Call it rockabilly, psychobilly, punkabilly, roots rock or just plain old country western-laced punk rock; it was all on display Sunday night at the Beachland Ballroom.

That means one thing, and one thing only – the almighty Reverend Horton Heat was in town. Heat, aka Jim Heath and band were in town to showcase their most recent release, “Laughin and Cryin”. The irreverent Reverend led his trio of Texas-based cow punks through a balanced two-hour set of blazing Heat classics from its 10 studio albums including a smattering of new songs before a near full house. Not one to banter too much, Heat, stand-up bassist Jimbo Wallace and former Heat drummer Scott Churilla (subbing for current drummer Paul Simmons) wasted little time as they started with “The Reverend Horton Heat’s Big Blue Car” from the 2002 album Lucky Seven and the fevered pitch never subsided until the last guitar lick. What made this night’s performance, much like previous Heat shows over the past 20 years of playing live, impressive, was his Heath’s ability to segue from one rockabilly-twist into another. With tongue-n-cheek lyrics and serious 50s rock sensibilities, Heat had the crowd more enthusiastic with each coming number. [youtube]qn4lJqbv7So[/youtube] The full-body sound of Heat’s 6120RHH Gretsch combined with Jimbo’s thump-tic-a-tic bass slaps and Churilla’s double bass drum assault sounded like a Sun Records recording session on a runaway punk train. Sheer delight. Several years ago Heat was dismayed that he was taken too serious with his music. He has since has made a living with his mastery of Americana guitar laced with the folly of country lyrics. And it was never more evident than on this night. New songs highlighted, included the rambunctiously funny, toe-tapping “Please Don’t Take The Baby To the Liquor Store”, the satirical “Rural Point of View” and more traditional Memphis waltz of “Drinkin & Smoking Cigarettes”

The classics were there too like: “Martini Time”, “Galaxy 500” “Big Little Baby”, Psychobilly Freakout”, “Indigo Friends” and “400 Bucks”. But probably the one song that proved Heat’s enduring guitar picking the most came on “Big Sky” from the 1994 album Liquor in the Front. The instrumental has a “Devil Went down to Georgia” reckless abandon, and the crowd-pleaser sounded as fresh and new and it just kept coming. The show came in three parts with brief pauses in between. The coup de gras came during the encore as the band twisted and extended version of its hit “Devil Chasing Me” with Heat’s rendition of the Johnny Cash classic “Folsom Prison Blues” and even the “Dallas” theme thrown in for good measure. The night started with the modern bluegrass stylings of Split Lip Rayfield and the reunited sounds of 90s alt rockers Cracker (which will be back in the area for a July 3 show at Akron’s Musica). Both more than warmed up the crowd for Heat. By the time Heat’s red hot rockabilly tent revival was done, the stage, and amps and speakers remained smoldering and the unwavering crowd left sated with Heat healing powers.