by A.D. Amorosi
ROCK/COUNTRY/BLUES
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To New Yorker readers, Andy Friedman is "Larry Hat," a wry cartoonist and cranky social scientist. In the music world, Friedman's a wry, dry guitarist fronting the roadhouse country flair of The Other Failures. On their second album, 2009's Weary Things, Friedman and his Failures go about the hazy lazy business of making music that would've fit perfectly into Manhattan's Lone Star circa 1973. The songs are tear-in-your-Scotch dusty country-politan sorts done by an urban cowboy. How urban? "My name is Andy Friedman/ I'm from Brooklyn City/ I just learned guitar/ And my voice ain't pretty" goes the live rendition of "The Friedman Holler." Lest you take him for less than serious, Friedman's got a jovial vocal quality, can pick a git box gently ("I Miss Being Broken, Lowdown and Alone") and takes the lost art of talking blues ("Freddy's Backroom") to nice heights.
Thu., Feb. 12, 8 p.m., $11-$13, with Devon Sproule and Matt Curreri, World Café Live, 3025 Walnut St., 215-222-1400, worldcafelive.com.


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