Nashville, Tenn. – Austin, TX-to-Nashville, TN’s dark Neofolk singer/songwriter transplant, Amigo the Devil, has live shows that have become group heydays for area and national folks, alike, where fans can dabble in (and some, seemingly discover to laugh with) the dichotomy of life’s mortal coil, as well as find companionship in modern vulnerabilities, but as worked out, on site, by the seeming/compelling emotional awareness of Amigo the Devil simply wondering, ‘what just happened?’ or ‘what’s next?’; as well as ‘what’s at the end?’ and ‘who’s end is this?’”

“I feel like the last time we were in this room we had a little bit of fun,” said Amigo the Devil taking stage at Nashville’s Mercy Lounge, November 4, 2021.

“I think this time, we’re gonna have a little fck-load of more fun. […] Thank you for coming to my Bachelorette party” (Mercy Lounge crowds scream, “Yyyeeeaaaahhh!!!!”).

During such “yyyeeeaahh!!”, an Amigo crowd favorite/sing-along, “I Hope Your Husband Dies,” stands out as a beautifully picked, solo, acoustic guitar piece in similar feel and timing to Bob Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” (which is seemingly close to Amigo’s muscle-memory picking style), though in different chords, and as accompanied by a working back story evolved through Amigo the Devil’s touring, between-song banter with the audiences.

A local example was the November 4, 2021, Mercy Lounge appearance with Amigo on his Amigo Goes West, North, South, & East, too tour featuring opening acts, Tejon Street Corner Thieves, Stephanie Lambring, and IV & The Strange Band:

“Shred-fest!” Amigo said after the first verse of “I Hope Your Husband Dies,” when adding a pinkie finger’s 7th notes to the “I Hope Your Husband Dies” picking’s usual three finger picking approach, beautifying the atmosphere even further with the fluttering, bird chirps and into the explanatory bridge:

“I’ll tell you a story […] about the people this song is written about.  Now, I wrote it for one of the people who are still, -she’s still my best… -one of my best friends. And I wrote it right about when she met the person that eventually became her husband. And I thought I was all witty. …And I sent it to her. …And she was like, ‘that’s so stupid.’”

“I was like, ‘I know, right?” Amigo continued. “’Totes JK.’ I was like, ‘So stupid. How funny would it be, but, like, sooo stupid.’”

“Now here’s the thing before I continue. They literally were each other’s people. They really were, -they were meant to be together. And when you see that, you can recognize it… but you can still hate it.”

“Then like two weeks later,” he continued, “I sent her a message: ‘Hey, remember when I sent that joke song?’ ‘Like, how silly was that?’ And she was like, ‘Stop’.”

-Someone then fainted in the Mercy crowd, Nov. 4, which was quickly acted upon by surrounding patrons (“Make a hole!”)(“That’s what she said!”), which halted Amigo, mid-story, -and eventually his picking, too (“Hey, no joke. Let’s clear this up first, it’s more important”) as the audience “yyeeeaaahhhh”’d at its own progress.

[…] Amigo continued, “So, a few years later when they got married, …he actually died…”

“…Pretty bad timing… [because someone was just med-evac’d out].”

“Now, here’s the thing,” he continued. “She texted me to let me know. And it was one of the very few times in my life I was absolutely speechless. I mean, like, ‘I have no idea what to say.’  …So, I sent her the song.  …And she straight up goes, ‘I expect nothing less from you.’”

“So next time you’re having fun singing in the car, or the shower:  “I, Iiiiiiiiiii [the first words from “I Hope Your Husband…”], …-carry that burden with you. 

-The Mercy Lounge crowd picked up singing with Amigo, again, in the second verse: “Oh, I…Iiiiiiii….Oh, I…..Iiiiiiiiiii, I hope your husband diiiiies,” until fading out at the end whispering, “I’m sorry your husband….. …died.”

For area breadth, at Amigo’s solo appearance during an early 2022 tour opening for Trampled By Turtles at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium, that April 30, a day before he and his, then, brand new, LOUD AF quartet went off to tour, opening Gogol Bordello (and eventually Murder By Death, later in the summer) where there weren’t too many 30 minute, solo acoustic opportunities, -a day before all that, at the April 30, 2022 Ryman show opening for Trampled…, the back story for “I Hope Your Husband…” was slightly tighter, but had grown a little:

“Maybe I shouldn’t tell everybody, but this is a true story. I’m about to play a true story. And it’s a problematic story, but it’s a true story, nonetheless. I guarantee somebody in here relates to this song in the current state of someone else in here. It’ll make sense. I figured I haven’t had a love song, yet, so fck it,” said Amigo.

The back story came after the first verse, so after the first chorus, Amigo notices, “…There are two guys in here, like, ‘ffffuccck youoouuu, duuudeeee…’” Then, the chorus for the first time.

(After chorus, but still picking all Bob Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice…”-like) “Now, I believe that some songs, -not all songs, are better understood with a back story.  I’m gonna tell you that right now.” 

“The person that I wrote this song about is to this day one of my best friends.  And I wrote it when she started dating this gentleman who’s become her husband. -I use ‘gentleman’ loosely. And when they started dating, I remember thinking, ‘ah. Sht.’”

