Slim Cessna's Auto Club at the Bluebird Theater

A drunken winter wonderland

Formed in Denver in the early '90s, Slim Cessna's Auto Club came back home for a two-day New Year's run at the Bluebird Theater. Sometimes labeled as "country gothic" due to dark currents in their songs from apocalyptic religious imagery to alcoholism and violence, the Auto Club fuses Americana, country-blues and gospel. Jello Biafra of Dead Kennedy's sums the group up well: "This is the country band that plays the bar at the end of the world." They were joined by The Knew and Casey Fraiser & The Wild Bills. This show was definitely a bang-up way to ring in 2009.