Photo by Joe BarhamThe Stone Foxes want to let you know that the blues are back and they are happy to sing them. This quartet from the Bay Area are going to be around for awhile, so get ready. The brothers, Shannon and Spence Koehler with Aaron Mort and Avi Vincour, make up this blues-rock powerhouse. The band rotates instruments and vocal duties, seemingly every song.

The album-release party for the sophomore effort from The Stone Foxes played out at the Cafe Du Nord. In the front of a packed house of happy fans, the band stepped up and delivered a smoking set of blues-based rock and roll. Much has been said about the influences of this band, and how they wear them proudly. Early Rolling Stones, the Band, and Led Zeppelin all make stylistic cameos, but these guys have taken in the lessons and are stepping up to the plate.

Opening the show with a powerful, harp-driven tune, “Hangman,” the Stone Foxes looked the most excited when introducing new songs. Tunes such as " I Killed Robert Johnson" and “Young Man” were a great representation of the group’s ragged, dirty blues. These songs sounded like they had been born in the dark, on the stage. Still this material blended a lyrical maturity with the group’s gritty instrumentation.

The one thing you take away from a Stone Foxes show is that these guys are serious about having fun. From the time they step on stage to the final encore, where they invited the front row up to join in on a sing-along cover of “The Weight” by The Band, the guys were all smiles. In a time of laptops and drum machines, the roots-blues the band plays is a welcome change. Enthusiastic and talented, the Stone Foxes knocked it out of the park for the release of Bears & Bulls. It’s always heartening to hear a young band with an old sound. The Stone Foxes take new songs, roll them in the dirt, dip them in tar, and serve them up.