Las Vegas Weekly

March 12, 2010 · 3:42 PM

Unplugging The Clydesdale

By Spencer Patterson

The Clydesdale.

“This isn’t how we normally sound,” Clydesdale singer Paige Overton explains a tad sheepishly during her band’s Neon Reverb-opening set Thursday at the Griffin.

There’s nothing to be embarrassed about; admittedly, this music’s more ragged than the Vegas cowpunkers’ typically tight fare — most recently on display at last weekend’s Dick Dale-headlined Hard Rock Cafe bill — but there’s also no denying, the intimate setup adds a welcoming quality to their trademark twangy tunes.

It’s just the second time the Vegas foursome has gone acoustic publicly, following January’s virgin voyage at Yayo Taco — though fans might soon start seeing a lot more of the group’s stripped-down configuration. Later in the night at Beauty Bar, drummer Courtney Carroll tells us The Clydesdale are enjoying the new format, and hints at a possible acoustic album to come.

“We want Paige’s voice to stand out—that’s what everyone wants to hear, right?” she says. “This seems like a good way to do that.”

Still, going acoustic hasn’t simply meant switching instruments and perching on stools. “We originally thought we’d be able to sit down and play our songs the way they were, but when we did they just didn’t sound right,” bassist Jason Aragon says. “So we had to rewrite a lot of it. We introduced banjo on some things and different slides, and we changed some of the tempos and rhythms.”

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