“Boots and buckles, red clay and sand. My point ain’t subtle. I’m a southern man,” are the opening lines to The Cadillac Three’s song “The South,” a country-meets-rock tune you might just catch if you stop by The Shop this Saturday.
A country show in Bushwick might seem as out of place as plaid at a black-tie event, but Dan Lyle, owner of the newish barbecue joint, thinks it “makes people feel like they’re home.” He always barbecued with some version of country or rock in the background while on his uncle’s pig farm in Indiana, and he says he’s trying to create “a little alcove here in the urban jungle where you can get a little taste of where you’re from with a big taste of Brooklyn.”
Hailing from one of the great kingdoms of music, Nashville, The Cadillac Three has been described as “Lynyrd Skynyrd meets Dierks Bentley.” They’ve toured with country star Jake Owen, have written songs for him and others like Keith Urban and Tim McGraw, and their song “I’m Rockin’” is on the Madden NFL 16 soundtrack.
“I like these younger, more like rock-n-roll country bands that are coming up now. It’s really good party music,” explained Lyle. “I call it country adjacent because a lot of the guitar licks and riffs are pretty much all rock ‘n roll with just a little bit of twang.”
Though The Shop only opened a few months ago, it’s already bringing in big names like classic ’90s country act Blackhawk, coming Sept. 13. It’s all part of Lyle’s plan to honor his childhood, and Fourth of July picnics consisting of “unlimited amounts of beer and tractors and craziness.”
While “making some spiked punch for my drunk uncle” might not be in your wheelhouse of memories, anyone can appreciate a bunch of guys in a band who manage to make trucker hats look sexy.
The Cadillac Three, Saturday, Aug. 29 at The Shop; Lizzie and The Makers at 8 p.m., The Grand Central at 9 p.m., 2/3 Goat at 10 p.m. and The Cadillac Three at 11 p.m.; tickets $20-$23.