Munly & The Lee Lewis Harlots
August 12th, 2002 / Bumpers

As you probably know, we @ Birdman only do live music concerts with bands that we dig and come out of it with nothing other than a few pints, our (more or less) good health, and a fun music experience. Therefore, generally when we speak of them in the aftermath, we are praisin’ the “glory bees knees” out of ‘em. Fair enuff you’d say, but by golly, if I (and many others) didn’t attest to this show being something almost downright religious, there would be no justice. Frankly I was almost afraid to try this review ‘cause I don’t think I can describe just how awesome it was.
Unfortunately most of Ottawa dropped the ball on this one, I’d make the usual excuses for y’all but…I just won’t bother. Munly, one of the key ingredients to Slim Cessna’s Auto Club rolled into town one warm & sleepy Monday eve with his band and other Smooch record crew to perform the finest show Bumpers and most all of Ottawa has had privilege to see in quite some time. The Multi-talented Jay Munly on guitar, banjo & vox accompanied by two lovely violinists and a cellist, upright bassist and drummer, played a generous set of beauts that transformed the room into musical paradise. Haunting and angelic, Clever and mature, roots country meets a brand of gothic folk classical delicacy kinda grazes the target, but the uniqueness of Munly’s gift is difficult to summarize. Luckily, they seemed to have a decent enuff time, so perhaps we’ll get another chance in the future. All that and a kick-ass merch spread to boot, Munly’s got four killer discs available and they just keep getting’ better. Do yourself a favor and track some down. Expect “Jimmy Carter Syndrome” on my and Mat Moutard’s top picks of the year list….and to all you beautiful Denverites, thanx for the sonic bliss. - aardvark