The Vipers open with an instrumental that immediately lets you know that these guys mean business. This is the second to last date on a tour of the UK and Ireland and they are tight. With players like Jimmy Roy and Stephen Nikleva (both veterans who played with Ray Condo) in the band you wouldn’t expect otherwise. Add to that a subtle, swing rhythm section and you have one hot band; a band fronted by the man known as Petunia - a legend in the making. He draws inspiration from his travels and all the music he has heard and funnels it into a meaty stew of country music that leaves a lasting impression. In a two hour set they played 29 songs, including encores, that covered songs like the yodel fuelled The Cricket Song, the hopped up Maybe Baby Amy, The Ballad Of Handsome Ned - all self written - alongside classics like Stardust, including all the tracks from their self-titled album. This master class also included Petunia solo and turns at the mike from each of the band members bar drummer Marc who sang harmony throughout.
Steelie Jimmy Roy sang a wonderful Crazy Arms, a song "written by one of my favourite steel players Ralph Mooney" he informed us. He also sang White Lightening with Petunia and the audience joining in on the chorus. Bassist Patrick Metzger sang a song that Petunia had written with his first band, a bluegrass band as it happens, while the versatile Petunia played the upright bass. Other songs in the set included Folsom Prison Blues for which Petunia placed a bank note under the strings of his acoustic guitar for that authentic boom-chick-boom Cash sound. His voice adapted to a lower range with ease. He also gave us a great version of Marty Robbins Big Iron as well as versions of Fever and Hadacol, the latter about the infamous Hank William-touted cure-all mixture. Their song choices suggest that these guys could do anything from the canon of good traditional country music with ease and panache. Marc L'Esperance’s drumming show exactly how you can drive the music without dominating it, something a lot of drummers now playing country music can't do.
More than once Petunia encouraged the audience to get up a shake a tail feather as it would "help us out and help you out". That didn't happen, but the audience was very receptive and loved the show, which ended with a five song encore that had Jimmy, Marc and Stephen all taking turns on lead vocal. The songs included Can't Find the Doorknob, the Jimmy and Johnny hit as well as Hank's My Bucket's Got A Hole In It and they finished with their own Mercy. A great night, a great band and great music.