W

the edito. This is probably the hardest thing I have to do in this mag. Trying to find interesting and new questions to ask to musicians ? I like that (I didn’t say I was good, I just said I liked that). Designing the layout ? I love that (this is my job, so it’s a luck). Searching for a reference of a «hard to find» record to make a complete discography ? It’s like a game to me (OK, I’m sick). But findind something enough interesting for every readers to open the mag, this is the real challenge for me. The reviews are hard too. As I said before, our «politic» is only to talk about people we actually like. We don’t have time to waste saying «this guy can’t sing and the production is poor» and I don’t think, I could be wrong but I hope not, this is what you want to read. If a record is reviewed in Jumpin’ From 6 To 6, we like it, and this is either an album we bought or we would have bought if the musician or the label were kind enough to send it to us. So the hard thing is «How can I say I loved this record but in a different way than the previous one ?». Anyway I digress, I was talking about the edito and how hard it was to write this two little paragraphs. But look ! No more space ! Finally, it wasn’t that hard. RITING

Fred «Virgil» Turgis Look for issue #4 sometime around Christmas.

Jumpin’ from 6 to 6 is Editor : Fred «Virgil» Turgis Collaborator : David «Always late» Phisel Hi-Q’s pics : © Matt Strickland Layout : Fred Turgis & Nathalie Michel for Shooting Star Design. Thanks to The bands and musicians that took time to answer our mails and questions : Rachel, Tom, Deke, Dawn, Matt, Cari Lee, Peter your patience is saintly. A big «thank you» to Dave Stuckey !

And a big howdy to Fred Hamet for hosting me on his website. About the pictures Well, I must admit I borrowed some pics here and there on the web. Anyway all pictures are © their authors. If you’re the owner of the rights of one of these pictures and you have a problem with it contact me. The Hatch Show Print design comes from a Hillbilly Boogiemen poster.

Contact Don’t hesitate to send us some mail [email protected] or by snail mail at Fred Turgis - 15 bis rue des Teinturiers 14000 Caen - France and of course you can write a message on the forum http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/ jumpinfrom6to6/ we’d be more than happy to hear from you.

T

his interview is another old one that I had in my files. If I remember correctly it was made sometimes around 2001 or 2002. But like others before (see Shaun Young, The Horton Brothers or Josie Kreuzer in the previous issues), I thought that the answers weren’t too much anchored

in the actuality and I could put it here. So if you like Tom’s music, I hope you’d like to read this interview and his points of views about the music, Nashville, the songwriting etc. If you don’t know him, check his website, hear a song, read this and discover one of the latest honky tonk hero.

and learned a lot that way. I also took some guitar lessons and learned a little music theory. I started writing songs when I was 15. As a teen I had a lot of angst to work out.

FROM PUNK TO COUNTRY

First, where do you come from? I grew up in Springfield, Illinois. It’s a small city of about 100,000 tpeople 200 miles south of Chicago & 100 miles east of St. Louis. My dad’s from a farm in southeastern Illinois and my mom is from a small town in western Illinois. In 1983 I moved to Iowa. I spent eleven years in Des Moines and Iowa City. In 1994 I moved to San Francisco and have been in the Bay Area ever since. What is your musical background? When did you start playing music ? What or who decided you to pick an instrument or to sing ? Music wasn’t a big deal in my family, it was appreciated but no one was really an enthusiastic musician or singer. When I was ten or eleven years old I started listening to 60s pop music, the Beatles and the Byrds, that’s when I got really passionate about music. My sister had a cheap classical guitar and some songbooks that had basic chord diagrams in them so I started teaching myself to play guitar. The first song I played all the way through was «Yesterday», I picked out the melody by ear. Once I got down the basic chords I played along with records

ROCK MUSIC

Can you tell us about your punk band/years. Did you listen to country music at that time? When I was 13 or 14 my sister married this guy who would take me out in his car and play me Elvis Costello, The Clash, The Jam, The Buzzcocks, all that sort of stuff. There were also a few guys who worked at a local record store who encouraged me to listen to Captain Beefheart, Ornette Coleman, Wire, Pere Ubu, you name it. So I got hooked on seeking out music that was out of the mainstream. I played in a few cover bands when I was a teen, then after I moved to Iowa I joined a band that played all original material and that was it, I was hooked. By the mid-80s American indie rock was really hitting its stride. There were labels like SST and Homestead and Touch & Go, and all those great bands like Sonic Youth and Big Black and Husker Du. I was in a band called the Hollowmen, we made two records and played around on the indie rock circuit in the midwest for five years, with one tour on the west coast in 1989. We broke up at the end of that year. We had big amps and played really loud. We loved Soul Asylum and Dinosaur Jr. so there was some of that in our sound. We wrote most of our material collaboratively. I listened to a little bit of country in those years, I had a Patsy Cline album and a Kitty Wells tape and a few other things. Country music didn’t figure much as a direct influence in the kind of music I was making, but I loved the sense of melancholy in Patsy Cline’s music and was hoping to get some of that feeling in the Hollowmen’s music, even if the sound and methods were otherwise very different. Did it have an influence on your punk songwriting? There wasn’t much direct influence of country music in the Hollowmen’s sound. There was maybe a hint of country in some of the vocals, my sense of harmony has always tended toward close harmony in 3rds, which is common in country. But not much in the lyrics, rhythms, or arrangements.

How did you come to country music ? Punk and free jazz are not really the best introduction for this kind of music. Country wasn’t the main type of music I was exposed to growing up, but it was always around. My older brother had an album of Johnny Cash and I remember loving «I Walk The Line» when I was four or five years old. We used to watch «Hee Haw» every Saturday night, right before Lawrence Welk. Whenever we’d go visit my dad’s family on the farm you’d hear country music in the house or in the truck or on the tractor. My guitar teacher when I was 15 & 16 was a country picker so a lot of what he showed me was based on that. I remember when I first heard Patsy Cline when I was 18, driving around with a drummer friend of mine, and being captivated by it. When the Hollowmen broke up I recorded an album’s worth of rootsy rock stuff that had more of a country influence to it but it never got released. After that I got really interested in expanding my musical horizons, writing in unusual time signatures and making up my own chords. From there I abandoned songwriting completely and played almost nothing but spontaneously improvised music/noise for a few years. Playing free-form music and really being good at it is much harder than it looks, it’s a very demanding and abstract kind of discipline. After a while I found it unsatisfying. Meanwhile I was buying country records in thrift stores and bargain bins, and I started to get more and more into it. I found some really good stuff right off the bat, like Jimmie Skinner and Bobby Austin and Wynn Stewart, and got really inspired. I loved the simplicity and directness of the songwriting, it was very refreshing to me because it said what it had to say without artifice or obfuscation, and the melodies and chord structures always resolved back to the 1, making the songs sound so whole. I was also going through some changes in my personal life with a romance that petered out, so I was feeling lonesome and confused and had a lot of mental & emotional garbage to sort out. So I decided to try writing songs in the country idiom. Immediately the songs started pouring out effortlessly and I decided to accept the fact that my musical strength was as a songwriter, not as an improviser. I also decided to work harder on my singing, to try to sing accurately on pitch and carry a melody

After I moved to San Francisco I saw Junior Brown and Wayne Hancock play in the clubs. Seeing them showed me it was possible to play this kind of music in this day and age and make it fresh and relevant. instead of bellowing or mumbling, and with a lot of practice over a couple of years I improved quite a bit. After I moved to San Francisco I saw Junior Brown and Wayne Hancock play in the clubs. Seeing them showed me it was possible to play this kind of music in this day and age and make it fresh and relevant. They inspired me, but I also knew I had my own spin on country and honky-tonk, my own contribution to make to the music, so that motivated to make my first CD and put together a band to play it. Have you ever been tempted by playing rockabilly ? It shares a certain energy/anger with punk but with a more musical approach. Rockabilly isn’t my thing. I like it in small doses but I don’t think I’d be good at it. Webb Pierce and Faron Young sounded awful when they tried to sing rockabilly,

I think the same would be true of me. Are you still influenced, one way or another, by your punk period ? Most definitely. I think the best punk rock and the best country music have a few qualities in common, like honesty and sincerity of delivery, and saying what you mean in a very direct way. I also learned a lot from playing improvised music about spontaneity and being open to the moment. Now I get that by providing a song structure for my musicians to improvise on. My guitarist and steel player and fiddler are all players who never play the same solo twice, I really love that. It keeps the music fresh and exciting. I still listen to punk on college radio sometimes, and just yesterday I was spinning some of my Sun Ra and Mal Waldron records. The last show I went to see was Ornette Coleman at the SF Jazz Festival.

FIRST

COUNTRY RECORDINGS

What about the recording of your first album ? Did you play and tour live with a country formation before recording. Was it hard and long to get the right sound ? No, I didn’t tour or play live with a band before we made that record. That line-up was put together just for the recordings. I had worked with the engineer, Joe Goldring, on another project. I told him what kind of record I wanted to make and he said he’d love to do it. Shortly after that I ran into the bass player, John Walter, who was an old friend of mine from my hometown in Illinois. He introduced me to the steel player, Steve Cornell, who was in Red Meat at the time. Steve then called in the drummer, Les James, who’s also in Red Meat.

