W T Feaster, Green Hotel (Kinross), Kinross, Kinross

Description:

The natural habitat of WT Feaster is a barroom somewhere in Indianapolis. They do tear-‘em-up blues songs that imperceptibly shift into the soul vernacular. It’s a timeless sound, which is to say, very old, so it comes as a surprise to find that guitarist/singer Travis Feaster is a mere 27 years young. Evidently this is time enough to absorb the finer aspects of the great guitar tradition, from T-Bone Walker to Jimi Hendrix, and to deliver songs of bruised love and romantic loss with conviction and charisma.

The rhythm section of drummer Jake Iseminger and bassist Austin Shearer share Feaster’s precocity. The latter started playing bass at 16 and is a solid, versatile anchormen. However, Shearer was a late starter in comparison with Iseminger, who was given a set of drums for his seventh birthday, and had absorbed the rhythms of blues, Motown, funk, jazz and hip hop before high school.

It’s Feaster’s thrillingly emotive guitar that provides the compelling focus of the band. He combines power with grace, and makes every note count. The band’s debut album, Long Overdue, is not out in the UK, but tracks can be sampled on their MySpace site.