cody Simms

The worst part about Rex Hobart's show on Sunday night at Mike's Tavern was the chocolate birthday cake-and it was damn good. Getting ready to saddle up for a west coast tour with his band, the Misery Boys, Rex took the stage in all his boots-and-belt-buckle glory on Sunday night to sing his heart out alone on his birthday. Three hours later, he had accomplished just that (though judging by his lyrics, his heart has fallen victim to more than just being sung out-women, beer, whiskey, and women again must have all had a piece of it at some point).

Rex Hobart has infused the Kansas City music scene with a little bit 'a honky-tonk. Unlike most No-Depression bands, there is nothing "alt"-country about his act at all. It is good old Buck Owens and Merle Haggard classic country, only deemed alternative or underground because it is too country-ish-and not nearly glamorous enough-for the modern Nashville marketing department, er, music scene. Rex comes from a punk background, but the Misery Boys' music is far from being tongue-in-cheek country or even a campy country imitation. When the full band is performing, they have a well-rounded and sincere sound, true to the music that they are playing. Sans band on Sunday, Rex was able to get the audience to focus on country music's true instrument of choice: its personal, story-like element.

With every other word sung through clenched teeth, Rex crooned about how he was stuck "between a rock and a heartache." He warned that "here comes nothing, and she's looking pretty good." And he pleaded to someone to "make me hate you before you go." Musically and lyrically, he may be reinventing the wheel a bit, but he does it so damn well that who really cares?

After a few (quite a few) drinks, a down-and-dirty knee-slappin' cover of Poison's glam-rock anthem "Every Rose Has Its Thorn", the aforementioned birthday cake (which got passed around the bar), and some more tearjerkers, Rex left his microphone and amp on stage and took a seat in the audience, ending up at a nearby booth. As the show ended, it seemed as though Rex had somehow moved us all into his basement and was finishing his set like he was just any old guy, drunk on a Sunday night and spending his birthday playing the guitar and singing country ballads to his friends. Personal? Hell, yeah.

Rex and the Misery Boys return to KC from their tour on August 18. For more info on the band, check out http://www.bloodshotrecords.com/bands.php3?bandid=19.