On its face, a band melding elements of electrified new grass, jazz, country and rock with images from the Hubble space telescope and independent film might sound like a calamity waiting to happen.
Somehow, though, when they take the stage, the Minnesota-based “newgrass art rock” quartet Galactic Cowboy Orchestra manages to keep it all from spinning out of control.
IF YOU GO• What: Galactic Cowboy Orchestra.• When: 7:30 p.m., Wednesday.• Where: Barking Legs Theater, 1307 Dodds Ave.• Admission: $10, plus 50-cent service charge online.• Phone: 624-5347.• Venue website: www.barkinglegs.org.• Related links at current.timesfreepress.com.DISCOGRAPHY• 2011: “All Out of Peaches” and “Songs We Didn’t Write, Vol. 2″• 2009: “Lookin’ for a Little Strange” and “Songs We Didn’t Write, Vol. 1″ON THE WEB:http://www.galacticcowboyorchestra.com
Guitarist Dan Neale, who founded the band, grew up in Chattanooga playing at church and school dances. He left in 1986 with a dance band that toured heavily in the upper Midwest, an area he fell in love with about the same time he met his wife-to-be in North Dakota.
He decided to stay and hasn’t returned to Chattanooga in any musical capacity, including with GCO, which he founded three years ago. He will end that streak Wednesday when GCO takes the stage at Barking Legs Theater.