The four of us did our parts in three live sessions. We’d get together the night before each session and run down the material, then we’d go in the next day and knock out four songs in two or three hours. Those guys were all such good players that we got most of the songs in a few takes. The recording sessions weren’t hard at all, it was the mixing that got difficult. Joe used different microphones and different techniques on each of the three sessions, so each session sounded very different from the other ones. It took a lot of work to get it to where we were satisfied with the mixes. About the time we did the last session in 1997 I started playing with my current guitarist Mike Wolf and put together the core of my live band, with Les James on drums, Greg Reeves on bass, and David Phillips on steel. Those guys are the ones on my CD «Songs That Make The Jukebox Play,» though Greg has since bowed out and now Rob Douglas is my first-call bassist. Doug Adams played fiddle on both records and he still makes it to my gigs when he can. The second CD is more the sound of a seasoned unit, as we played most of those songs as a band quite a bit before we recorded them. «Sings heart songs» was recorded in 96/97 but only released in 99. Why? I spent a long time mixing & remixing the thing. I knew I wanted fiddle on three of the songs but it took me a while to find the right player so that was a delay. I also sent it around to a few labels to see if I could get someone else to put it out. No one I presented it to wanted to do it. I had never self-released a record before so I hesitated a while before deciding to take the plunge and become my own label.

SONGWRITING

PROCESS

What is the part of autobiography in your songs? It varies a lot from song to song. Some songs come very directly out something that I experienced, like «What Did I Lose» «How Much Longer» or «Brand New Memories.» Some come from situations I’ve observed or heard about from friends like «First One To Get There» which was inspired by this little neighborhood bar that a friend of mine owns. Some are rewrites of ideas I’ve gotten from other songs like «You Used To Live It

Up» and «Get While The Getting’s Good», and some just arrive out of the blue like «Give Up On Me» or «I’m Damned». Even the most autobiographical of them often get fictionalized in some regard in order to meet the needs of the song. I like for a song to make a single point, or to express a single point of view. I don’t like to look at a situation from a lot of different vantage points in a single song, I’d rather have each song express one idea. When you do that you necessarily eliminate other shades of meaning, other interpretations, other ways of looking at a situation that may be just as true as the one you’re going for. In that regard they get exaggerated or fictionalized. Did your wedding and the birth of your daughter change your songwriting ? Sure. «Hard Times Are Gone» probably would not have been written if I hadn’t met my wife. It gets harder to write heartbreak songs when your homelife is happy. My wife and I get along very well and we work out our troubles together, so I don’t hold onto things that go on between us and turn them into songs very much. Mostly my songs come from things that happened in my past, or things I observe happening to other people, or sometimes they come from just a word or phrase that suggests a story. In the weeks before and after my daughter was born last year I went on a writing spree, I wrote two dozen songs. Having a baby stirs things up, and I was also in a panic that I wouldn’t have the time to write songs for a while so I wrote as many as I could when I had the chance.

Your first album is a graphic reference to Ray Price’s Columbia album, the title of the second comes from Jimmie Skinner, but on the records you made only one cover. Are there any songs you’d like to cover on album ? There are hundreds of songs I’d like to cover. Live the band does a few like «Fort Worth Jail» by Dick Reinhart and «Old Faithful» by Mel Tillis. But when it comes time to make a record I want to do my own work. I’ve got well over 100 of my own songs to choose from for the next record. I think my strongest suit is my material. I make records to get my material heard, in the hopes that other like-minded folks out there might cover some of my songs someday. That said, I would love to make an album of covers, paying tribute to great under-appreciated writers and performers like Tibby Edwards, Jimmie Skinner, Bob Morris, and James O’Gwynn. Even more ideal would be to do a series of EPs where I’d sing five or six songs by one of my favorite writers or performers on each record. But given the cost of recording & pressing that project will probably remain in the realm of fantasy. My priority now is to get my own material heard. Who are your references in term of songwriting and singing ? It’s taken me many years to accept the voice God gave me. I love bass/baritone voices and I’ve always wished I had a deeper voice, or a more guttural, rougher, lived-in voice. But I’m stuck with what I’ve got so it’s up to me to maximize it by finding ways to use it that work. I really dig full-throated singers

Country music at the top big-business level has become a whole different kind of music from what artists like me do. I think some of my songs could have been mainstream country hits 40 or 50 years ago, but not now.. like Webb Pierce, the Louvin Bros, Bobby Austin, Buck Owens, Tibby Edwards, Carl Butler, Chuck Reed, Skeets McDonald, Gene O’Quin, the kind of singers who really belt it out loud and clear. I love Ray Price and that whole school of Texas singers he’s inspired like Johnny Bush, Darrell McCall, and Justin Trevino. I also love the school of singers they call groaners like Frankie Miller, James O’Gwynn, Sonny Burns, and I guess you could put Vernon Oxford in that category. I really love Charlie Rich too but I don’t try to sing like him, I couldn’t even get close to what he could do with his voice so I don’t even try. As a writer I’ve gone through a lot of changes, I could point to any song and tell you whose style influenced it. «Sleep Never Will Come» and «Give Up On Me» have a strong Hank Williams Sr. flavor. «Blues & Dues» and «Eat At Home» have a lot of Skeets McDonald in them. «See The Sun Again» and «How Much Longer» come from the Floyd Tillman/Willie Nelson thing. «You Used To Live It Up» shows a Tommy Collins influence, and «If I Only Knew» is very Louvins-ish. Other favorites of mine would be Harlan Howard, Merle Haggard, and Bob Morris. Bob Morris wrote Buck Owens’ theme song «Buckaroo» but he wrote a lot of other great songs that not enough people have heard. Lately I’ve gotten more into that whole school of songwriting that got popular in the 60s, those gimmicky, clever, punning heartbreak songs that writers like Bill Anderson and Liz Anderson cranked out. Roger Miller wrote a lot of great sad honkytonk songs in the years before his novelty material took off. Oftentimes when I’m writing a song I’ll have a particular voice in mind and that’ll influence the way it comes out, like I think «I Wonder If I’ll Ever Love Again» would have been perfect for Wynn Stewart, and «I’ll Match You» would sound great if Vernon Oxford sang it. Did you ever meet or play with musicians that inspired you like Ray Price, Buck Owens ?

No, not too much. I did get to hang out with Johnny Cuviello one night, he played drums back in the 40s & 50s for Bob Wills, Jean Shepard, and the Farmer Boys. I also met the great 50s gospel singer Chester Smith about a year ago, he’s playing out again after being retired from music since 1963.

THE

AUDIENCE AND THE NEW COUNTRY SCENE Your roots are deeply located in the classic honky tonk / late western-swing styles. Are you treated by the medias as a revivalist or do they understand that you’re also a real author ? I’ve been lucky, I’ve gotten nothing but sympathetic press from people who really get what I’m doing. It’s largely because I write my own material. I believe my songwriting is my greatest strength. The fact that I can come up with valid, authentic new songs and breathe some life into them keeps me from becoming merely a revivalist. Even if it’s not honky tonk, the movie «O brother where are thou?» proved that people loved the old stuff. Did you feel a new interest toward country? I think the success of that soundtrack was a boon to the individual artists involved, and it gave a boost to the acoustic music and bluegrass communities, but I haven’t noticed any increase in interest in honky-tonk or hard country around these parts that I can link to it. I do think the last ten years have seen a growing rediscovery and newfound respect for older honky-tonk music by a whole new generation of musicians and listeners, but that’s a trend that pre-dated the success of «O Brother.» What is the profile of your audience ? Mostly people over 30 years old. Usually they’re people of some sort of hipster menta-

lity, either musicians themselves or the type of music fans who like to seek out things they haven’t heard before. There’s a big part of the audience that’s of my age group, people who came of age in the 80s and got tired of whatever it was they used to listen to and got into country. Then there’s a segment that’s older, people of the babyboomer counter-culture generation who got into country with the hippy acts of the 70s like Gram Parsons and Commander Cody. Then of course there are the random drunks, and the Dancin’ Man down at the Ivy Room. Do you feel close to the retro scene (Johnny Dilks, Big Sandy, Deke Dickerson, Wayne Hancock, The Derailers to name a few)? Very much so. I ‘ve met Dilks and Deke, and I’ve met Whit Smith from the Hot Club of Cowtown a few times. I played a showcase at SXSW in 2001 and I met lots of Austin musicians like Roger Wallace, Cornell Hurd, Susanna Van Tassel, Ted Roddy, Brad Fordham. Here in SF I do a lot of shows with Red Meat, they’re an excellent band. There used to be a good band around town called Jeff Bright and the Sunshine Boys who played a lot of Buck Owens and Ray Price style songs. I feel a lot more kinship with those artists then with Nashpop or even the No Depression scene. When I got interested in playing country music I decided early on that I didn’t want to start a rock band in cowboy hats and call it country. I wanted to see if I could play straight-up honky-tonk like they used to do, with the same kind of instrumentation and arrangements. I think my most recent CD proves I can. Some people have a big problem with the term «retro» but I don’t mind it. I think it’s pretty clear I’m reviving a style that hasn’t been commercially viable at a significant level for forty years. I use the word «retro» myself sometimes to describe what I do. If you tell people you play country music and don’t qualify it somehow they might think you’re trying

to be the next Phil Vassar, which is the last thing in the world I’d want to be confused with. Where I depart from some retro-minded people is in how far to take it in terms of image and lifestyle. Like I don’t insist that my band members all drive 40-year old cars or play 40-year old instruments or wear 40-year old clothes or put Brylcream in their hair. How is the musical (and especially country music) scene in San Francisco ? Well country music isn’t exactly all the rage out here. The Bay Area is a unique place where a lot of people who don’t fit in other parts of the USA come to be themselves. People out here like to think they’re very forward-thinking and unorthodox, and in the US country music is widely associated with conservative social values, so your average left-leaning Bay Area citizen doesn’t have much use for it. I think country music reminds too many people of the south and midwest, the places they left behind, to be that big out here. The big thing now is DJ music, techno and hip-hop. DJs have replaced bands at a lot of places. Live music in general is in a bit of a lull these days, since the economy slowed down. Lots of people

have lost their jobs or left the city, venues have closed or stopped booking music, and the biggest rehearsal studio in town closed up shop. What clubs there are book lots of punk, indie rock, metal, world beat, jam bands, jazz, Latin groups, you name it. A few years ago cover bands and retro swing bands were all the rage, but those trends have petered out. The country and Americana scenes have produced some really good acts like Red Meat, Johnny Dilks, Cari Lee, Dave Gleason’s Wasted Days, Dallas Wayne, Tom Heyman, The Bellyachers, and lots more. Most of us don’t get much press locally, but there are a handful of good community radio shows that play our stuff, and a few venues where we can draw a crowd. There’s still good roots music somewhere in town every week, because San Francisco is a great place to live and keeps attracting talented people.