“I recorded this and I sent this to her.”

“And I was waiting for her reply. -And this was before the little three dots told me that anyone was typing. -This was like reading by candlelight (audience laughs), [but] finally she replied and goes, ‘welp, that’s stupid.’”

And I was like, ‘Oh, my god, I know, right?’ ‘Could you imagine that?’ ‘Oh, you thought it was real? Nah. Nah. Nah nah.’ ‘I’m joking.’  ‘It’s a joooooke,’ and then I went home and I cried.”

“[However] a few months later they got married and I got to know the guy. We got close. He’s pretty cool. Whatever.”

“And then a few months after that, …he died. True story.”

“And when she texted me to let me know, it was one of the few times where I was utterly speechless. I don’t know what say.”

“So, I sent her this song.”

“…And she just fckn replied to me, “I expect nothing less.”

“So, the point of this story is, when you’re listening to this song and you’re having a good time taking a shower or car, or whatever, carry that burden with you.  We’ll all leave here a little less heavier at the end if you do.”

With all that established, another running bit of Amigo the Devil’s between-song stage banter involves audience participation in which he instructs the audience, “[All right] the rules are very simple. I’m going to play a stupid little cover, -a short little bit of a cover and the only rule is that you raise your hand when you recognize what song it is. Easy enough, right? We can all do this?”

(Amigo begins another of his beautiful, solo-folksy, three finger pickings on the acoustic guitar and a Mercy Lounge audience member yells, “Freebiiird!’)

Amigo began “…I was tired of my lady/We’d been together too long/
Like a worn-out recording/Of a favorite song/
And while she lay there sleeping’/I read the paper in bed/
And in the personal columns/There was this letter I read…”

“If you like pina coladas/And gettin’ caught in the rain/
If you’re not into yoga/If you have half a brain/
If you like making love at midnight/on the dunes by the cape/
I’m the love that you’ve been looking for… or Write me to Fckn Escape.

(Folks gradually raise their hand to this, all eventually laughing, catching on by the first words of the chorus).

-And (for area-breadth) at the Ryman, April 30, 2022:

“This next song is not my song, but it is a game. And I’m curious about how many of you are going to lie, ‘” said Amigo introducing the concept to a hot Ryman crowd (he points specifically to an audience member in the middle of the auditorium, saying “-I believe you, [though]”, as his eye seemingly sparkled).

“So, the only rule to this game, -and the rule is loosely based on ‘do what you want to do.’ Play along. If not, have fun…”

“I’m gonna play a small, slid-bit of a cover, and the only thing I request is you raise your hand when you recognize the song it is. That’s all you gotta do.”

Amigo began picking the folksy, three finger-style,
“I was tired of my lady/We’d been together too long/
Like a worn out recording/Of a favorite song/
And while she lay there sleepin’/I read the paper in bed/
And in the personal columns/There was this letter I read,” as the crowd slowly and sparsely raised hands across the tabernacle.

[…] “If you like pina coladas/And gettin’ caught in the rain…”

The Ryman crowd seemingly laughed up the effect of officially approving Amigo’s bit for the area.

Now, with this area-humor vulnerably, but comfortably accepted just as well at another of Amigo’s appearances at the annual Muddy Roots Music Festival with the full band in Cookeville, TN (Putnam County), last September 2023, Jimmy Buffett had just passed away the night before that performance on Friday, September 1 (RIP Jimmy Buffett).

For this “Universally”-in-tune evening (someone had already proposed next to the pit during Amigo the Devil’s previous song, “Hell and You,” -“Hey, what happened over there? Y’all just did something cool, huh?” Danny asked, mid-song, following the song with a genuinely tear-filled, “That was surreal, guys,” post-song) -But for this “Universally”-in-tune evening seemingly maelstrom-ing such life-and-death forces that swirled the Big Tent that night, Amigo’s between song banter established another dichotomous mood, afterwards, explaining, “This [next] song is about one of my best friends who wanted a better life, […] a buddy who wanted a new life, -a better life. We used to eat ex (ecstasy) every night before we went into this overnight shift together at a brewery. …And he said No. We had found a new home. A new passion. And he blew his fckn brains out a week later.  And that has always stuck with me.”

He continued, “For those of you here who have lost people the same way, you know you never heal from that. All you do is dig this little trench next to your own life and you throw a cart in there. And you load it with memories you want to fckn keep. And you hope that it moves at the same pace you do…”

“That’s why I love this song.”

Following such a whirlwind of emotions (There’s an unwritten Muddy Roots ethic that minor chords must be included), so “This is another song about another friend. A different friend. Also, dead. […] We’re gonna change pace here a bit,” Amigo said.

“I would really like to try this. It’d worked a few times.”

“How many of you know the words to this song?  …All right. Don’t be shy, then,” to which he started playing the first chords or “I Hope Your Husband Dies,” all Bob Dylan’s, “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right”-style, y’know.

-The packed, PACKED Muddy Roots Big Tent cheered.

“All right, then. Don’t be shy.”

