The adjectives flow like sand pouring out of a boot when it comes to describing the music of C.W. Stoneking. The first thing you notice is the last thing you can forget, and that\u2019s his voice, an amalgam of vocals that would get booted in the opening round of \u201cAmerican Idol,\u201d and I mean that in the good sense: Tom Waits, of course, and Pops Armstrong, with some Leons Redbone and Russell and the Rolling Thunder-era Dylan.<\/p>\n
And of course the Devil, the one you sell your soul to, the demonic part of the performer, even though he usually appears dressed all in white except for a flashy bowtie. Not palpable evil, rather more of Satan\u2019s sassier side, putting out just enough hoodoo that you may opt to cross the street if he was walking toward you.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a perfect blending for the blues, and Stoneking, who appears Saturday night at Shannon\u2019s At the Top, is, at base, a blues musician. But it\u2019s blues that has been twisted and reformulated by a lot of influences, perhaps chiefly the fact that he grew up in Katherine, a small town in the desolate Northern Territory of Australia.<\/p>\n