Slade Rand
Sept. 27. 2023
Eddie Roberts has found a spark with the Lucky Strokes.
The new band out of Roberts’ Color Red label celebrated its forthcoming album at Ophelia’s Electric Soapbox this week with a smokin’ hour of Mississippi-inspired original tunes before lighting up the room with well-rehearsed covers firmly in its wheelhouse.
The music took creative turns all night long – powered by Floridians Taylor and Ashley Galbraith in the rhythm section with U.K. native Eddie Roberts at the helm. Mississippian and show-stealing vocalist Shelby Kemp delivered most of the songs while playing slide guitar, with range to cover Robert Plant and Rod Stewart.
Ashley Galbraith bobbed and nodded along with her bass all night, exchanging laughs and impressed glances with her sister Taylor behind the drum kit.
That quartet makes up Denver’s the Lucky Strokes, who were joined by keyboardist and touring friend Chris Spies at Ophelia’s. Roberts, Kemp, Galbraith and Galbraith met earlier this year and first performed together with Spies at Cervantes’ Masterpiece Ballroom during a party for the iconic Denver venue’s 20th anniversary in January.
“We all met in January for the first time, and cut a record, as you do,” Roberts said Saturday night introducing Lucky Stokes original song Home Sweet Home.
Next month, on Friday, Oct. 13, the band will release the debut record it cut that day. It’s available for pre-order on LP here via Color Red Music. Color Red Studios engineer Dylan Brown produced the album and was in attendance at Ophelia’s.
The first sound out of the Lucky Strokes on Saturday was Kemp’s attention-demanding voice belting out the opening line of Grits Ain’t Groceries.
“If I don’t love you baby,” he began. “Grits ain’t groceries, eggs ain’t poultry and Mona Lisa was a man…”
The band released its version of Grits Ain’t Groceries as its latest single earlier this week. Another recent single, Whiskey Makes Me Stronger, came next in the set at Ophelia’s.
Southern Mississippi-based guitarist and vocalist Shelby Kemp let it fly Saturday night. Kemp wrote lots of the new music the Lucky Strokes performed, putting his Hattiesburg roots on display in his lyrics and slide guitar.
“Mississippi… you know you’ll never change,” Kemp sang as the band built a groove behind his twangy and strong vocals on Home Sweet Home.
The tune and its creeping guitar riff would fit in on a small stage outside Jackson, MS, just north from where Kemp grew up. The rhythm section whipped up a soaring rockabilly jam, and bandleader Roberts helped close it on a dime.
“He’s my favorite person to sing with,” Kemp said after sharing vocals with Roberts on another song.
The Lucky Strokes’ fine-tuned energy came happily unbridled during the fifth song of the night, another original penned by Kemp.
Kemp and Roberts stood face-to-face shredding slide guitar and laughing back and forth during this rocker. As the two reigned in their roaring guitars, Taylor Galbraith burst through the kick drum on her kit and still finished the song despite the damage.
“Flip it around!,” someone offstage yelled. The band assisted the drumset flip and Taylor pressed on. Minutes later, she let loose on Whole Lotta Love, nailing transitions and hammering solos behind the bruised kit.
As the sisters led the band in and out of drum-and-bass breaks, Kemp would play rhythm stage right, his back nearly to the audience. The band has fun onstage, and the show leaves you looking forward to your next night with the band.
Eddie Roberts and the Lucky Strokes’ Fall 2023 Colorado tour makes its final stop Friday night in Basalt, at The Arts Campus At Willits, with support from Denver-based Dragondeer. Tickets are available through TACAW here.
As it got late at Ophelia’s, the band seemed to get louder. James Gang’s Funk #49 blended to a smooth transition in and out of Led Zeppelin’s Whole Lotta Love carried by Kemp’s lead vocals.
The Isley Brothers’ Who’s That Lady gave way for Roberts to lead a psychedelic guitar jam that stretched past the song’s funky confines before he signaled a return to the 70s classic. Before leaving, Eddie Roberts and the Lucky Strokes delivered Faces’ Stay With Me.
Toward the end of the show, Roberts smiled and let the crowd in on some Lucky Strokes lore.
The band, which passionately leans into its of swampy southern rock tendencies, fashioned a logo inspired by a pack of cigarettes featured in the album art for Lynyrd Skynyrd’s 1973 debut, (Pronounced ‘Lĕh-‘nérd ‘Skin-‘nérd). You can purchase shirts with that Lucky Strokes logo here.
Eddie Roberts and the Lucky Strokes releases its debut album Oct. 13 via Color Red Music. Stream the band’s three singles here on Spotify and Apple Music, and check out video of its Ophelia’s performance on Youtube courtesy user “Joe lurked.”
This week after the Ophelia’s show, the band announced a pop-up performance Thursday evening at Revival Denver Public House. See more details at the event link.
After Midnight 
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