NASHVILLE What do you think about Nashville? Do you think country is still played there? Would you like to play at the Grand Ole Opry ? I haven’t been to Nashville since 1982, when my family flew me down there to see Elvis

Costello play at the Grand Ol’ Opry on his «Almost Blue» tour as a Christmas present. I hear there’s not much of a club scene there. I don’t know anyone there. Most of my favorite bands and performers are independent, grassroots club acts who work out of Texas or California. Sure, I’d play the Opry if I had the chance, but I’m not holding my breath. It seems there is a new generation of bands who play country music the way it must be done. Do you think Nashville (and the Opry) will have to consider them ? Yes, there’s a whole new crop of really good hard country, honky tonk, and western swing players that have gotten going in the last ten years. It’s great. Does Nashville need them? I don’t think so. Country music at the top big-business level has become a whole different kind of music from what artists like me do. I think some of my songs could have been mainstream country hits 40 or 50 years ago, but not now. I think most of the performers who want to play country music their own way, heavily informed by older styles, will have to build their careers outside the Nashville machine. That’s sad maybe but that’s the way it is. It’s nothing

Part of why I’m less inclined to really badmouth Nashville than Wayne or Dale Watson or Robbie Fulks is because I haven’t quit my day job and attempted to make a living playing and selling my music full-time. new either, in the 70s they were recording the hell out of Dave & Sugar while Vernon Oxford was hanging drywall. On a brighter note, I’ve heard that the Opry has been booking some indie artists with talent and intergrity like Elizabeth Cook and Mike Ireland, which is very encouraging. And who knows, maybe there’ll be an upswing in demand for country that’s closer to its roots, like what happened with the New Trads in the late 80s. Do you feel yourself on war, as Wayne Hancock do, against what happened to country music in Nashville ? It’s a big leap from Ernest Tubb to Rascal Flatts, and it’s hard for many of us to consider the latter country music at all. But what are you going to do? Stay up at night worrying about it? Nashville’s gonna crank out whatever they think will sell and they’ll call it «country music» whether it fits my definition or not. What has always defined country music since its birth as a commercial entity has been a sort of consensus of the people who play it, listen to it, market it, buy it. By that definition then yeah today’s mainstream country is country music, simply because that’s what a large number of people have agreed to call it. And the culture has changed a lot since 1950. The suburbification and mallification of America have changed country music just like they’ve changed everything else. That said, I do consider today’s country mainstream to be a significantly different subgenre from what I do, and I don’t care for a lot of it. There’s too much of the 70s countryrock sound like the Eagles in it, and some of it even reminds me of 80s hair metal power ballads and arena rock. But you know, no one is making me listen to it. I can change the channel and ignore it and go do my own thing.

Do you make a living out of your music, or do you have a day job ? Part of why I’m less inclined to really badmouth Nashville than Wayne or Dale Watson or Robbie Fulks is because I haven’t quit my day job and attempted to make a living playing and selling my music fulltime. If I was trying hard for a successful full-time country music career then I’d probably be a lot grouchier about not getting played on the radio, or not having a record deal, or seeing Faith Hill passed off as country music. As it is I don’t expect to become a big name as a performer, because I don’t plan on quitting my job and going out on tour for long stretches. I’m too happy with my home life to be out on the road all the time. Long-term I hope to gain greater recognition as a songwriter. I would love it if other performers covered my songs. That’s happened a little bit, one band here in town was playing «I’m Damned» for a while and another has been performing «Give Up On Me». I’ve heard rumours of bands in Illinois and Missouri covering my songs. I love that, I want more of that. I think that’s the best contribution I can make to the country music tradition. I’d love to hear Justin Trevino sing one of my songs. What are your projects ? Both of my CDs has been released in the EU in January, 2003 on the Spit & Polish label. They are based in Glasgow, Scotland and have put out records by Laura Cantrell, Paul Burch, the Radio Sweethearts, and many others. I’m really pleased about that. I’d love to go to Europe and play a few gigs to support the release, but my wife and I have another child on the way so that might not be in the cards. I’m continuing to play a few gigs each month around town. I recently did a session as a guest vocalist on a CD by a group called Clothesline Revival,

that’s out now. I sang two Hank Williams songs and an Onie Wheeler tune. It’s an interesting record, a stab at mixing country and old-time music with looped beats and electronic atmospherics. Pretty soon I’ll start thinking about making another record of my own material, but realistically it’ll probably be another year or two before that happens. A last word ? Thanks for your interest in my music. There’s so much music in the world today that any time anyone chooses to listen to mine I feel flattered.

Discography Long players Sings Heart Songs (2000) CD Carswell (LL001) Songs That Make The Jukebox Play (2002) CD Carswell (LL002) Compilations Good Rockin’ Tonight volume 1 (2000) CD Purist Record 1 track : Midnight Blues Good Rockin’ Tonight volume 2 (2000) CD Purist Record 1 track : Jump Right Out Of This Jukebox Appears on Clothesline Revival «Of My Native Land» (2002) CD Perfect Pitch / Paleo (5001) Tom sings 3 tracks : Ramblin’ Man, My Home Is Not My Home, My Sweet Love Ain’t Around With The Hollowmen Poison For Profit Demo Tape This is Cactus Land EP Amoeba Records(Unreleased) Sinister Flower Gift LP Pravda Records Pink quartz Sun Blasting LP Amoeba Records Iowa Compilation Label unknown (sorry) Pravda Artists: 10-year Anniversary Compilation Pravda Records The Hollowmen dicography comes from the following website : http:// iua.axiompiercing.com/515hollowmen.htm

Dawn

e Shipl y and the sharp shooters

A

french poet has once said that «the

dies, a pretty texan gal leading a bunch of

future belongs to women». I guess

californian fine musicians, some «sharp shooters»

he was talking about the future of

who turn her first album «Step it up»(a second

rockabilly ! Without Marti, Josie, Rosie, Cari,

one is comin’) into a running fire of efficient

Dulcie (are they all sisters ??) that music will

rockabillies.

indisputably be like a body without some fresh

But let’s read how a girl can move from Winnie

and warm blood. Dawn is one of these rockin’la-

The Pooh to Patsy Cline !

by dave long tall & fred turgis

Dawn

Shipley and the sharp shooters

So, how long have you been doing music ? I started singing in church choir and playing piano before I can remember--when I was 3 or 4. Music was always a necessity in my life. This is my first band, though, which was started about 4 years ago. Do you still play piano today ? I wish I did ! It’s difficult to have a piano when renting an apartment. How did you get started ? My family was always very musical. My grandmother plays piano by ear, so there was always music around, and we were always encouraged to make music. The piano became an outlet for me growing up, and I always enjoyed singing at the top of my lungs, making everyone around me look at me funny. Did you grow up in a musical family ? Ha ha--see previous question. :-) Yes, very much so. I remember my mom singing and playing guitar for me when I was little, and my grandmother played piano by ear, which she showed me a little, then gave me some lesson books and let me play all I wanted. Do you remember the first record you bought and/or the one that made you think « Woahhh, that’s what I want to do ! « Oh, I had tons of records when I was little ! I think I got my first little white and blue Fisher-Price record player for my 6th birthday. I had all kinds of records like the Grease soundtrack, My Sharona, Hey Mickey, etc, etc, along with all kinds of children’s records--Winnie the Pooh and so on. I was always playing (and scratching) them

I had all kinds of records like the Grease soundtrack, My Sharona, Hey Mickey, etc, etc, along with all kinds of children’s records-Winnie the Pooh and so on. I was always playing (and scratching) them and singing along at the top of my lungs.

and singing along at the top of my lungs. And I always wanted to sing, but it wasn’t until I really listened to Patsy Cline in my early twenties that I knew exactly what I wanted to sing. Its a long way from Winnie the Pooh to Patsy Cline. How did you discover her music ? My mom listened to classic country (as well as many other things) when I was young, so it was part of my background. But I didn’t REALLY take notice of her until the mid90’s when I was getting over my strictly new wave phase. More generally, how did you become interested in rockabilly and all that rockin stuff ? It was at the same time as I fell in love with Patsy’s style and strong voice. I kind of got bored with the new wave and was seeking something new and wanting to broaden my horizons. I started to go see some live bands (in Austin, TX--that’s where I lived at the time) that played a variety of early forms of music, and met people at those shows who got me into hillbilly, early country, swing and rockabilly stuff. Once I first was exposed to the stuff, I couldn’t get enough! What are your influences as a singer and a songwriter ? Patsy Cline has got to be the biggest influence on me. But there are so many others that have also influenced me--Wanda Jackson, Janis Martin, Goldie Hill, Charline Arthur, Johnny Cash, Lefty Frizzel, Carl Perkins, and the list can go on and on... On your website, to the classic desert island record question, you answer Patsy Cline, Marti Brom and more surprising any Clash . Do you have a punk background ? Ha ha... That’s more from my new wave days. I do love what little clash I have, but I probably wouldn’t include them if I had to answer the question again. There’s too much wonderful music out there (all types) that I don’t know what I’d choose! Hopefully I’ll never get stranded on a desert island ! What about your band, where do they come from, were they in other bands before ?

