Bentley Rhodes is no stranger to rock n roll.  For almost ten years he was the drummer in the hard-drivin’ Athens, Georgia-based band Bloodkin.  Bloodkin is probably best known to some for writing such songs as “Can’t Get High”, “Henry Parsons Died”, and “Makes Sense to Me”, all of which ended up being recorded and released by another little band you may have heard of, Widespread Panic. (Rhodes even joined Panic onstage during the band’s appearance at the Pavilion back in 2005).

After having re-located from Athens to Charlottesville in recent years, Rhodes has returned to the rock n roll game as the frontman and guitarist for Earl Knox, the Crozet-based band that just made its live debut in Charlottesville this past Saturday at Rapture’s Drive-By Truckers AfterParty.  And what a debut it was.

Armed with a set list that included a handful of original songs as well as a number of solid, choice covers, Earl Knox served up a memorable hour and a half set that left little doubt that we’ll be talking about this band a great deal in the weeks and months to come.  As introductions go, they didn’t just walk through the door, they tore the door down.

[photo:  Patterson Hood (of DBT, on left mike) joins Earl Knox at Rapture]

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Backed by Jason Comfort on drums, Max Trone on bass, and Jason Coyner on lead guitar, Rhodes stepped up to the mike with his guitar strapped on and a cigarette dangling from his lips, briefly thanked the crowd for coming out, and then they lit it rip.  They kicked things off with a song from Rhodes’ rock n roll past, opening with Bloodkin’s “Birthmark”, a song I later learned that Rhodes had a hand in writing.  If straight ahead, guitar driven rock is a game of poker, then Earl Knox is playing with a full house.

If I had to stop and describe Earl Knox’s sound I’d call it the “hard-rockin’ South” and that description seems fitting when taken with the band’s choice of cover material.  They pulled out two songs from the sometimes overlooked Georgia-based band, Drivin’ N Cryin’, taking on “Can’t Promise You the World” and a blistering version of one of the band’s signature songs “Honeysuckle Blue”.  Of course one would expect that any band with such obvious southern rock influences would have to have at least one Allman Brothers’ tune in their arsenal and Earl Knox is no exception as they delivered a rarely covered version of “Don’t Keep Me Wonderin’”.

As luck would have it, I happened to run into Bentley Rhodes about twenty minutes before Earl Knox took the stage and he explained to me that the night’s set was going to be heavily weighted with cover songs because, this being the band’s first show, they wanted to give the audience something familiar.   He also mentioned that they might have a few friends show up and sit-in with the band and when their friends finally arrived, things surely became interesting.  I mean it’s not everyday that a Charlottesville band makes its live debut only to have Patterson Hood and John Neff from the Drive-By Truckers make guest appearances.

Neff joined the band initially as they plowed through Bob Dylan’s “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues” but when Patterson hit the stage and Earl Knox launched into Neil Young’s “Like a Hurricane” with Hood on vocals, well that’s about the time the hinges on the doors started coming loose.  This was turning into something more than a concert, it was becoming an event.

Not to be overlooked in this sea of songs written by other artists is the band’s own original material.  And while only four of Earl Knox’s own songs made into the night’s set list, they served to highlight the fact that this band can hold its own when it comes to writing a memorable rock song.  For me the two stand-outs were the upbeat rocker “Pulling on a Door” and the down-tempo beauty of “Oglethorpe County”.  Both bring to the fore the band’s ability to write a great song and when delivered with Rhodes’ rough-worn vocals and the band’s overall strength as musicians, these songs should signal that Earl Knox is setting itself up as a musical force to be reckoned with.  Maybe it’s a little earlier to start talking about a possible Earl Knox album, but when it arrives I’ll definitely be in line to get my hands on it.

As the night drew long a great deal of the crowd stayed right on through and Earl Knox thanked them for their commitment by pulling out two more blazing covers to end the night.  Proving there’s more to this rock n roll outfit than just its southern thang, they closed out their show with Guns N’ Roses’ “Dust N Bones” and then came back to encore with Blind Melon’s “Galaxie”.

Earl Knox has got their first show under the belt.  I can’t wait to see and hear Act 2.  If Charlottesville is in need of a little more rock n roll attitude, then Earl Knox seems poised to make that happen.

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