MUSIC: Brighton Music Hall showcases Barefoot Truth, the next big thing

The next big thing in rock ‘n’ roll just might be Barefoot Truth, the quintet from Mystic, Conn., that has built its following the new-fashioned way: on the internet.

Barefoot Truth just released its fifth album on Sept. 6, and the video for its single, “Roll If You Fall” is already a viral sensation–possibly because it shows the boys in a New Hampshire wind tunnel being buffeted by gusts up to 160 miles per hour.

But Barefoot Truth’s previous album, last year’s “Threads,” has already achieved stunning success. The Pandora online radio service recorded eight million hits for the music from that album, so even without a major label deal or much publicity, Barefoot Truth is a national phenomenon.

Thursday night the quintet performed the first of its two nights at the Brighton Music Hall, delighting a crowd of over 100 fans with an hour and forty minutes of its eclectic rock. Barefoot Truth might remind casual listeners of jam bands, like the Dave Matthews Band in particular, but they don’t go on for ten or twenty minute jams, keeping their tunes to a taut and dynamic four or five minutes. There’s a real knack for melody, lyrics extolling community and good vibes, and stellar arrangements that rise and fall, and plumb the old rock staple of tension-and-release surehandedly.

Best of all Barefoot Truth’s music has a real rhythmic kick, a sort of rootsy funk that is almost ineffable even as it makes every song a dancefloor celebration. But Barefoot Truth also has a real flair for rootsy flavors that will appeal to Phish-heads. Punky edge is there in spots, along with jazzy shadings, and plenty of soul. The band’s versatility has allowed them to open shows for the likes of Crosby Still and Nash, Bruce Hornsby, and Beantown’s own State Radio.

Thursday’s show was supposed to be coming in the middle of a long tour, but fate had intervened. Drummer/guitarist Will Evans, who sings lead on most of the band’s work, had an emergency appencitis attack while on tour in New York City, and he’d had the necessary appendectomy ten days before. Probably because this was his first show back, Barefoot Truth limited his workload on the drums, enlisting their friend Dan Holmes to drum on about half of their 15-song set. That also freed up Evans to play more guitar, which was a nice aspect of the night. In any case, his versatile baritone vocals are smooth as silk and done with a sort of effortless soul.

Evans and guitarist Jay Driscoll founded the band, as a duo, shortly after they graduated high school. Despite attending different colleges–Driscoll at UMass-Amherst, and Evans at St. Michael’s in Winooski, Vermont–the pair kept their partnership going via shared music files, and released two albums while in college. By 2006, they’d expanded the sound with bassist Andy Wrba, and later that year added harmonica player/singer Garrett Duffy. After the musicians graduated from college in 2007, they added pianist John Waynelovich to complete the quintet.

The most striking thing about hearing Barefoot Truth live was the superb blend of sounds, with smart arrangements that have a real purpose and flow. No aimless noodling here, for every note or drum strike has a part in the sonic picture they’re creating. To put it more simply, Barefoot Truth was one of the tightest bands I’ve ever heard.

We won’t claim total accuracy on song titles, however, as all the tunes’ names don’t always correspond to their infectious choruses. But the opening soul groove of “Found What I’m Looking For” was a neat introduction to Evans’ warm vocals, and the band’s easy rockin’ grace. A bit later Waynelovich crafted a baroque piano intro to “Got to See What I’ve Been Missing,” before the tune blasted off into a rollicking rocker, where you might’ve worried about Evans popping his stitches.

“Rope,” from the new album, was a more acoustic guitar-centered ballad, very reminiscent of that side of Dave Matthews, and sung very capably by Duffy, whose voice is a bit more raw than Evans’. By the fifth song, Evans was out from behind his drum kit, strumming guitar and singing the rootsy midtempo “All Good Reasons,” as Driscoll’s lap-guitar provided keening accents.

Several songs used the formula of a quiet start that builds into a full-band fiery finish, but tunes like the unrecorded “Playin’ With Fire” did it so well, with Evans adding some fine 12-string guitar lines, that the cathartic nature carried them. Waynelovich crafted some skittering, jazz-fusion piano lines to give “Hesitation” added potency.

The reggae-tinged romp “Eagle Front” might be a band mission statement, with its chorus of “I have a love for music..” and guest Tom Berman’s tenor sax helped drive it into a torrid finish that was more like crackling Memphis soul. “The Ocean,” another terrific single from the new CD, was a midtempo ballad that rode a soaring arrangement which framed Evans vocals superbly.

Another song, with the line “Cut Your own Piece of Cake,” opened with a Waynelovich piano segment that evoked soul-jazz icons like George Duke or Les McCann, shifted into a rock-steady reggae mode with the whole band, and morphed into rock ‘n’ roll heat behind Evans’ singing. It was a head-spinning array of musical flavors, but the band made it work like the most natural thing in the world.

Evans was back on drums for the encores, demonstrating his knack for churning, syncopated rhythms that make the music so viscerally appealing. “Roll If You Fall” was the effervescent encore, a marvelously swirling piece that had the dancefloor gleefully spinning with bodies. Barefoot Truth sent everyone home with a goofy disco parody, “You and Me Baby.” As if we needed to hear them master another musical style by that point.

Duxbury’s own eclectic indie-rocker Jackson Weatherbee opened with a tasty set of his own originals. Check your local listings, because he’s well worth hearing also.