Joel Morin, my guitar player, is from Michigan, and has played with Pep Torres, 3-Day Monks, Rebel Train, Original Sinners, just to name a few. Tony Macias, my bass player, is from Los Angeles, and has played with Pep Torres, Annette Valdes and more, and is currently also playing with The Rocketz. Tony DeHerrera, my drummer, grew up in the LA area as well (though was born in Tacoma Washington), and was in a punk band that I don’t know the name of back in his high school days. Currently he plays with the Vaquetones as well. Do you remember the first show you played ? Yes, our first show was in September of 2001 at Crazy Jacks which was in Burbank, CA (part of LA for all intensive purposes). We opened for the Paladins. Does it change something being a woman on the rockabilly scene, is it harder ? People have asked me questions like this throughout my life. I’m also a software developer, something else that is less common for women to do. I guess in someways, in every aspect of life being a woman makes things different. Sometimes it’s easier, sometimes it’s harder. I think all in all, I’ve been lucky being a woman in the rockabilly scene, and for the most part, it’s been easier for me, though, of course, it’s always a challenge and a lot of hard work. Don’t you think that things change, that we see more and more rockabilly women (Marti Brom, Josie Kreuzer, Kim Lenz, Cari Lee…) than 15 years ago ? Well, I think there’s more people in rockabilly than 15 years ago in general, but 15 years ago I really didn’t know what it was, so I’m not the best judge of that. About your album, was it your first experience in the studio. Did you release anything before that ? Yes, the debut album, Step It Up, was my first studio experience, and our first release. Was it done live in the studio ? Yes, for the most part it was done live in the studio. I lost my voice while recording and had to go back a couple weeks later to do the vocals for one song, but all the rest was done live.

What is the most memorable gigs you played and/or went to ? We’ve had so many memorable gigs, it’s hard to pinpoint a few. It’s always a pleasure to get together with the Honeybees from Chicago and the Casey Sisters from Austin, TX to do our She Demons tours. We’ve only done one tour so far, but hope to get together again soon. We also have had especially good times playing the Rockabilly Ball in Seattle, Washington the last 2 years, and Viva Las Vegas 7. What can you tell about the new album ? The new album is almost done! We are currently mixing. There are 9 of my originals, 1 instrumental (Joel gets credit for this one), a few covers, and maybe a bonus track. The cd is named «Baby If I...» and includes a wide range of songs, including a couple frantic rock ‘n roll tunes, a kind of jazzy number called «Crazy For Your Love,» some honky tonk tunes and more. Will you have guests ? There are no guests this time, just me and the ‘Shooters. It’ll be out on El Toro sometime soon--Winter, hopefully. You’ll just have to wait and find out on the rest of the details on your own, but I must say, I’m very excited about it ! I think we’ve grown tremendously since «Step It Up» and it shows. A last word ? I’d just like to say thanks, for doing the interview, and thanks to all the fans out there. I’m blessed to have all the support from everyone that allows me to continue doing what I love. It’s really what keeps us going ! And we hope to see you out there in France one of these days ! Alright, enjoy, and take care ! www.dawnshipley.com

Discography Long player Step It Up (2004) CD Shot-O-Clock 1 Compilation 30 Years Bear Family Records (2005) 2-CD/1-DVD BOX-SET (LP-size) with 108-page book Bear Family BCD 17015 PR One track : Bear With Me Baby

The Hi-Q’s A conversation with

Matt Strickland

D

etroit is known all over the world for

(refer to review in the previous «Jumpin»

his car industry but for rock’n’ roll

issue) and are very busy touring the whole

people Detroit is synonymous with

wide world (Last Vegas, Green Bay, Spain,

small but great labels like Fortune and Hi Q

Montreal…) and helping the rockabilly

Records. Today, a band which has named

community connecting together (thanks to

itself reffering to these labels can be add to

www.planetrockabilly.com).

the list of the new talented rockabilly bands.

However, Matt has spent some of his

Matt and his gang has released a superchar-

precious time answering some of our

ged first CD for the Spanish label El Toro

questions.

by dave ‘long tall’ phisel & fred turgis

So, how long have you been doing music ? I’ve been playing music since the age of 5. I started on piano and was playing the guitar at 14. Do you have a classical training? No classical training per se. I only took lessons from the age of 5 until 8. More technique, scales, etc during that time period. Does it help you writing songs now? Any musical training will definitely help your understanding and knowledge of musical structure. I’m sure it has some effect on what I’m doing now as a musician and song writer. How did you get started ? My father was a jazz musician through high school and college and he encouraged me to take up music. My father played saxaphone. Did you grow up in a musical family ? On my father’s side mostly. My grandmother sang and played piano and did a few recordings. What kind of stuff was it? She was a young woman when she made them in the early 40’s. They were kind of contemporary music from that time period. Love songs of a sort, I would say. Have you always been into rockabilly? I’ve always liked the genre throughout my life. My mother was a big Johnny Cash fan and through that I discovered the Sun stuff and it went from there. During my teen years I listened to a lot of punk and hard-

Rudy

core music (still a big scene for that genre in Detroit). I got heavily into rockabilly/ hillbilly music in my mid 20’s. You’re in your mid 30’s, so you were a teenager when the Stray Cats were big in the States. Did they influence you one way or another? I did buy their records when I was 13 I think. At the time I think I liked them because they were doing something different and influenced by 50’s music. Looking back, they seem to be a starting point for a lot of people to get involved in rockabilly in the United States. Do you remember the first record you bought and/or the one that made you think «Woahhh, that’s what I want to do !» Well, the first record that made me want to play rockabilly music was the Johnny Burnette Rock n Roll Trio stuff. It was so wild and out there....imagine recording all that back in the 50’s ! They must have thought they were from outer space back then. When you bought that Johnny Burnette record, how old were you and how did you end buying this record? I was in my early 20’s and it was the first piece of rockabilly vinyl that I’d owned. I can’t remember where I got it, but I rember getting it because I liked their version of «Train Kept A Rollin». The rest of the LP really killed me ! It was hard for me to imagine music that savage and wild being recorded during that time period. What are your influences as a singer and a songwriter ?

Jimmy

Man, that’s a tough one as there are so many...Johnny Burnette, Jack Earls, Charlie Feathers, Joe Clay, Lew Williams, Curtis Gordon, Johnny Powers are all at the top of my list, but there are a ton of guys out there that had only maybe one record....Jimmy Carroll for instance. What about your band, where do they come from, were they in other bands before ? The Hi-Q’s has been around since April 2003. Our drummer Loney and guitar player Smokey (now former guitar player) were in a band called the Big Barn Combo for several years. Our bass player Rudy was in the Starlight Drifters and played in a couple of earlier groups with Loney. Both Loney and Rudy play with Jack Scott as part of the Top Ranks. Currently, Jimmy Sutton of the Four Charms has been filling in duties on lead guitar. Is he a permanent member ? Jimmy Sutton is the permanent guitar player for the Hi-Q’s. We’ve just started working on a new set of recordings with him in the last couple of weeks. What about Steve Jarosz ? Steve has played with us on several occasions and I’d surely use him in the future if the need arrises. He’s got his own projects here locally including a fantastic Latin Jazz Trio. Do you remember the first show you played ? We did a show at a small bar in Detroit. I remember feeling relaxed and confident... had a load of fun with it too. I’d been in

Rudy

Let’s tear the dancefloor up too many bands were I had to worry wether or not one or more of the other members would do their part. Tell us more about your site «Planet Rockabilly».When did it start ? Planet Rockabilly is the brain child of our bass player Rudy. I guess I’ve taken over as the content manager while Rudy handles all the technical aspects of the website. At the time, we thought there was no worldwide website that covered the rockin’ scene in depth and on a regular basis. It can be a lot of work, but it’s enabled me to meet a lot of really good people who I would never have known. The Rockabilly scene seems to be reborned by the many and high quality newcoming bands from Sates. Tell us more about the actual american rockabilly scene. That’s very true! Most of the newer bands are coming from Southern California where they have a very strong scene, but there are bands scattered throughout the rest of the country like the Star Devils, Buck Stevens and the Buck Shots, the Star Mountain Dreamers, etc.. It’s very difficult to tour most of the country as the opportunity make enough money to

pay for the tours are very limited. Hopefully some inroads will be made soon and get the bands coming through our area on a regular basis. I’ve done some promotion and won’t book shows if I don’t think that I can fairly compensate the acts for their performance... also won’t make promises I can’t keep either.

having at a gig recently was at the High Rockabilly Weekend in September of 2004. Boy was that ever a fun party! As a fan, I think the first Green Bay weekender was just amazing...so many artists in one place at one time. It was almost like a dream. I’m looking forward to playing there this time around !

Tell us more about your first album «Hop and Bop»... We recorded «Hop and Bop» in two sessions at a local recorded studio called Woodshed Studios. It’s run by a good friend and musician Tim Pak. We recorded live using analog equipment and ribbon mics. We tried to get that live 50’s sound like you hear on Sun, Meteor or Mercury rockabilly recordings.

Talking about Green Bay, did you meet «legends» there you’ve always wanted to meet ? I did get a chance to talk to a few of the «legends», but I think I spent most of my time getting crazy with my contemporaries !!! It was a wild party that lasted a long week.

