As walking contradictions go, Grayson Capps is the sort who makes an excellent entertainer. He’s an Alabama native and New Orleans expat who makes his home in Franklin when he’s not crisscrossing the South or Europe, on his own or with the raw and rollicking Stumpknockers. All it takes him is a single show or album — 2008’s Rott and Roll, released on Hyena, being his last proper studio one — to please people looking for character-filled, artfully told Southern short stories in song form, or those who just want a raucous good time. For the literarily inclined, he’s got songs like “Ike,” a tangibly textured ballad of down-and-out backwoods philosophizers; and for the revelers, a swamp-country, sing-along drinking song like “Gran Maw Maw.” Put the one with the other, and it’s a powerfully satisfying combo.
