Before beginning this article I feel obliged to inform you that it borders on blatant promotion for the band.  I typically write favorable reviews, but this is because I have been fortunate enough to be working with a music scene that features a plethora of extremely talented bands.  With that being said, this review is even more favorable than usual, and for good reason.  It is my opinion that the Honky Tonk Experience are, if not the best, then one of the best country bands playing in Richmond currently.  I began the venture of covering them with that opinion already in place, and when I saw them for the article I was not disappointed in the least.

The Honky Tonk Experience is not like any other band I've covered.  For starters, they don't play any original songs.  They only play tried and true classic country masterpieces.  Their setlist reads like a catalogue of the greatest country songs ever written - "Momma Tried," "You're Cheatin' Heart," "Folsom Prison Blues"...So why, you might ask, is yours truly covering a cover band?  That is a complicated question to answer, but the gist is that they are quite literally the best cover band I have ever seen.  The complications arise when you try to pinpoint why this is.    They're not the type of cover band that sounds exactly like the original.  On the other hand, they're not the type that puts their own spin on the songs they cover.  There's just something slightly off in the way they play their songs.  If you aren't paying especially close attention you might think that each number was performed by the original band, but as soon as you start listening carefully it's obvious that it wasn't.  They don't try to mimic the original version of the song.  In fact they don't seem to try to do anything with a song other than have fun playing it.

The key to why I like this band very much resembles the reason why I like country music in general, and it can be summed up in one word: simplicity.  It might not seem like that big of a deal, but as any fan of real country will tell you it's the heart and soul of the genre.  Country music is supposed to be straight forward, uncomplicated.  It's ruined when it's overthought, and so many bands today do exactly that, whether with their own songs or old standards.  The problem is that the beauty of a country girl lies in her simplicity.  It disappears when you try to dress her up, and the same is true for country music.  It's meant to be played in barns and honkytonks.

You can tell from the name that the Honky Tonk Experience know this.  They are dedicated fans of great country music.  They understand what makes country music great.  The songs they play aren't their own, but they may as well be.  As parts of country canon, they are not one band's songs.  They belong to all true fans of country music.  Of course with such great songs it's hard to mess things up.  With the same set-list even a mediocre band could get a good crowd response.  What makes this band special is that it's obvious that this sort of crowd pandering is not what they are doing.  They play these songs because they love them and they want to share that love with anyone who will listen.  This authenticity is readily apparent the minute they start playing, even to someone with no prior interest in country music.  Several audience members told me they had never even considered listening to country before hearing the Experience.  Taken in this light it is easier to understand why they only play old classics.  So many people nowadays, even among country music fans, have no exposure to some of the musicians that made the genre great in the first place, and the Honky Tonk Experience are doing a great service to the community by keeping this music in the environment where it was meant to be, not just on records and in music archives.

In all honesty it just feels wrong to call the Honky Tonk Experience a cover band.  They aren't.  They're more of a tribute band.  A tribute, not to any one other band, but to what country music should have been.  It's just that simple.

Find them on the web at honkytonkexperience.com.

By Editing Department, Regional Editor and Author: Robin Marschak

Robin Marschak was born and raised in Richmond, but has only recently moved back after two years in California.  He loves all types of music from Jimmy Rodgers to Daft Punk to Tower of Power and all things in between.  He is currently a student at VCU and living in Oregon Hill.  Some of his favorite artists include Old Crow Medicine Show, Mark Campbell, and Steve Earl.  Other than listening to music and writing, Robin's hobbies include eating, sleeping, and an occasional guilt induced fit of exercise.  You can follow his adventures in local music on Twitter @robinmarschak, or hear some of the non-local music that he enjoys at either last.fm/user/beerdo231 or blip.fm/beerdo.

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