Weekly Wire: July 31, 2000: Barrel Chested Again: Denton's Slobberbone By Jerry Renshaw

It's Saturday night at the Hole in the Wall, and the pool-room side of the bar is about as comfortable as a Turkish bath. A thick nebula of blue-gray cigarette smoke hangs in the air, as heavy and acrid as the exhaust from a Pinto with blown piston rings. Slobberbone's Brent Best slouches behind the mike, looking a little drunk, a little tired -- like that Guild guitar weighs 50 pounds and he's already on the hangover side of a gullet full of bourbon.

Guitarist Jess Barr lays down fluid, squiggly guitar lines, embroidering the song's melody without resorting to hackneyed, hair-in-the-breeze, flap-yer-flares guitar heroics, all the while nonchalantly dangling a cigarette from his lips. Bass player Brian Lane and drummer Tony Harper keep the rhythm in lockstep, Lane looking about eight feet tall, all legs and arms, occasionally mugging for the crowd. The crowd is in Slobberbone's sweaty grasp, many die-hards' lips matching Best's word for word on "Barrel Chested". [...]

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