Who could have known, after however many years of an often tepid garage-rock revival, that what these bands really needed was a little slice of Mary J. Blige? That’s all we could think when watching The Detroit Cobras charm the crowd from one lovingly chosen cover to another on Wednesday night at JB’s. Musically, the ‘Cobras have all the hallmarks of the classic garage formula — snappy playing, guitar solos that are here and then gone, a fantastic bass player — and when they’re at their best, they’re doing something garage trainspotters might find off the menu: They’re channelling the Modern Lovers or the Velvets, who themselves were always the odd bands out in traditional garage rock, a little too weird for the room. But this is, and obviously was, always a good thing. But the ace up the Cobras’ sleeve is Rachel Nagy, whose perfectly worn, soulful voice doesn’t belt so much as it paints a classic kind of cool — one that you can draw a timeline through. The scuttlebutt at the show was that Nagy had recently left her native Detroit to make a new home here in Philly, which has always shared a lot of Detroit’s grit and true-blue-isms. If it’s true, and if Wednesday night was anything to go by, she’s among friends.

After the jump, Dan Murphy’s shots from Wednesday night’s gig at Johnny Brenda’s, plus a tune from the band.

For more photos by Dan Murphy, visit mandurphy.com.
And check out more Philebrity slideshows here.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 12th, 2009 at 12:25 pm.