Why beeing produced by the «El Toro» spanish label ? We actually produced and recorded the record ourselves, but released it on El Toro. We needed a way to distribute the record and Carlos does a great job of putting his bands out there and getting them heard. What are the most memorable gigs you played and/or went to ? As a musician, the most fun I can recall

When can we expect a new release ? We’re busy working on new songs and hope to have some new recordings put together as soon as we can get ourselves back in the studio. A last word ? I’d just like to say thanks to you and to everyone out there who bought the Hi-Q’s CD and contributes to Planet Rockabilly ! www.hiqs.planetrockabilly.com/ www.planetrockabilly.com

I

f you read the previous issue of jumpin’ from from 6 to 6, you know by the review I made of her first solo effort, that I like this artist. So this introduction won’t be very long and I’ll let Rachel talk about her in her own words as she does it far better than me. I just wanted to say that since this interview took place, some good news arrived. Little Rachel will record a new album sometime in November with members of The Lazy Jumpers from Spain (Mario Cobo on guitar, Ivan Kovacevic on upright bass, and Blas Picon on drums), a pianist and a sax player will complete the line-up. A last thing before you read this interview, Little Rachel has now a website www.littlerachel.net. Now you can read... I first discovered you in a rockabilly style with the Casey Sisters. Now you’re back with a solo album in a rhythm’n’blues vein. Do you remember how and when you discovered these styles ? When I was growing up in the 1980’s, my father listened to rockabilly and country artists of the 1950’s and my mother preferred the Motown bands and 1960’s soul. I suppose I always had an appreciation for older music, because it was familiar. I really began listening to the 1950’s styles when I was 18 and performing as a Patsy Cline impersonator. When I was doing research for my role as Patsy, I started learning more about the other artists from the time period that played similar music. Were you in a musical family ? My father sang in a country band with my uncle for a short time when I was about 9 or 10 years old, but he was never very serious about being a musician. My brother plays music professionally. He sings and writes songs for his pop/rock band «Drew6». I think much of our appreciation for music came from our mother. She is not very musical, but she loves to listen to music and always had a record playing on the turntable when we were children. What did the little Little Rachel use to listen to ? From a young age, I have liked all kinds of music. My brother always wanted to be a pop star. Since he was my older brother, I wanted to be like him. When I first took an interest in performing, I wanted to be a pop singer, too. Somewhere, I have pictures of me at various ages, dressed as different pop singers - Michael Jackson, Boy George, Madonna, Cyndi Lauper, etc. I did not stop listening to Top 40 music until I was about 12.

When did you start playing music ? I was singing at the family Christmas parties since before I can remember. I decided I wanted to be a singer when I saw the movie «Annie» at the age of 5, but I didn’t have my first real stage performance for an audience until I was 9. Like Brenda Lee, I was a little girl with a very big voice- I guess that has not changed much!

Let’s talk about the new record. Is this a project you wanted to do for a long time ? I decided I wanted to make this record about 3 years ago. I had been singing rockabilly for a while, so I wasn’t sure where to start. I just knew I wanted to sing the music that came from my soul, and I wanted people to enjoy listening to it as much as I enjoy singing it.

Were you in other bands before The Casey Sisters ? Most of my performing experience came from working at a dance school and competing with their song and dance troupe. I did the Patsy Cline show for a short while, and then I was in one rockabilly band in Kansas City before the Casey Sisters. They did not approve of me singing with Caroline, because she was their singer before I replaced her in the band. After my first performance with Caroline as the Casey Sisters, I was asked to leave the band.

Was rhythm’n’blues your first «love» ? I love any music that comes from the heart or expresses a feeling or emotion, and I also love music that is fun. I think my first «love» was rock n’ roll, because it is both of those things. I have always loved R&B, because it is the mother of rock ‘n roll, and it allows me to express the more soulful qualities of my voice.

You’re from kansas City but with the Casey Sisters you moved to Austin, why ? The first show we played was the talent show at the Viva Las Vegas Weekender in 2000. We were living in different cities, and singing in our own bands. We only learned 2 songs for the show- just for funand we never expected to make much more of it. Wildfire Willie (Jan Svensson) was in the audience with Lars Strandheim, the owner of Tail Records, and insisted that Lars should bring us to Sweden to record for Tail. At that point, we knew we had an opportunity to make the Casey Sisters in to a successful band, but we needed to be in the same city to work on our songs. Austin seemed like a good choice for both of us, because there were a lot of great musicians there to work with and to give us inspiration.

I’ve seen in your bio that you learned guitar to write and teach your songs… It is very difficult to write the melody of a song when you don’t play an instrument. I have always struggled with playing instruments, because I was actually born with a neurological disorder called «mirror movement» which caused a physical handicap with my hands. I was very determined to make this record, so I learned enough chords to write melodies- but you won’t ever see me play guitar on stage ! What is your songwriting technique ? Do you get the words or the melody first ? As for my songwriting technique, I usually pick a song I like the sound and feeling of for inspiration. I’ll take a similar feel and write lyrics to go with the melody. When I create my own lyrics, add my own style, and organize it with a band, it becomes a completely new song.

Eva Eastwood also wrote a bunch of songs. How did it happen ? It took a while to learn the guitar and start writing songs. I was getting impatient, and I wanted to start recording, but I didn’t have enough songs for the record. Rather than do a bunch of covers, I would rather take the opportunity to share new songs from other talented songwriters. I met Eva Eastwood through our common affiliation with Tail Records. I adore her. She is a brilliant and very active songwriter, and a generous artist that is always willing to help out another musician. I knew she was the perfect person to contact, because she writes so many great songs, she can’t even record them all herself ! As I predicted, she was very kind when I asked for her help, and sent me a demo of about 20 songs. I chose the ones that were most appropriate for an R&B record, and I think they are some of the best tracks I have. I imagine more of the songs she sent will be on the next Casey Sisters recording. What are your influences as a singer and a songwriter ? My early influences as a singer include anything from Patsy Cline to Tina Turner. As I became more interested in 1950’s- style music, I was most inspired by Janis Martin, Marti Brom, Winona Carr, Nick Curran, and Etta James. As for songwriters, some of my favorites include Hank Williams, Leiber and Stoller, Don Cavalli, and Eva Eastwood. They all write different kinds of songs, but they all write songs that can express a feeling in a simple language that everyone can understand and relate to. What was the biggest challenge for you with this record ? I lost my voice the first time I set up the recording session, so I had to postpone the record another couple of months. This style of music is much more strenuous to sing than rockabilly, and I was afraid my voice wouldn’t be able to make it through an entire session. It was difficult, but I did it. And the biggest achievement ? Since Caroline wrote most of the songs for the Casey Sisters, I felt inexperienced in my songwriting. It was a big step for me to learn some guitar and start sharing my songs with

I decided I wanted to be a singer when I saw the movie «Annie» at the age of 5, but I didn’t have my first real stage performance for an audience until I was 9. Like Brenda Lee, I was a little girl with a very big voiceI guess that has not changed much ! people. I am really proud of the way my original songs turned out. Of course, I owe a lot of credit to a fabulous band and my wonderful producer, Billy Horton. I think Billy is brilliant because he can take my ideas and translate them in musician speak to the band, so that they play it exactly as I was hearing it in my mind. Of course, only a great band could play it just the way he tells them. So, aside from overcoming the songwritng obstacle, my biggest achievement was choosing the perfect people to work with to get the sound I wanted. Who is in your touring band ? I will be playing a short tour in Europe next month with the great Spanish jump blues band «The Lazy Jumpers»- but it seems like I have a different band for every tour. Eventually, I would like to do some touring in my own country, and get a regular touring band here in the States. Maybe the guys from my recordings would be interested... What advice would you give to a new singer ? Do what you love to do, and don’t be afraid to try something new. If you had to choose a record in your collection and say « Buy it folks, you won’t regret it « Which one would it be and why ? Of course- «Little Rachel- ‘Cause I Feel Good», because there aren’t any new records like it out there. It will make you smile, it will make you cry, make you dance, and make you sigh- it is a record for everyone!

A last word ? Thank you so much for the honor of sharing my words with your excellent publication. I really appreciate your contribution to keeping the music I love alive!

Discography Long players Little Rachel ‘Cause I Feel Good (2005) Self Released The Casey Sisters and the Salt Flat Stompers Who’s Crying Now (2000) Tail Records 108 Crazy Spree (2002) Tail Records 115 Appears on Nick Curran & The Nitelifes Doctor Velvet (2003) Blind Pig Records BPCD 5081 Rachel sings backing vocals with Caroline Gnagey, Bobby Horton et Mike Barfield Compilations Barenstark/Bear Essentials (Bear Family’s 25th anniversary compilation) (2000) Bear Family BCD 17012 One track : Grizzly Bear Stomp The Casey Sisters with Dave Biller on guitar, Kevin Smith on bass, Buck Johnson on drums, and Floyd Domino on piano Crimson and Cloverzz A Tribute to Tommy James & the Shondells (2004) Wildebeest 12 One track : You Better Watch Out A rare recording of the Casey Sisters singing 60’s-style rock featuring Dave Biller on guitar and fuzz bass, and Karen Biller on drums

© www.planetrockabilly.com

photo: Josh Lewis

W

‘I believe in Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer (...) I therefore believe it is my duty to myself to love it, to respect it and enjoy it against all other beers.’ The Beer Man’s Creed The Untamed Youth 1998

hen I started «Jumpin’

ting these words, my stereo is

From 6 to 6», I knew

playing «I see Mona Lisa in my

I wanted to interview

pepperoni pizza»). So, always

Deke Dickerson. My first con-

with the interview in mind,

tact with his music was in

everytime I had an idea for

the nineties with the Dave

what would be a «good ques-

& Deke Combo’s first album

tion» I wrote it in my note-

«Moonshine Melodies» and it

book. As I finally gathered all

had a big impact on me, believe

of them I had an interview

me ! I then followed his solo

as long as Leon Tolstoi’s «War

career, finally discovered the

and

Untamed Youth and went nut

various subjects as : Mosrite

for the Go Nuts (as I’m wri-

guitars, obsession with food,

Peace»

with

such

Together again ! In 2005, Deke rejoins his pal Dave Stuckey as well as Lance, Shorty and Lucky for a bunch of shows with the now legendary Dave & Deke Combo

Mr Entertainment with his famous TNM custom doubleneck guitar. Read the whole story behind this instrument on www.dekedickerson.com

what is the Thing, Joe Maphis, Eccofonics

studios,

blonde, brunette or redhead, Dave Stuckey, Sammy Hagar or David Lee Roth, The Dukes Of Hazzard, Deke’s production works, the history of eefing, the Rockin’ Tailfins, Bear Family liner notes, getting bald, beer and of course collecting records. It wasn’t an interview, it was a book. So, after watching the West Coast Ramble DVD, I decided to focus on the «records lover» part of it. Here it is, but one thing is certain, the Deke Dickerson’s case is not closed. Do you remember the first record you bought ? The first records I OWNED were «handme-downs» from cousins. Luckily for me they were 45’s of good stuff--50’s rock & roll and country. Stuff like Bill Haley, Johnny cash, etc.--the good stuff! What if they had been Led Zeppelin records??? Anyway, the first record I BOUGHT was «Elvis’ Greatest Hits Vol. 1» which I bought the day after Elvis died. Some readers may think «Wow, he’s really young to have started his collecting in 1977» but some readers may think «Holy cow Deke is OLD!!!» And the first one that really impressed you… Oh, Elvis impressed me...

