VanHoose: Sky's the limit for bluegrass band

It took only about five seconds Friday night for Cadillac Sky to show the sparse crowd at New Earth Music Hall that it was not a run-of-the-mill bluegrass band.

They jumped and bobbed around with a certain funk that few old-style bands have. The banjo player took a certain stance that reminded me of Flea, bass player for the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Then he put down his banjo and sat behind a drum set. The lead guitar player - David Mayfield, who happens to be the brother of future star Jessica Lea Mayfield - dropped his acoustic piece and picked up an electric Fender.

Forget just being different. Two minutes into the show, Cadillac Sky showed it is something special.

The nontraditionalist cues were all over the Texas band's newest album that I had been chewing on for about a week. But unlike Old Crow Medicine Show, which experiments on tape but plays it clean live, Cadillac Sky brought more rock than a traditionalist could handle.

Good thing I'm not a traditionalist.

What this group of five served up Friday night was better - and certainly more entertaining - than what the hard-line pickers offer.

These guys could flat-out play, too. Mayfield energized the band and the crowd with his feverish guitar playing. Singer and mandolin player Bryan Simpson kept up with songs that were more than honest.

They even squeezed in a few covers, coming off stage to play a Death Cab for Cutie ditty to a couple, and ending their set

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