I never get tired of hearing Erika Wennerstrom of the Heartless Bastards sing. A native of Ohio, her voice bears some strong similarities to another Buckeye, Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders: deep and resonant, with a Midwestern non-accent that comes from being raised where the Midlands and Inland North American accents meet. 

In a recent show at Union Stage in DC, Erika’s voice was in its always fine form, and the Bastards surrounded it with their mix of garage rock and roots music. I definitely heard a banjo in there at one point, but this wasn’t country — it was rock ‘n’ roll, and pretty heavy rock ‘n’ roll at times. 

At Union Stage on May 9, the Bastards opened their set, appropriately, with the anthemic “Got To Have Rock and Roll.” About a year and a half ago, thy released their most recent album, A Beautiful Life, following a six-year hiatus during which Erika released a solo album, Sweet Unknown. (She also toured as a headlining act and as support for Lucinda Williams and the Drive-By Truckers. Sadly, I missed that local show at The Anthem in 2019, coming down with a sinus infection.) 

A Beautiful Life may well be the best work by the Heartless Bastards, having earned the band its strongest critical reviews. The set included the title cut from that album, as well as several other cuts: “How Low,” “When I Was Younger,” “The River,” “Dust,” and the penultimate song of the evening, “Revolution.” These songs strike a perfect balance between intelligent, contemplative lyricism and a hard sound.

Watch the official music video for “Revolution” by Heartless Bastards on YouTube:

Though she hails from Ohio, Wennerstrom has lived in Austin, Texas, for several years, which influences her songwriting. She wrote “The Arrow Killed The Beast” in a “west Texas desert,” envisioning it as a “Clint Eastwood movie” with “Nancy Sinatra singing.” There’s a definite Western flavor the music, but, again, this isn’t country — this is rock ‘n’ roll, probably with a bit of Ennio Morricone’s spaghetti westerns lurking in the background. A similar sense of place pervades “Down In The Canyon.”

In addition to the new songs, the set included many favorites from the band’s catalog: “Photograph,” “Went Around the World,” “Nothing Seems the Same,” and “Searching For the Ghost.” The Bastards finished their main set with “Parted Ways,” then briefly left the stage, returning for an encore of “Only For You” and “Sway.”

Before the Bastards played, the Watson Twins performed an opening set. “We’ve been around a while,” one said. In addition their own music, they’ve also served as backup singers, most prominently on Jenny Lewis’s solo debut, Rabbit Fur Coat. They have a new album, Holler, coming out this summer, and they shared the title track. Their set also included “Southern Manners,” the ballad “Never Be Another You” (which hit me pretty hard), and “Hustle & Shake.” “That’s what we do,” they said of that last one. They also shared that they’ll be appearing at the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage on August 16. It’s a free show, so there’s no excuse not to be there!

Watch the official music video for “Never Be Another You” by The Watson Twins on YouTube:

Here are some photos of Heartless Bastards performing at Union Stage on May 9, 2023. All pictures copyright and courtesy of Marc Shea.