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The Moonshiners bring modern tunes to a rip-roaring good-time place

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The Moonshiners’ “Prohibition pop swing” blends oldies and contemporary radio hits.
Photo: Bill Hughes
Jason Harris

Let’s say you bet me two crabapples you could find a version of Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy” I would not only like, but would gladly hear on repeat. Why, I’d tell you that you must be all types of high on that opium. That sweet Vitamin O must be hazing your mind.

Then you take me to see The Moonshiners, and I’m left with no choice but to give you two crabapples, lest the constabulary send me to the hoosegow. It doesn’t matter what they play, because this band has all the confidence in this newfangled world to make it swing, Daddy! And that’s the point, lead singer Savannah Smith explains: “It’s meant to be organic and fun and goofy and quirky and not super-clean and crisp, but almost like you would see in a basement during Prohibition.”

Now this reporter isn’t one to see how the cat jumps, but that’s what we’re talking about. A five-piece cover band that mashes up old and new, 1920s speakeasy-style. That means a hopping version of Guns N’ Roses’ “Welcome to the Jungle,” a swanky take on Rick James’ “Superfreak” and a run at Radiohead’s “Creep” so filled with 23 skidoo and vo-dee-o-do-do it would make any lounge lizard order the band a round of Pimms’ Cups.

The players—Kenny Davidsen tickling the ivories, Darin Presley banging the skins, Trey Ordaz plucking the upright bass, John Celentano blowing the horn and Smith whaling away on vocals—are some of the most accomplished in Las Vegas, fusing their influences into the greatest party band since the Dixie Land Jug Blowers played President Hoover’s birthday bash back in dickety seven!

That means swinging mashups of the aforementioned “Fancy” with Marilyn Monroe’s “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend.” “Sweet Georgia Brown” slammed with “99 Luftballons” in such a way that Nena herself would wish she’d recorded a third version. These tunes will knock you galley west with a plow handle, and have you doing the Lindy Hop until you can get some tomato into the backseat of your struggle buggy!

The Moonshiners are gaining national recognition with corporate gigs from Portland to Austin, but Smith makes it clear this band is distinctly Vegas, “There’s no way I could have done this in Portland. There’s a vibe there. These are so many different vibes. This group could not have formed anywhere else but Las Vegas.”

Catch them at the Tropicana on Halloween and New Year’s Eve. And wherever you see The Moonshiners, luddy mussy, make sure to shine up your dancing shoes.

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