The Gourds

Austin-based roots rock act The Gourds has a sound that falls squarely between the jammier efforts of the Wakarusa set and the more Americana fare of, say, the Bend Studio set. And while that certainly endears The Gourds' sound to both crowds, it also places it just outside of each fan base's comfort zone. If only The Gourds had a monster hit of some sorts to call its own...

Actually, The Gourds have that hit. The band struck gold (well, as far as cover songs go) when it rearranged and recorded Snoop Dogg's "Gin and Juice" as a jammed-out Americana take. Only, uh, one problem: The song rose to popularity during the apex of the Napster era. And, as the song got swapped about the file-sharing program, its information got jumbled a la a playground game of telephone. Before long, the majority of the band's "Gin and Juice" files had been inaccurately classified as the work of other acts (and, most commonly, as a Phish one-off). Needless to say, the song's become something of a love/hate thing for the band: It's The Gourds' biggest hit, but few people know that it's theirs. And perhaps understandably as a result, the band doesn't play it as often as it used to. Luckily, the rest of the band's catalog will be right up the alley of the pot-smoking, cowboy hat-wearing crowd you can expect to attend this show.