…Ironically picking the same, universal guitar chords in everyone’s catalogue, Amigo the Devil easily steered the audience into Smash Mouth’s “All Star,” simply singing “…Somebody once told me the world is gonna roll me…,” and without missing a beat, the Big Tent crowd took it from there in Gen X and Millennial unity, harmoniously emoting the well-known, generation-spanning hymn that echoed from the revival tent of our times, that night, across the rolling hiss of Putnam County, TN, as Amigo simply accompanied with a lone, folk acoustic guitar, onstage, as the band idled.

“Are we doing it?!” said Amigo, just before the chorus, and the crowd’s unity sang above that Big Tent like embers flying up from the heat of the bonfire.

…“All right, let’s do the real song, now,” Amigo said [politely], getting the crowd back on track by singing, “Trust me, I’m not jealous/I just really hope he messes up…” (the first lines of “I Hope Your Husband…”).   

Not too much longer, Amigo the Devil did commemorate Jimmy Buffett, saying, “I’m gonna do a song real quick. A Jimmy Buffett song…” (“It’s not Margaritaville. Don’t get excited”).

“…It’s not actually a Jimmy Buffett song, at all. It’s a very short song I wrote a while ago. I never put it out, or anything [and] I don’t plan on it. […]

“See if you associate.”

Amigo began beautifully picking his solo-acoustic, again, commemorating Jimmy Buffett:

“I’m in a corner alone/No one wants to talk to me/
I don’t think I can take anymore/I’m just bumming out the room/
Asking should I text her/But they took my phone when they walked through the door/
Everybody’s yelling, “O!,”/When all I can think is exes/
So baby, maybe, just let me come home/
Cause I’m crying, crying, crying at the orgy/
No one knows what to do/
I’m crying, crying, crying at the orgy/
Because everybody, -everything, reminds me of you.”

-The Muddy Roots crowd went ape sht.

And after one more song, that evening, -the closer, “Murder at the Bingo,” the Big Tent’s lights would come up as “Margaritaville” played over the PA system (Public Announcement system, or amps) as everyone herded out to Heavy Temple down the alley.

Upon arriving back in Murfreesboro, the afternoon of Monday, September 4, 2023, Bing’s homepage news offered links to articles reading, “Smash Mouth singer Steve Harwell, known for hit song ‘All Star,’ dies at 56,’” as reported by NBC News on MSN, as well as “Steve Harwell, Smash Mouth Founder and Former Lead Singer, Dies at 56,” as reported by The Hollywood Reporter. These articles were dated seven hours old upon re-arrival that early afternoon.

Rupert Holmes, however, -the singer of “Escape (The Pina Colada Song),” is still alive, living with his wife, Liza, in Cold Spring, NY (coincidentally of Putnam County, New York), seemingly due to, -and to the effect of, Death (as much as Amigo’s crowds) also thinking that was Jimmy Buffett.

Amigo the Devil is currently finishing up a tour on the West coast side of the continent playing Hell & Heaven Fest in Toluca, Mexico, November 3 – November 5; he’ll be at The Moore Theater in Seattle, WA, November 6; in Portland, Or., Nov. 7; and so forth until their November 11-12 Stanley Hotel weekend in Estes Park, Co. with Rattlesnake Milk, and Jonathan Terrell & David Ramirez (That’s where they filmed The Shining). Murder By Death plays there, too, just not that weekend. Tickets are sold out but check your local scalp sites and social media groups for any sale backs.

There is also a “Road to Rebellion Tour,” opening for Flogging Molly, with Gen and the Degenerates in early 2024. Dates and locations on that are/will be posted at Amigo’s Facebook page, as well as homepage, amigothedevil.com.

Amigo the Devil has an upcoming album, Yours Until The War Is Over, out of Liars Club Records, early 2024, according to (and pre-order at) the homepage, amigothedevil.com. Individual songs are being released on amigothedevil.com until then. Get some.

For past albums, merchandise, ongoing and updated tour dates, contact information, and/or to follow and sign up for a Danny-stream-of-consciousness mailing list, visit Amigo the Devil across his sites, -with his homesite, again, at amigothedevil.com, as well as his social and streaming sites, Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube Music, Amigo the Devil’s YouTube channel, SoundCloud, Instagram, Facebook, and X (formerly known as Twitter). Just type in Amigo the Devil.

Updated Ryman Auditorium news and schedules can be found at Ryman Auditorium (ryman.com); updated Mercy Lounge schedules can be found at Mercy Lounge (mercylounge.com); and updated Muddy Roots news and schedules can be found at https://www.muddyroots.com/.

There is no direct cause, correlation, or benefit between any of the people, places, or events that took place in this story. It’s all seemingly, and to the effect of coincidence.

For more on coincidence, please listen to NPR’s eye-opening and bean-freaking Hidden Brain episode, “What are the Odds?” at Hidden Brain: Episode 45: What Are The Odds? on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Featured story photo by Daniel Simmons. Daniel’s work can be found on instagram, @ the_ibuprofen_chronicles (Daniel Simmons (@the_ibuprofen_chronicles) • Instagram photos and videos).