Submit to the Soul Tub!

The California Honeydrops have a bunch of secret weapons. The New Orleans–driven hot blues group has the trumpet of Lech Wierzynski, for one: It’s fast, and mean, and pretty. Then there’s the Soul Tub. This is a gutbucket bass, a true folk instrument devised out of rope, buckets, and broomsticks by porch-sitting musicians long ago. The original ones were made from galvanized washtubs, but keeping true to the spirit if not the letter of homemade instrument making, the Soul Tub (also the name of the group’s CD) is made out of a regular white plastic food-service bucket. It’s usually held down by Nansamba Ssensalo, whose vocal harmonies are another of those secret weapons. Chris Burns’ barrelhouse piano, Ben Malament’s drums: The arsenal is deep, explaining why the Honeydrops are so routinely adored by stylish twentysomethings abandoning their cares and dancing like crazy people.
Fri., Feb. 27, 8 p.m., 2009