Watch Tav Falco's Panther Burns get down in Memphis

Here's Tav Falco and his current Panther Burns last week playing for the hometown crowd at Lafayette's Music Room in Memphis. 

Check out Tav Falco's tour poster – created by Gary Taxali – to see if the Panther Burns are playing a venue near you. 

90s Nostalgia: Tav Falco's Panther Burns in Germany

Here's Tav Falco reprising the Charlie Feathers classic "You Believe Everyone But Me" in Germany back in December, 1990. 

Tav Falco enlists Gary Taxali to create 2022 tour poster

There's no Toronto date scheduled as yet but Tav Falco will be rocking Buffalo's Mohawk Place on Sept. 12th. 

Here's the scoop...

         photo: Eugene Baffle

Tav Falco and his band Panther Burns have announced dates for a U.S. summer tour. Falco started his musical career playing alongside Big Star frontman Alex Chilton in the first lineup of Panther Burns in 1979. In more recent years, he has been backed by a trio of Italian musicians for both recording and live dates. The "Rogue Male" tour will run from August through October and include favorites from throughout Panther Burns' four decades of recordings.

 

The most recent addition to Falco's discography is last November's Club Car Zodiac EP. Released for Record Store Day by ORG Music, the vinyl and digital release features five tracks, including an electric cover of the traditional folk song, "House of the Rising Sun." The same musicians featured on the EP — producer/guitarist Mario Monterosso, bassist Giuseppe Sangirardi, and drummer Walter Brunetti — will appear on the concert dates.

 

The primary opening act for the "Rogue Male" tour will be this trio, performing selections from Monterosso's debut instrumental solo album, Take It Away. The album is available now digitally with a CD release following August 12. Last month, Monterosso traveled to Los Angeles at the invitation of Priscilla Presley for a pre-release screening of director Baz Luhrmann's Elvis. This Friday, July 22, he and his band will perform at a black-tie tribute to Priscilla Presley, honoring her efforts to preserve Graceland and promote Memphis music worldwide. The event takes place at Theatre Memphis in Memphis, Tennessee.

 

In 2019, Falco released his fourteenth studio album, the critically acclaimed Cabaret of Daggers. Upon its arrival, Mojo Magazine wrote, “Four decades into a career which began alongside kindred spirits Alex Chilton and the Cramps, Tav Falco’s new album conjures up a potent mix of blues, jazz and tango rhythms in which 1920s Vienna café culture seamlessly rubs shoulders with Beale Street juke joints.” At the time of the album's recording in Rome, Falco's home base was Vienna, Austria. This past January, he relocated to Bangkok, Thailand.

 

Falco was born in Philadelphia and raised in rural Arkansas. As a young man, he worked as a railroad brakeman for the Missouri Pacific Lines before studying theater and film at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. He moved to Memphis in 1973. In the middle of that decade, he co-founded the nonprofit Televista video art-action group and filmed many notable blues musicians. His documentation is now regarded as historically significant and his footage of R.L. Burnside appeared in a CBS Sunday Morning segment in 2021. While with Televista, Falco also trained in photography and filmmaking under William J. Eggleston.

 

Falco is the only constant member of his band, Panther Burns. The group played its first show in a cotton loft in Memphis on February 10, 1979. Early years featured a revolving door of underground rock luminaries entering and exiting the band, including noted producer/session musician Jim Dickinson (Mud Boy and the Neutrons, the Dixie Flyers), and multi-instrumentalist Jim Sclavunos (Nick Cave, Lydia Lunch). Panther Burns thrived on the early 1980s music circuit and were a popular draw at such storied New York clubs as the Peppermint Lounge and Danceteria. Despite Chilton’s exit from the live lineup in 1984, the band carried on and has released a vast discography of albums, EPs, and singles for such crucial independent labels as Rough Trade, New Rose, In the Red, Sympathy for the Record Industry, and now ORG Music.  Watch the short tour preview clip below. 

 

PRAISE FOR TAV FALCO

“Tav has long been a hero/inspiration to Primal Scream. A true master of rock and roll and a cultural ditch digger on the same level as The Cramps. Thanks for all the great music, Tav. Stay Free!” — Bobby Gillespie, PRIMAL SCREAM

 

“I have been listening to Tav Falco’s Panther Burns since his first LP, Behind the Magnolia Curtain (1981), when Tav, along with The Cramps, turned a whole new generation onto the twisted pleasure of rock ‘n’ roll. He’s got everything... rock ‘n’ roll, blues, tango, style in abundance, and most important, but never overrated, SOUL.” – Jason Pierce, SPIRITUALIZED

 

“I don’t think folks give Tav Falco and the Panther Burns enough credit... Tav Falco is hip!” – Jon Spencer, BLUES EXPLOSION

That time Tav Falco & The Hellcats played Art Fein's Poker Party

Tav Falco's Panther Burns feat. guitarist George Reinecke were joined by The Hellcats for this Art Fein taping in the fall of 1989.  

