Here is what you need to know before you drive up to South Burlington on a Thursday in October: Southern Culture On the Skids is going to throw fried chicken into the crowd. That is not a metaphor. That is the show. And once you have seen it, you will understand why Rolling Stone called their sets “a hell raising rock and roll party.”
SCOTS — the North Carolina trio of Rick Miller (guitar/vocals), Mary Huff (bass/vocals), and Dave Hartman (drums) — has been at this since 1983. More than 40 years on the road, with a sound that defies easy categorization: rockabilly and surf guitar and swamp blues and country twang and a healthy dose of punk attitude, all sloshed together into something that goes down easy and hits hard. Their 1995 Geffen/DGC album Dirt Track Date moved a quarter-million copies on the strength of “Voodoo Cadillac,” and their 2021 record At Home with Southern Culture on the Skids proves they have not slowed down.
The live show is the point. Banana pudding. Fried chicken. Audience members invited onstage. You are not a spectator at a SCOTS show — you are at the party.
Opening the night is Poi Rogers, a Californian roots duo blending western swing, Americana, and Hawaiian steel guitar. They took home Ameripolitan Awards in 2018 and 2024 and played the 2024 Monterey Jazz Festival. A solid set to warm up the room before things get messy.
The show is at Higher Ground’s Showcase Lounge — the club-room configuration, not the main stage — in South Burlington. It is an all-ages night. Doors open at 7:00 PM, show at 7:30. Get there by door time; the Showcase Lounge fills up, and you want to be in the room when the chicken starts flying.
Tickets are on sale now. Grab yours here before they’re gone.