Mountain Stage performance serves as homecoming for Michael Cerveris and Loose Cattle
By Matthew Young, RealWV
Huntington played host to a “Hollywood homecoming” of sorts last weekend, as the Jewel City welcomed back two of its favorite sons.
Film and television legend Brad Dourif was in town for a special screening of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” at the Foundry Theater, while Tony and Grammy Award-winner, and Screen Actors Guild Award-nominee Michael Cerveris brought his New Orleans-based band, Loose Cattle, to The Loud. Rumor has it that the two Huntington boys met up for a spaghetti dinner at Jim’s before their respective engagements.
For Loose Cattle, Sunday presented a different type of homecoming, as members headed east to Charleston to appear – as part of an insanely stacked lineup – on Mountain Stage. But while all members of Loose Cattle have appeared separately on the program in the past, Sunday marked their first performance on the show as a band.
“This is a really unusual Mountain Stage bill, where there’s so many cross-overs of people who have worked together before, and people who have been influenced by each other,” Cerveris said, while speaking with RealWV prior to the show.
Guitarist Jay Gonzalez, who previously performed on Mountain Stage as part of the Drive By Truckers, expanded on that sentiment, calling the experience “buddy vibes.”
“That’s the thing I love about both the Truckers and this, it’s like we’re all just kinda loose rock bands,” Gonzalez said. “When I listen to the show, I love it. But it’s always so perfect. I think, in particular, tonight’s show is gonna be a lot more forgiving, as far as clamming it up, and stuff like that.”
“But it’s so much fun,” Gonzalez added. “Also, just the culture that’s involved in it. It’s really a lot of fun.”
In addition to Loose Cattle, Sunday’s Mountain Stage lineup featured The Baseball Project – which includes members of R.E.M. and the Dream Syndicate – The Minus 5, Bob Mould, and Chris Stamey. And whether despite the familiarity or because of it, Cerveris was excited to see them all.
“I’ve played guitar for Bob (Mould),” Cerveris explained. “Anytime I get to hear him play, I love it. I love his new records, but I also really love when he plays stuff that I used to play with him.”
“I’ve never seen the Baseball Project Live,” Cerveris continued. “I’ve seen the various pieces of the band, but I’ve never seen them play all together, so I’m really excited about that, too.”
“And then there’s Chris Stamey, who I’ve never seen,” Cerveris added. “I think people are in for a really cool concert.”
While Loose Cattle co-vocalist Kimberly Kaye was unable to make the band’s Mountain Stage appearance for health reasons, performing members on Sunday included Cerveris and Gonzalez, keyboardist C.R. Gruver, bass player Rene Coman, and drummer Doug Garrison.
Playing fiddle for the band was Rurik Nunan, whose other musical talent came as a surprise to the rest of the group.
“When we met Rurik, we hit it off immediately,” Cerveris said. “We were only looking for somebody who could play the fiddle. It was a couple of gigs before we learned that he also sang. And not only sang, but sang beautifully. So we started doing more three-part harmony stuff.”
For his part, Nunan shared his happiness over being in the Mountain State with Cerveris.
“It’s pretty exciting for a couple reasons,” Nunan said. “Just for what it is and the history of it, but also because we’re here with Michael, who is a native son of West Virginia. That’s pretty cool.”
Originally formed by Cerveris and Kaye, Loose Cattle has experienced some understandable changes on the road to becoming the band it is today.
“We’ve found all kinds of different people who were wonderfully talented musicians, but this particular bunch of people has really jelled as a band,” Cerveris noted. “I think we’ve evolved because of their contributions. We’re really now hitting our stride.”
After their Mountain Stage performance, Cerveris told us, Loose Cattle will be headed home to New Orleans, for some much needed downtime.
“This (Mountain Stage) is kind of the peak we’ve been building up to,” Cerveris explained. “After this we’re all headed back to New Orleans.”
The band will work to support their recently-released single, “Unholy Rollers,” Cerveris noted, adding that they also hope to be in the studio, recording new material in the near future.
“We’ll be sticking close to home for the next few months,” Cerveris said, expressing his hope that the down period will allow Kaye time to recover, and rejoin the band.
Mountain Stage will be live from the Culture Center once again on October 5, with Jim Lauderdale & The Game Changers, Aaron Lee Tasjan, Lilly Hiatt, Joachim Cooder, and Sons of Town Hall. For tickets, visit mountainstage.org.
To learn more about Loose Cattle, or to hear music from their new album, “Someone’s Monster,” visit loosecattleband.com.
