But Blue Cactus don’t do much of that sassy verse-trading that was a signature of those songs. You might think of classic duets between George Jones and Tammy Wynette, or Loretta Lynn and Conway Twitty, Buck Owens and Rose Maddox, Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton, or maybe Glen Campbell and Tanya Tucker. Stewart and Arnez were drawn to golden country from the ‘60s and ‘70s, with a residual hint of honky-tonk swagger, along with the growing sophistication of lush production touches, and countrypolitan flourishes that followed.
“It really is about the grittiest heartache.” “That’s what a lot of the thematic element is in the great classic country,” Stewart said. Drinking songs and truck songs and hometown songs are often just a way of leading back to the same subject. Country music is especially good at devising thematic permutations to cover all the varieties of heartsickness. Or, at least, people never grow tired of singing about it and listening to songs about romantic turmoil, faded love, somebody doing somebody wrong, or just crying from lonesomeness. I spoke with Arnez and Stewart by phone recently from their home in Chapel Hill.
15, with Sinners & Saints, and Vilai Harrington & the Hamptones. They’ll play Petra’s in Charlotte on Feb. The band functions as a duo much of the time at live outings, though their studio material is wonderfully fleshed out with a rhythm section, pedal steel and impressively restrained tempos. They had been through breakups of long-term relationships when they began working on the material that made up Blue Cactus’ self-titled 2017 debut. The singing pair of Mario Arnez and Steph Stewart had worked together in another project, a string band, before forming Blue Cactus. But it is one of their areas of expertise. The song is a worthy tribute to Gainesville’s finest, as the band are a worthy addition to the Americana landscape.Blue Cactus, a retro-tinged country band from Chapel Hill, don’t only sing about heartbroken pain. Like Mr Petty, they tell us that ‘the waiting is the hardest part’, even namechecking the man as a story of lost love unfolds. Roses kicks in with some heavy, screaming guitar.
Doing it The Wrong Way is a fine reflective tune, it even sneaks in some Fool on the Hill style keys into the dropout to highlight the band’s wider influences and skills. A big chorus implores the girl to ‘come on, come on’ to overcome her fears and get back with the guy. Opener Answering Machine kicks things off in fine style. Added to this are a handful of flourishes, plus musical dips and skips that demonstrate some solid songwriting chops, along with salutary nods to fellow Floridian, the sadly departed Tom Petty. Whiskey in the Pines have blended together twanged, fuzzed up Americana with the caress and subtlety of introspection in the quieter places. All of which is a roundabout way of getting to the point – this is a fine, fine seven track E.P. They say that their state capital home is two hours from the nearest sun-kissed beach, so there’s little theme parking, surfing or bikini-clad girl watching in this six track E.P. Straight outta Tallahassee, Florida are Whiskey in the Pines, a ¾ bearded combo headed up by singer and principal songwriter David Lareau.
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