Maurice Tani is a remarkable songwriter, with a deft touch that pulls all the angst of life right to the surface of his songs.  In bassist Mike Anderson, he has an assured and resonant foil on which to build his delivery of redemption songs and wise, funny and wryly bitter observations.

San Francisco-born and bred, Maurice early on developed an ear for the Bakersfield sound of Buck Owens, Merle Haggard and their ilk. In his early 20s, Maurice left for central Texas to work the hardcore country, blues and rock circuit between Austin and Dallas, playing five sets a night, seven nights a week for months at a time, eventually making his way to New York City as the punk rock scene of CBGBs and Max’s Kansas City was exploding. By 1977, he was back in San Francisco and joined The Phantom Movers, Roy Loney’s hugely lauded rockabilly band, recording four critically acclaimed albums over a five-year run.

For the next 15 years, Maurice was lead guitarist and a featured vocalist for Zasu Pitts Memorial Orchestra and Big Bang Beat, two dance bands that toured internationally. In 1999, Maurice returned to his roots in original music, and has since been a key songwriter, singer and guitarist on the hillbilly noir side of Americana music, acclaimed for his bands 77 El Deora and Calamity & Main.

This afternoon at Bird & Beckett, Maurice with duo partner Mike Anderson on bass will assay two sets of original material and no doubt a Bakersfield classic or three. Maurice’s CD, “Two Stroke,” set the mold for this duo treatment of songs well known from their full band treatments. As a duo, Maurice and Mike performed the material live at Freight & Salvage to celebrate the CD’s 2013 release.

Mike plays in 77 El Deora as well as a slew of other projects including The Midnight Gamblers and Hang Jones, and works frequent sideman gigs with Christopher Ford, Eric McFadden, Victoria George, Jinx Jones and dozens more.