Billy the Squirrel swings from Bluegrass to Funk to Jam at the Bottleneck

Last night was a pleasant surprise. A friend of mine mentioned being excited for a show at the Bottleneck, so I looked it up on Lawrence.com, and saw that The Werks and Billy the Squirrel were playing.
After watching one of my favorite movies, American Psycho, with some friends down the street, I went up to the Bottleneck and found a whole ton of friends at the front of a small crowd in the Bottleneck. Billy the Squirrel was just starting to play, and despite the low turn-out at 10:30, my friends were getting down.

Billy the Squirrel has the right guys, with the right instruments to play all kinds of music. With a banjo, mandolin, guitar, electric bass, and drums, the band is an earful of harmonies, rhythms and beats.

The songs started off mostly bluegrass. It was easy to shake around to, and with PBR cans only 1.50, it was the perfect drinkin' show. Then the tunes took a funky turn. Standing back, marveling at all my friends dancing in the center of the floor, I saw everyone suddenly get a little more excited. Jumping in, we danced around like we were at the perfect jam-band's concert. Our whole crew had plenty of room, front and center to dance together and see and hear the band, while the rest of the crowd watched from the bar and the bleachers. It was great having lots of room to dance, without the venue being terribly empty either. And this might interest you guys out there - although it's normally a 60-40 ratio of boys to girls, the Bottleneck was having a rare opposite-day, with more pretty girls than dudes, which was a nice change.

The songs switched from jam to funk to bluegrass again, and every one of them was fun. Sadly, the cool kids were all retiring early for the night, so we split before The Werks played. I have no idea if they were good.

Tonight is a very exciting show: Mouth is celebrating its first Band Birthday at the Jazzhaus. Lawrence.com says it will start at 9, and cost $4. Their dance, funk, jam songs always get the crowd dancing and smiling. It may actually get uncomfortably crowded at the small venue. But there's no doubt it will be fun! See you there!