R.I.P. George Reinecke of Busted Flush

Sadly, guitarist George Reinecke of Busted Flush and the Panther Burns has passed away. He'll be missed.    Photo: Rick McGinnis

You can see more photos of George Reinecke during his days in Toronto with Busted Flush taken by Rick McGinnis on Rick's excellent photo blog Some Old Pictures I Took right here. 

One For The Weekend: Tav Falco's Panther Burns

Here's Tav Falco singing "Blind Man" from the classic Behind The Magnolia Curtain album available from Fat Possum. 

The updated 25th ann. edition of Robert Gordon's It Came From Memphis features Tav's photography

Tav Falco mounts Panther Burns 40th Anniversary tour

Although no Canadian dates have been announced for the Panther Burns tour, Toronto fans can see Tav Falco at Buffalo's Mohawk Place on May 26th. 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — In celebration of 40 years as a recording and touring artist, Tav Falco today announces U.S. dates for his Cabaret of Daggers: Panther Burns 40th Anniversary Howl! tour.

Released in November, Cabaret of Daggers is the most provocative and best-reviewed album of Falco’s career, featuring newly-penned originals which question the sanity of our troubled times, alongside carefully-curated selections from the Great American Songbook. The album is available now on vinyl and download from ORG Music.

Falco is the only constant member of his fervent and fabled band, Panther Burns. The group played its first show in a cotton loft in Memphis, TN on February 10, 1979. The lineup for that show constituted Falco (vocals, guitar), former Box Tops and Big Star frontman Alex Chilton (lead guitar, vocals), Ross Johnson (drums) and Eric Hill (synthesizer). Early years featured a revolving door of underground rock luminaries entering and exiting the band, including noted producer/session musician Jim Dickinson and Lydia Lunch and Nick Cave multi-instrumentalist Jim Sclavunos. Panther Burns thrived on the early 1980s music circuit and were a popular draw at such storied NYC clubs as The Peppermint Lounge and Danceteria. Despite Chilton’s exit from the live lineup in 1984, the band has carried on and released 18 albums as well as numerous live albums, EPs, singles, and compilations.

Raised in rural Arkansas and coming to musical prominence in Memphis, Falco eventually took up residence in Europe in the 1990s. He has lived in Vienna since 1999 and the city’s Old World splendor infuses Cabaret of Daggers. The album was recorded last year in Rome and two of its featured musicians will accompany Falco on the U.S. tour dates, producer/arranger/guitarist Mario Monterosso and bassist Giuseppe Sangirardi. The drummer on the tour will be Walter Brunetti.

When asked what fans can expect of these U.S. tour dates, Falco says “We will raise our arms in gestures of moral, political, and poetic dissent, but with mythic voices that fit like fur-lined gloves. We will shake our buzzard hips, we will dance naked Tangos, we will soul-hunch the Hully-Gully, we will bring the Italian sun and ‘La Dolce Vita’ to uptight America.” Check the list of Panther Burns' upcoming shows following the tour teaser clip. Read a Q&A with Tav Falco on the BlackBook site right here.



Tour dates:
5/09:  San Francisco, CA — Thee Parkside
5/10:  Los Angeles, CA — The Peppermint Club
5/12:  San Diego, CA — Whistle Stop
5/13:  Tucson, AZ — 191 Toole
5/14:  Las Vegas, NV — Bunkhouse Saloon
5/15:  Tempe, AZ – Yucca Taproom
5/16:  Flagstaff, AZ — Orpheum Theatre
5/17:  Salt Lake City, UT — Garage on Beck
5/18:  Denver, CO — Lion's Lair
5/19:  Kansas City, MO — Record Bar
5/20:  Little Rock, AR — White Water Tavern
5/21:  Memphis, TN — Lafayette’s Music Room
5/22:  St. Louis, MO — Off Broadway
5/23:  Springfield, IL — Bar None
5/24:  Chicago, IL — Reggies
5/25:  Detroit, MI — UFO Factory
5/26:  Buffalo, NY - Mohawk Place
5/28:  Woodstock, NY - The Colony
5/30:  New Haven, CT — Cafe Nine
5/31:  New York, NY - Le Poisson Rouge
6/01:  Wayne, PA - 118 North
6/02:  Richmond, VA – Bandito’s
6/03:  Athens, GA — Caledonia Lounge
6/04:  Clearwater, FL — Poisonville Songs Project
6/06:  New Orleans, LA — d.b.a.

Tav Falco's Panther Burns @ Buffalo's Mohawk Place, May 16

Check out Tav's version of the Jim Reeves classic He'll Have To Go followed by Blind Man and Train Kept A Rollin'

Hear the Panther Burns' first-ever performance w/ Alex Chilton on drums!

The Panther Burns, ft. Tav Falco, were recorded at a rented cotton loft in Memphis February 11, 1979.

LINKS
Paste: Alex Chilton, 1975-1981
Bored Out: Ross Johnson Interview, Part Two