By Lyle Brooks @ FortLive.com

Funk Soul Muthas

The Wild Rooster

March 9th 2012

My first visit to the Wild Rooster coincided fortuitously with two separate yet equally fantastic events. The girls of Three Olives were out to promote new flavor variants of vodka; there are pictures in cyberspace to prove that I sampled their wares. Also, it would be my first experience of the Funk Soul Muthas.

After introducing myself to the always-smiling front Mutha, Kristin Major, we sat down for a brief chat before the group tore the roof off of the building. Accompanying her were guitarist Chris, who I am immediately told to refer to as Bird Snake. When given a nickname by a voodoo priestess, you don’t ask questions. To my right sat the group’s spiritual advisor, bass player Mike.

I learn quickly that though this configuration has only been playing together for a matter of months, all of the players have performed together for years. It is one thing to factually obtain this information, but thirty minutes later it would be viscerally confirmed by a tight electrifying performance.

“We do everything, even pop songs, with a jazz mentality. So a three-minute pop song might become ten minutes.” Mike explained their approach when melding cover songs into their musical flow on stage. “We’ve all got a background in jazz.”

With everyone I talk to I am curious about the difference between playing in Ft. Worth and Dallas. Mike tells me, “When we formed the Muthas, our soul said, ‘let’s play in Ft. Worth, where people understand us and really love music.”

Kristin adds, “In Dallas, it often felt like we were an afterthought. The biggest difference between Dallas and Ft. Worth, its much more of a family.” The three of them immediately begin listing names of folks that they have enjoyed jamming with, including Big Mike Richardson, Josh Weathers, and Sam Anderson. 

We discuss my move from Austin a few months back, to which my new spiritual advisor assured me, “If you find yourself in Ft. Worth, and you’re not sure how you got here, you were probably called by a higher power.”

With that, it was time for the Muthas to sound check and start the party up. As they kick off the set I reflect on Coltrane’s mammoth re-imagining of “My Favorite Things” by Rodgers and Hammerstein. The transformation of the tune occurs not just with the player, but also in the atmosphere between them and the audience.

Cutting into “The Weight,” Mike and Kristin rip the soul out of an old favorite. I hear particles of The Band and Aretha Franklin, but ultimately once the song swells the Muthas have taken possession of a song I first heard on the back of the bus in middle school.

Bird Snake coaxes his cohorts along as they build a magnificent tower to the soul Babel. Like Girl Talk and his glitchy-pop mashups, the fluidity with which the Muthas can string bits from different songs together adds to the thrill.

The dance party revs up the jubilation as the dirty walk of Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition” creeps into our bones. “Smitty’s getting crazy,” the drummer, gets an evocative shout out after a tidal wave of a fill.

Riding that energy, Kristin muscles her voice out in front with Adele’s “Rolling in the deep.” With that unexpected transition, even the girls from Three Olives were dancing whilst trying to pawn off milky booze made to taste like cereal remnants.  Bird Snake’s guitar cuts across, scoring the tune with an almost punk edge.

In rides the Southern soul of The Allman Brothers’ “One Way Out,” rife with handclaps and a nasty blues break down. As the musical mélange unfolds, you find yourself rooting for the unexpected turn. “The Race is On” originally done by The Possum, George Jones, bursts forth with a rocket attached to its back, scorching through the building.

It becomes difficult to define where one song ended and the other began, running the Temptations, Digital Underground, Snoop Dogg, En Vogue into one another. They take these songs we remember and transform them into meditations of musical spirit.

“The ultimate thing for a Jam band is to lose track of the original song." And lost we all were as the Muthas took control. No matter your style of music, find a show, you won’t be disappointed.