The first record I BOUGHT was «Elvis’ Greatest Hits Vol. 1» which I bought the day after Elvis died. Some readers may think «Wow, he’s really young to have started his collecting in 1977» but some readers may think «Holy cow Deke is OLD!!! I played that record over and over again until the grooves turned white. Were you in a musical family? My grandmother was musical. She played autoharp, guitar & harmonica and did «shape note» singing. I have a picture of her on my website, along with my Grandpa who played guitar and my great-uncles who had an old-timey string band in the 1920’s called «the Webb Brothers.» So yes, I guess you could say I had a musical family. Do you remember the first time you thought «Oh man,I’m becoming mad about records, I’m a COLLECTOR !!!» (you see like Robert Crumb) Well.. by that point it was already too late. My dad was a collector, he was into antique cars and antique planes from the 1930’s and 1940’s. So by the time I was 13 I was already collecting comic books and records. I didn’t know I was a freak until too late! Do you know the size of your collection ? Roughly 50,000 LP’s, 20,000 45’s, 5,000 78’s and a thousand CD’s... give or take a few !? Are you a vinyl «freak», or the format isn’t important, it’s just the music... It’s all about the music. unfortunately like a lot of people I bought records to get the music and now kids can get the stuff on their ipod for free by trading files over the internet ! I do love playing records, but I like playing CD’s and my ipod in the van set on «shuffle.» I find myself playing 78’s less and less... maybe in 10 years I won’t even like my vinyl anymore!? Did you ever buy records just for the cover or the name of the band ? I go to garage sales all the time over here, and I have to admit that I constantly buy

weird records just because the cover brings me joy. It doesn’t matter if it’s a monkey on the cover, or a pinup girl, or even a midget singing gospel music, I must have a thousand «weird covers» albums that I would never actually play! Do you have a record that you are ashamed of, but you won’t sell for nothing ? YES So ashamed of, you can’t tell what it is? Yes, that’s right, please don’t make me say it! ha ha!!!! What is the weirdest one you own ? That’s a hard question.....maybe the gospel midget!? Is there a recording you are particularly looking for, your «Holy Grail»… I have a few holy grail records left. Unfortunately about 15 years ago I traded off my copy of «Mr. Ducktail» by Uncle Buck Lipe....and the last one I saw on ebay sold for $866!!! So that one will probably have to STAY the holy grail for a while....that being said I hope to find a record that’s rumored to exist of «eefing» by Jimmie Riddle....a full LP.....I have the single of «Yaketty Eef» b/w «Wildwood Eef».....I’m a sick man! Was a record particularly hard to get ? It took me forever to get a copy of the Fendermen «Mule Skinner Blues» album, I had to go to Minneapolis to find one! And then in Green Bay this year I got to play with the Fendermen on «Mule Skinner Blues» and have them sign the album, so it all came full circle! What is the one you are very proud to have, and / or the rarest one of your collection I’m probably proudest of my collection of

rockabilly records from Missouri (my home state). I have almost all of them, and several are really insanely rare, like «Hep cat» by Larry Terry and «Be My Baby» by F.D. Johnson... Obscure names unless you’re a hardcore rockabilly collector! Your last great discovery ? The last really amazing score I had was finding the Revels «On A Rampage» album at a record store in Fresno, CA. The Revels were from Fresno, it’s probably the only place this record ever turns up! I had to pay some good money for it, but I could turn around and double or triple my money if I had to. Where do you find them ? Flea markets, ebay, special stores ? Yes to all of the above! Mostly I buy cheap records at garage sales and flea markets. most of my collection are «listening» records as opposed to ‘collectable» records. Many of them are in beat up condition, but I like them to listen to! Do you find things when you’re on tour, especially in foreign countries? When i’m on tour in europe I always buy a big stack of records to take home. I just can’t seem to stop myself!

You’ve played with many legends. Who gave you the biggest thrills ? Scotty Moore, James Burton, Larry Collins, Nokie Edwards, Dick Dale, Link Wray.....I can’t believe that I’ve played with these heroes of mine!!!! This is only a small list, I feel very fortunate to have played with so many of the original 50’s and 60’s legends. Do you have a musician or a player you’d like to play with? Yes, and he lives in France--MICKEY BAKER! I really want to meet Mickey before he dies. Maybe we’ll go by his chalet on our tour this fall!!! How have you been exposed to «Eefing» (It sounds like a 50’s B-movie «This boy has been exposed to eefing, he won’t be the same anymore…» The television show «Hee Haw» that was around in the 70’s....Jimmie riddle would eef on it on every episode. it was amazing! it still is! It’s a classic question, but what is your «desert island record»? Probably the one record I could listen to until the end of time would be «Gene

Vincent & the Blue Caps» his second album for Capitol. How do you choose a song you’re gonna cover ? If it sticks in my head after I hear it, that’s a good sign. Also, if no one else has covered it already. Well, it’s not a record question, but everybody knows you’re a Dukes Of Hazzard collector, did you try to be on the movie soundtrack? Yes, but they had already chose Junior Brown. Too bad! I think the movie is going to be terrible but it is great that they cast Willie Nelson as Uncle Jessie. A last one, for all those who bought «Deke’s show-o-rama» and were frustrated : what is The Thing? I can’t tell you! You have to go there and see it yourself !!!!! That is the rule ! A quick note : we worked hard to have the most complete discography, but by the time this mag was ready to be put online it wasn’t finished yet. So we thought it’d be better not to delay the mag and include the discography in a forthcoming issue.

REV IEWS PHIL HUMMER & THE NITROS Kiss My Axe Wild Teen Records. WTCD 0001 Sometimes You Win, Darlin - Fix Of Your Trix - Kiss My Axe - Snow Cone - Mamma, I Crossed The Line - My Dove - Ruin You - My Mine Own Hands - Wish For A Kiss - Pour Me One More - If I Was Any Later (I’d Be Goin Back In Time) - Liquormission - Hit Man - Diesel Drinkin Daddy DWI - Gas Pumpers’ Blues - Life’s A Bitch (so is you) - Wild Cherry will get right back to you

Imagine what the improbable meeting on the graves of Hank Williams Sr., Elvis and Johnny Cash between Dale Watson, Lux Interior and Tom Waits would be. Imagine now that these three take welcome on their board an hitch-hikin’ Nick Cave and in this road-movie with a Link Wray soundtrack it is unavoidabled at one time or another that they get boozed and have a fight!! Phil Hummer is a kind of that summary! That handsome guy from Michigan which grew up in Tennessee has already signed three albums and this fourth one, «Kiss My Axe», title which sounds as that of a last issue of a Cramps album is an unworked diamond in its gangue, hard, badly cut but with an enormous power. The New York Times qualified the style of this

of Michigan boy as «Hillbilly Hardware» what wants nothing to say in oneself but which sticks rather well to that cranky and rough country. Listen to these 18 titles including seven live recorded. As of the first piece «Sometimes You Win, Darling» you will be catched by this sticky presleyen slow number and that carries on with «Fix Of Your Trix» a cramps-kind and evil one. Then be prepared for the eponymous song which is a kind of modern, violent and radical follow-up to the Buck Owens «Act Naturally». The tone is given and reached its paroxysm with «Ruin You», a ballade with the poisonous and animal dangerosity, skindeep, a true powerful cultsong which I easily imagine as an underground movie soundtrack. But that lad is rather a romantic kind («Wish A Kiss») but when he start to drink nothing can stop him (listen to the nervy «For Me One More»). The live pieces start very extremely with a hallucinated version of Buddy Holly’s «Baby Won’ T You Come Out Tonight (oddly renamed «Liquormission»!) and it is not «Diesel Drinkin’ Daddy» or «Gas Pumper Blues» which will cool down the atmosphere and when the rhythm lowers (a little) it is for some lyrics like Life is a bitch (So Is You»).The final «Wild Cherry» is as the entire album sounds like: Gutsy and frenzy! The countrypunk and psychobilly ama-

teurs should appreciate,the others are invited to discover that very talented man David Phisel

THE STAR MOUNTAIN DREAMERS Greetings from El Paso Uranium Rock Records UR-104 Used To Be My Woman - Hound Like Me - Sippin’ Syrup - Where’ve You Been? - Devil Moon - Can’t Catch & Handle - Texas Rose - She Drives Me High - You Send Me To Heaven - Where’d You Learn Them Things? Rockin’ Bandit - Tu Corazón.

