Cory Branan Brings Family, Fun to White Water Tavern

by Julian Spivey
It was a night of family and fun for Memphis-based singer-songwriter Cory Branan at the White Water Tavern in Little Rock, Ark. on Saturday, February 17. The Americana/rock singer had family and friends in tow with him for a frequent visit to White Water Tavern, only about two-and-half hours from his Memphis base.

Branan’s young son would join him up on stage a few times during the night, with pop trying to get him to sing along to his tunes, with the kid only wanting to solo on his harmonica. It was easily one of the cutest concert moments I’ve ever seen and the small, but packed room got a huge kick out of it for much of the evening. It’s nice to see an artist also in the role of loving father, something you rarely see from performers, especially on stage.

I had heard the name Cory Branan before last year, but had never really taken the time to listen to his music until somehow I came across his song “Another Nightmare in America” on YouTube early in 2017 and was immediately captured by its protest of the brutality of mostly African-American men by police officers in this country, a topic that I’ve kept close attention to in the last few years. The video, which was actually filmed at White Water Tavern, was striking in its importance and in the fact that Branan put himself in the shoes of a racist officer horrifying point of view for the song. The song appeared on Branan’s terrific 2017 album Adios and ranked No. 3 on my website’s 100 Best Americana/Country Songs of 2017 list. The song would lead me to the rest of Adios like the equally impressive “Imogene,” which also cracked my website’s top 20 of the year.

Branan didn’t perform “Another Nightmare in America” on Saturday night, which was easily the biggest disappointment of an otherwise terrific show, but it was the highlight of my night when he performed “Imogene,” which includes one of my favorite verses of recent music with the adjective-laden: “You could say that I was never there enough/You could say that I’m a no-account, ne’er-do-well, roustabout, detestable, itinerant, execrable, degenerate/Fair enough/You could say that I was a waste of your time/But to say I tried to make you cry is just asinine.” You must be some damn good songwriter to fit all of that into a verse and make it sound incredible while singing it. It truly dumbfounds me every time I hear this song.

Branan’s audience at White Water Tavern, which he called his favorite place to play in the country and has seemingly played many times, was essentially a home crowd for him. I’ve basically come to Branan’s music through the fantastic Adios and need to listen to more of his back catalogue – something I should’ve done more of before Saturday’s show. The remainder of the crowd was old school Branan fans who knew songs of his he doesn’t even know how to play anymore.

Branan would play five songs from Adios throughout the night: “Imogene,” the opening “I Only Know,” “Walls, MS,” “You Got Through” and the beautifully touching and personal “The Vow,” written for and about his late father. Other than these performances the night was mostly a learning experience for me and it turned out to be terrific. Songs the rest of the audience seemed to know by heart like “Sour Mash,” “Wayward and Down” and “Tall Green Grass” would instantly become ones I knew I’d enjoy. Next time Branan comes to town I’ll probably know them by heart too.

Other nice performances throughout the night included “Spoke Too Soon,” “Crush,” “Skateland South” and the rocking “Walk Around.” There’s a nice blues-rock sound in some of Branan’s music that I enjoyed. Americana is a fantastic description of his music, which has been classified as rock and alternative country before. It’s a little bit of all that’s great mashed into one sound. It even gets punkish in places and he performed a Ramones cover during the show of “Sheena is a Punk Rocker,” changing the lyrics to “Pizza is a Punk Rocker” to the amusement of his son at one point. His song re-joined him on stage with his harmonica, but as it was approaching midnight he wasn’t in as good of a mood and spiked the harmonica on the stage when he didn’t get the solo he wanted. It was a move that was decidedly punk.

Branan’s label Bloodshot Records says of him: “Throughout his career, Cory Branan has been too punk for country, too country for punk, too Memphis for Nashville, and probably a little too Cory Branan for anyone’s damn good.” He’s a witty, intellectually conversational songwriter with a bit of an edge to his music that really captures my interest. Hopefully he’ll do the same for you. 

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