The Bellamy Brothers at Coyote's

By Rob Greenwell

Many things have changed in twentyfive years. There have been a number of political, economic and societal problems and related changes, but one thing has stayed the same all those years: the smooth, mellow sound of the Bellamy Brothers. These guys have been putting out great music since the Carter Administration.

With the Bellamy Brothers, you are not going to get a high-tech laser light show, you're are not going to get a lot of rock cover songs, and you're are not going to get a high-energy show a la Garth Brooks. What you are going to get is a walk through history with guys who have, as the cliché goes, "been there and done that." These guys have established themselves as world-wide artists with solid bases in Europe, Japan, and Australia.

In front of an audience that wanted to hear the great sounds from the `reggae cowboys' extensive musical library, David and Howard Bellamy didn't disappoint their audience, playing a tunes from many years ago, including "Redneck Girl," "If I said you had a Beautiful Body," "Reggae Cowboy," "We Dared the Lightning," and, of course, "Let your Love Flow." They also dazzled them with new songs like their current single "Desperadoes of Love."

I think the best way to describe the feel of a Bellamy Brothers live show is to imagine sitting poolside at your Caribbean resort, with the warm breeze blowing in your face and your favorite beverage in your hand. It's this nonchalant, mellow attitude that has kept the Bellamy Brothers in the business so long. They learned the fundamentals long ago: make your music real, and make it a distraction for people to forget about life for awhile. To illustrate my point even further, nine times out of ten artists on stage will end an encore with a fast song. Not David and Howard. Their last song in the encore was a slow ballad. These guys are just easy-going mellow guys wo are great musicians, and they just put on their show just like their personalities and I, for one, am glad that people have the opportunity to go to such a show.