When you’re recording for a label named Uranium Records, it’s impossible for you to play some easy listening calypso music for elevators in a smooth kind of way. The Star Mountain Dreamers are a californian chicano band who deliver a frantic rockabilly with guts and nuts : A «no time to spare» music that will hit you right in the middle of your stomach like an uppercut and will let you groggy. Tony howls and growls like a beast, Danny hammer his drums like a blacksmith, Fred make his guitar sometimes purr then hiccough and vomit a hellfire spurt of notes while Lloyd (the rockin’ Lloyd Tripp!) copulate like a frenzy with his double bass. I’m over emphasizing? Not at all, my dear;

the first title «Used to be my Woman» will give you a brief survey to what I’m saying. Wait a minute, don’t stop listening to your recorder, there’s more to come. «Hound Like Me» is devastating and will take the shit out of you!! To cure your ill, here’s some «Sippin’ Syrup» but it won’t help you at all: you’re definitely an «SMD» junkie wantin’ more and more. And these guys are gonna give you what you’re waitin’for till you’re gasping for breath. Even when you think you’re gonna find some rest («Can’t Catch and Handle») they’re gonna fool you and you’ll find yourself jumpin’ around like a crazy jack- in the- box. They’ll «drive you high» and «send you to heaven» and you’ll ask yourself «Where’d they learn them things?». I tell you, these guys are real «rockin’ bandits»(ten bucks for the bloke who find the trick!). No doubt about it folks: that first album is the real thing! DP

CARI LEE & THE CONTENDERS Scorched Startone Records ST113 I Think About You - The Lover’s Curse Scorched - Fine Fine Man - Burnt Toast & Black Coffee - How Come? - I’m A Little Mixed Up - Don’t Be A Fool - You Shock Me - Little Red Rooster - Now I’m Gonna Roll

Hey guys and gals, welcome to Fred’s cooking recipe. Today’s recipe is : how to make an outstanding rhythm and blues album. Take a bunch of fine musicians :

R EVI EWS THE HORTON BROTHERS Tempo For Two Texas Jamboree TexJam 0062

T Jarrod Bonta (today when you think «piano», 2 names come in mind : Bonta and Leyland), Ryan Gould on bass (Dave Biller’s gipsy jazz album), Damien Llanes on drums (Nick Curran, Deke Dickerson), Don Torosian on sax and of course Steve Merritt on guitar. Add a great female singer with a musical range that goes from Rose Maddox to Etta James and everything in between. Gather all this ingredient in one of the best studio for this kind of music (Fort Horton) with the right producer (Billy Horton). Make ‘em play some Cari Lee’s originals (I Think About You and its driving piano, the jumpin’ Fine Fine Man wich is also available on the cd-rom part of this cd)and a couple of well choosen covers : The Lover’s Curse (Cari Lee’s voice would melt anything on this one), Mike Pedicin’s Burnt Toast and Black Coffee and How Come first sung by Anita O’ Day. Don’t hesitate to mix tempos and moods (the prerock’n’roll Scorched, the jazzy How Come? and the bluesy Little Red Rooster). And that’s it ! Easy isn’t it? Serve hot. Very hot ! FT

Hey Little Momma - My Own Two Eyes - North To Dallas - I Ain`t Got Time For Love - More Than I Cay Say - Locked Out Of Love Again I Had One Too Many - She Tells Me With Her Eyes - Shadows Of The Old Bayou - Yesterday´s Blues - Just Who

Even if they were still active on the scene, The Horton Brothers hadn’t released anything on their own since «Heave Ho» in 2000. But it was worth the wait because this album is simply great. Just have a look at the musicians : playing with Bobby and Billy are Dave Biller, Buck Johnson and T Jarrod Bonta, the same winning team you find on Shaun Young’s Wiggle Walk. Even if this record is still what you can expect from the brothers (sweet harmonies, beautiful melodies…) I should say, comparing to Heave Ho or Roll back The Rug, that this one is less «rural» and sometimes more 60’s. The opening track, Bobby’s Hey Little Momma, has a very Buddy Holly feel with his beat à la Not Fade Away. The Buddy Holly connection continues with one of the five covers of the album : The Crickets’s More Than I Can Say. A beautiful ver-

sion all in subtlety. Another cover, «She Tells Me With Her Eyes» has a very strong Phil Spector feel in it (with those big drums rolls) and I think the writer Ellie Greenwich worked with the famous producer. Another highlight is «I Had One Too Many», a great rockin’ tune with a wild boogie piano part. But as usal, if the covers are great, the real strenght lays in the songs written by the brothers. «My Own Two Eyes» is by far my favorite with a solid tempo and nice harmonies, and «Yesterday’s Blues» is a beautiful slow tempo with sax (played by Billy). Another «must have» for 2005 FT

JANET KLEIN & HER PARLOR BOYS Living In Sin Coeur De Jeanette Productions Hollywood Party - Good Little Bad Little You - Living In Sin - How Could Little Red Riding Hood? - My Blue Bird’s Singing The Blues - Don’t Take That Black Bottom Away - Ce Disque Vous Dira - Baby O’ Mine - I Love My Baby - Jersey Walk - If You Do What You Do - Ballin’ The Jack Big Time Woman - The Sheik Of Ave B - Some Little Bug Is Going To Find You - True Blue Lou - Everyone Says I Love You - Unrequited - Night Wind - Jacksonville Blues - Sunday - Sing Me A Baby Song

if you’re into a beginning of the century (not this one, the previous one) and a jazz mood this album is definitely for you. Obscure, naughty and lovely songs of the 1910’s, 20’s & 30’s is what you read on the cover (beautifully designed as usual with Janet’s album) and this is the best description man can give. Janet’s vocal is fine and if you’ve never heard her, imagine a cross between Annette Hanshaw’s class, Ruth Etting’s exprissivity and Betty Boop/Helen Kane’s sex appeal. The sound is not that far from Robert Crumb’s Cheap Suits Serenaders, and it’s no surprise to find here ex-Serenaders Tom Marion, Randy Woltz and Robert Armstrong, along with Russ Blake (guitar player for The Lucky Stars) here on Hawaiian steel guitar and other fine musicians. Among them, Ian Whithcomb, ukulele, accordion and piano player, sings a few duets that are mini-vaudeville shows («How Could Red Riding Hood?»). I know that with this stuff we are far from wild rockabilly and other rockin’ things, but if you’re curious take a trip with Janet, you won’t regret it. FT

JIMMY SUTTON’S FOUR CHARMS Triskaidekaphobia ! Hi-Style HSD82696

This is the fourth recording from this delicious lady and

Don’t Make Me Beg - Triskaidekaphobia - I Gotta Get Another Girl 6 String Boogie - Lonesome Tears In My Eyes - Up Jumped The Devil

REV IEWS - She Likes To Boogie Real Low Quiet Whiskey - Drops Of Rain -Cubano Jump - Scotchin’ With The Soda On The Sunny Side Of The Street Thats’ A Plenty

At long last, The Four Charms offer a follow up to their astounding album of 2000 «Flatland Boogie». Ok, I must admit that the first time I saw the name of this album I thought «Wow ! Jimmy Sutton goes Mary Poppins». Seriously speaking, I took my dictionary and learned that «Triskaidekaphobia» means something like the fear of number 13. That’s why if you look at the track listing there’s no track 13, just a soundless blank. What about the music? This album covers a wider range of style than the the first one. You’ll find here, top notch boogie blues instrumental like «6 string boogie», rockabilly jive (a great cover of Burnette’s Lonesome Tears in my Eyes with sax), «Scotchin’ with the Soda» with a very Slim Gaillard feel and «That’s a Plenty» that starts like a real jazz tune and suddenly goes into a Merle Travis style showing the musicianship of Joel Paterson, and as usual the overall influence of Illinois Jacquet and The Treniers. I almost forgot to mention

the amazing skill of Jimmy Sutton and his slap bass, not only when he plays solo but he’s really the driving force behind this band. The production work worth to be mentionned too because it make that four members combo sound like they were ten. Take a cure of Triskaidekaphobia right now, it’s good for your health. FT

THE SPRAGUE BROTHERS The Savage Sprague Brothers Wichita Falls Records WFR 334 Betty’s Got A Hot Rod - Once Again I’m Fallin’ - She’s An Adulteress - It Doesn’t Hurt Anymore -This You Did - Charlene - Everything I Have Is Yours -In Your Heart -The Invisible Man - Two Hands In My Pockets Nothing Matters But You - USA

Issued a few months ago, this album subtitled «early recordings from the vault» contains material recorded in the 90’s with Frank and Carl playing all instruments. As I said before, comparisons aren’t always fair. You see, saying that someone sounds like (put the name of the legend of your choice here), could reflect a lack of personality from the artist. But who could say that the Sprague don’t have no persona-

lity? Surely not me. So if you don’t know the brothers yet, I would say that they are the perfect mix of Buddy Holly, The Everly Brothers, Bobby Fuller with a dab of early Beatles (when they were still playing live). As Frank Lee Sprague once said «Influenced by none, inspired by many» and the fact are here you can cite every artists you want, the sound is 100% Sprague Brothers. They could be good musicians and singers but they’re more, Frank is one hell of a songwriter. From the beautiful semi accoustic «Charlene» to «Once again I’m fallin’» and its haunting harmonies without forgetting the rockin’ side of the brothers with «Two Hands In My Pockets» and «USA» with lyrics similar in the meaning to Blasters’s «American Music». If you’ve already bought their Hightone releases you know what I’m talking about. If you’ve never heard them and you want to know how to write «pop songs» (before the terme becomes pejorative), give this album a try. But there’s more, El Toro records from Spain has just released «Best Of The Essbee Cd’s vol. 1». We’ll talk about that in the next issue. FT

THE CORDWOOD DRAGGERS Radiation Bop El Toro Records. ETCD 4011 Honey Honey - I Missed You - Simmer Down - Don’t Tease Me - Radiation

Bop - Shake Her Shack - For Always Flipside Mama - Knock Knock Knock - I Stole Today - Write Me A Letter - Hey Mr Plane - That’s When It All Went Wrong - Rock And Roll On

