When famed singer-songwriter Nick Lowe, 74, performs with the outrageous Los Straitjackets, the energy cascades off the longtime Brit rocker and these Tennessee crazies like a cherry bomb tossed in a garbage can. Lowe won’t be masked like this unique band who don the face coverings like Mexican pro wrestlers but he can get just as gnarly with some of the songs he wrote for Elvis Costello and Rockpile (the band he formed with Dave Edmunds). The tension is always high. The tunes are jet-propelled. Don’t let the re-release of his Christmas album fool you. This is some high-octane rock’n’roll. The roof will be raised at White Eagle Hall in Jersey City. They might hear it in nearby North Bergen.
