The Telephone Company and Sweet Baby Lou had a long tangled history, and the band took his passing much like the best of us… very poorly. The band, which currently holds the mantle of “Sweet Baby Lou’s House Band”, became only the second group to hold this moniker. The first was of course Lou’s own band, the famed Amherst funk troupe “Funkasaurus Rex.”
But as Reverend Greg Zapata aptly said of the Telephone Company, “They were his favorite band,” before adding “to steal from.” But despite this rocky history, when push came to shove, the Amherst band most lauded for their cleanliness chose to put aside the past squabbles in order to kick off The Sweet Baby Lou Memorial Funeral and Tribute concert as the event’s headlining act.
The first of two sets by The Teleco on this evening included a blistering rendition of “Cabbage”, the always somber “Comfort Mountain” and a kickass original track about the birth of Lou. On this original dubbed “1932”, lead singer Nick Bush categorized the anguish felt by millions of the funk faithful when he snarled “Cut short in the prime of life / oh lord it’s just not right.” It was a fond salute to a man who deserved much less.
Sweet Baby Lou & The Reverends of Funk 