Talking about nuclear energy here is another fucking good trio from England with a self-penned album. Among the 14 titles of that album you’ll no doubt find something for you with sometimes beat sometimes delicacy: some first class rockabilly («Flipside Mama», «Knock Knock Rock») some hillbilly («Simmer Down» «Shake Her Shack», «Write My Baby A Letter») a honky-tonkin’ one in a Johnny Horton way («I Stole Today»), some «Jets» sounding («Don’t Tease Me» and «Hey Mr Plane»reminds me the famous british band) and a little doo-wopin’ («For Always» with the Roomates backing vocals).The first «Honey Honey» written by the singer Mick Cocksedge is gonna grab you like it grabbed me with its tapering and piercing guitar. Their «Radiation Bop» with the burlisonian sounding rockabilly guitar from Ed Potter and the Jose Espinosa’s bullfiddle will explode in your face. «Rock and Roll On» a «Buddy Holly style» end that second album from a to be closely followed band. DP

R EVI EWS STOMPY JONES Stompy Jones Jewel Records JR-0403 Oh Marie - Mary Had a Little Lamb - Whistle Stop - A Woman’s Intuition - Close Shave - Without You Here You Can Depend on Me - That’s Earl, Brother - Mondine - That Wig’s Gotta Go - Boogie Woogie on a Saturday Night - Can’t Find My Baby - Rug Cutter’s Swing - Dream - Knock Me a Kiss - Juke Box Judy - Along the Navajo Trail

Stompy Jones is a sextet (bass, drums, piano, trumpet, saxophone and vocal) known formerly as The Swing Session, and even this cd is not exactly a new one (it’s been released in 2003), as I didn’t know them until recently, I thought that maybe I wasn’t the only one. What kind of stuff do they play? Imagine Louis Jordan’s Timpany Five playing a jam with Fletcher Henderson and Louis Prima as a guest. The «swing» is something not that easy to describe : you have it or you don’t. Saying this boys have it is an understatement, just listen to their rhythm section : subtle and efficient. From the second this album opens with «Oh Marie» (a song so much heard you thought it was hard to give it something new but they do) you’re hooked by «Pops» Walsh’s voice, bluesy and warm with a feeling that is very hard to find today. And

they don’t just play this music right, they write it too. From the Jordanish «A Woman’s Intuition» to the humourous «That Wig’s Gotta Go» à la early Ray Charles and the beautiful instrumental ballad «Without You Here», Stompy Jones shows once again they have it. I could also mention «Can’t Find My Baby» a superb bluesy number with Pops litterally speaking with the muted trumpet, «Dream» originally a ballad given the Prima/ Butera’s treatment and «Along The Navajo Trail» with its Roy Milton meets The Sons of The Pioneers style. And cherry on the pie, this record is wonderfully packaged with informative liner notes about each song. Make yourself a favour, go to www.stompyjones.com and order it. FT

THE BARNSHAKERS Twenty One Goofin Records GRCD6130 Twenty-One - Come On - Bop Bop Ba Doo Bop - Have A Ball - Knock Knock Rattle - Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby - Yah! I’m Movin’ Wiggle Like A Worm.

band in activity made of one studio track and seven live recording. The studio track «Twenty One», a Vesa Haaja’s own, is an immediate addictive song with its great vocal and lead guitar part and the piano support. This song proves how right they were to add a piano in their line-up. The live show, with the exception of «Wiggle Like A Worm» is made of covers and songs that were never recorded in the studio by the band. This gives another interest to this record to hear them playing classic songs by Wynn Stewart (Come On), Lew Williams (Bop Bop Ba Doo Bop) a Carl Perkins (Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby). The set ends with a frantic Vesa singing and screaming on «Yah ! I’m Movin’» and «Wiggle Like A Worm» with Lester playing Burlisonnian licks. By far the best cut of this record. An advice, if you want it, you should hurry as the cover states it’s a limited release. FT

CARL SONNY LEYLAND Wild Piano Komodo Records KR1005

Very good mini cd from the Barnshakers, one of the best, if not the best european

Music Hall Stomp - My Old Man Stalking The Lion - Blowing Bubbles Boogie - Almond Joys - Yancey On State Street - Jimtown Blues - Last Of The Sawmill Boogie - Green Diamond Boogie - Blues For Bill Field Possom & Taters - Mr Freddy Blues If I Had My Way - Tripling The Bass Body & Soul - Baby Won’t You Please Come Home - Early Hours - Witche’s Kitchen - The Lonesome Road - Boogie Woogie Stomp

Carl is no stranger to lovers of good music (whatever the

kind of music you like : blues, boogie, rockabilly, western swing, jazz). This very productive piano player presents his first solo album since «Gin Mill jazz» four years ago. Just him and his piano recorded at The Old Town Music Hall wich gives the perfect sound for this kind of stuff . Half of the songs are Carl’s compositions with tribute to masters of the old time piano Jimmy Yancey (Yancey On State Street) or Willie «The Lion» Smith (Stalking With The Lion). You also have a new rendition of Carl’s tour de force «Witches’ Kitchen» played even faster than the first version heard on «Gin Mill Jazz». Classics are not forgotten with the jazzy «Body & Soul», the bluesy «Baby Won’t You Please Come Home» (He’s not only an amazing piano player, he’s a great singer too) and Albert Ammons’Boogie Woogie Stomp. «Possom & Taters» a ragtime tune from the 1900’s makes you regret that Leyland have never recorded a full album of pre-world war 1 piano. Maybe more in volume 2, because the liner notes say that this cd represents only half of the session. FT

REV IEWS DEKE DICKERSON & THE ECCO-FONICS Show-o-Rama Vol 1 DVD Self Released

This 2 hours videotape of Deke Dickerson is now available on DVD on his website. Okay, this is not a 15 cameras show or a dolby surround sound. This is Deke on tour, with shows taped by friends and curiosities you can find while on tour filmed by Deke. The best (in term of shooting) segment is the TV show in Japan. This first (on three) live part shows the Ecco-fonics with the saxophone line-up playing «Red Headed Woman», «El Cumbachero», «Beat Out My Love», «Headin’ On The Road» and a few other. It’s followed by an interview and a quick guitar lesson. Before the second live segment, you travel accross the USA with Deke and the boys : from the celebrity car sales to the weirdest museum I’ve ever seen (the now famous «thing», see the interview). Second show, second line up. This time this is the «country» line up with Jeremy Wakefield on steel, Dave Biller on guitar

and Billy Horton on slap bass. The repertoire comes mainly from the «In 3 Dimensions» album like «Gambler’s Guitar», «Pinball Boogie» or «Gentlemen Prefer Blondes». As I said the shooting is not the dreaming one, but it doesn’t have to stop you because this version of the Ecco-fonics is one of the best I know. Don’t miss JW singing «Sweet Sue» with Deke on the bass saxophone. Next stop : Spain. This time Bobby Trimble and Wally Hersom are playing with Deke for a rockabilly/ rock’n’roll incarnation of the Ecco-fonics. Songs performed are «All Dressed Up», «Snatch It and Grab It», «Chrome Dome», George Jone’s «White Lightnin’», «It Would Be A Doggone Lie» and Wally sings «Booze Party» previously heard on the Fly-Rite Boys album. A great and wild show with a lot of doubleneck baritone guitar. The DVD ends with Deke presenting his collection of Duke Of Hazard’s related stuff (socks, lunchbox, 45 and many more). FT

RAY CONDO Sweet Love On My Mind bw/ Big Dog, Little Dog Ray Condo Records CP007

This is a posthumous single gathered by Ray’s friend. Side one is the classic Johnny Burnette tune given the Hardrock Goners treatment, something like «wild rockabilly meets Hank Williams».

B-side «Big Dog, Little Dog» is a song recorded during a rehearsal by Ray and his last musical project, featuring Stephen Nikleva (The Ricochets), Ian Tiles and Tony LaBorie, just a few months before his death. I may be wrong but the only other issued song from this line-up can be found on a tribute album to Alejandro Escovedo. A great piece of wildness (imagine Dee Dee Ramone goes hillbilly). A record you can order at www.slimsandy.com. FT

DEKE’S GUITAR GEEK FESTIVAL DVD Self Released

Another DVD from Deke Dickerson recorded last year. If you like guitars this one’s for you. It opens with the great Gary Lambert (Glen Glenn) showing that time didn’t alter his skill. Great Atkins and Travis picking with classics like «Cannonbal Rag» and «Mystery Train». Second band on the bill «Venturesmania» featuring Deke, Chris Sprague, Garret

Immel (The Ghastly Ones) and Pete Curry (Los Straitjackets), recreates the sound of the Ventures and most specifically the «Live In Japan» album. They even have a japanese MC. Very good and powerful versions of «Penetration», «Walk Don’t Run» and «Bumble Bee Twist». Next TK Smith (Big Sandy, Smith’s Ranch Boys) and Jeremy Wakefield (the steel guitar wizard) pay tribute to Speedy West and Jimmy Bryant. Improvisation, skill and speed : this is country jazz at its best. A special mention must be done to the rhythm section : Deke, Wally Hersom and especially Chris Sprague who played with everybody but Gary Lambert. The big surprise for me came from Brian Lonbeck. I’ve seen his name here and there but never really heard him play. Oh man, he can play the best Joe Maphis guitar you can imagine, always with a smile on his face and it seems effortless to him. This the real discover of this DVD as I already knew the talent of the other guys. His rendition of «Flying Finger» or «Fire On the Strings» worth the price of this DVD. The sole regret is the Deke’s segment. This is exacly the same you can find on «West Coast Ramble 2». Seeing this, we can only hope that Deke’s Guitar Geek Festival 2 will find its way on DVD too some of these days. FT