LIVE: Wayne “The Train” Hancock @ The Hangar, 9/30/15

Review and photographs by Ed Conway

By now, pretty much everyone knows about The Hangar, the honky tonk bar across River Street from the Ale House in Troy. It was the perfect setting for the recent concert by Wayne “The Train” Hancock.

Backed by an outstanding group of musicians, Hancock, on his acoustic guitar, did a full two-set show for the appreciative crowd. The band was made up of the twin-lead guitar attack of Greg Harkins and Bart Weiburg, two musicians with different styles who blended nicely with each other. Rose Sinclair held up her end exceptionally well on steel guitar. And keeping the beat – rather than a drummer – was upright bassist Jimmy Duvall. It was clear from the looks and smiles on the musicians were not just entertaining the audience, but also each other at the same time.

Hancock is another in a line of honky tonk players who eschews the new brand of “country music.” His music has the same raw grittiness of the country music I grew up on. His songs run the gamut from rockabilly to old-time country, a style of music he calls Juke Joint Swing, but easily fits in the category coined by Dale Watson as Ameripolitan.