Vote for Jinx
one man's rockabilly election selection

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by
DC Larson

In February, new peer acclaim may well be extended to Jinx Jones. The California-based singer/guitarist, a popular fixture at Viva Las Vegas, has been nominated for Rockabilly, Male in the 2015 Ameripolitan Awards.

Competition will be stern. Also nominated in that category are Paul Pigat, Eddie Clendening, James Intveld, and Jason D. Williams.

"I’m feeling very honored to be nominated," Jinx recently said. "I also have to say that I really appreciate the work that they do in supporting an important America art form, which celebrates a place in the musical landscape that may not receive a lot of attention from the mainstream media."

(Nominees for other distinctions include Big Sandy and His Fly-Rite Boys, Kim Lenz, the Derailers, Marti Brom, Miss Ruby Ann, and Deke Dickerson and the Ecco-Fonics. Though voting begins on December 6, the Awards themselves will be held on February 17, in Austin. http://www.ameripolitan.com/index.html)

Consider this both my vote for Jinx and effort to sway you to his cause.

To date, he has four crucial CDs to his credit. But Jinx's road began long before them, and was marked by impressive sideman turns. Beginning in 1976, he backed legend Solomon Burke, as well as Howard Bomar. From 1979 through much of the 80s, he worked in one of Chuck Berry's regional touring bands. During the mid-80s, Jinx backed Roy Buchanan in concert.

Undertaking studio player work, he appeared on various recordings. This ultimately led to his playing both studio guitar and bass on the 1992 En Vogue hit, "Free Your Mind."

He developed a musical voice at once inclusive of the finest of Americana past and his own novel articulation. Abandoning work as an auxillary man, he set out to carve his name in the sun.  

With seeming ease, he divines the blood fraternity of rockabilly, western swing, blues, jazz, and honky tonk, dazzling with furious note-bursts one moment, and in the next spinning glorious, intriguing strands of wondrous and untethered imaginings.

Imagine an advanced guitar textbook on 10. Listeners all will doubtless be thunderstruck by Jinx's authoritative command of labrythinian note aggregates, lightning-fleet navigations, and esoteric chordal modes. One intuits they are in the twang-upholstered, jazzy Court of a flat-gone Monarch, one for whom fair Aoede is a favored midnight-hour ship.

2000's License To Twang (Red Rogue) introduced the virtuosic Jinx by name to countless listeners who might already have dug his side and studio work. From the opening, a rapidly descending flurry of treble notes, it was apparent that he deserved remark in the same six-string pantheon already home to Danny Gatton. Honky tonk twanged expressiveness and riotous rockabilly exhortations are colorfully integrated with ebullient bursts of jazz-inflected phrasings. Recommended: "License To Twang," "Big Daddy Bop," "I Need a Good Girl Bad," "Tailor Made Woman."

A follow-up appeared in 2007. On Rumble & Twang (Home Braend), Jinx continued the hardwood-trippin' genre-bending he'd unveiled on "License."  Undeniable now was his status as fretboard royalty. Ecstatic notes were bent, jabbed, and fired off at rocketship velocity. While there was plenty of fierce and wooly barn-dancin' bop on hand, gentler moments, too, enjoyed audience. Jinx's every-string-aflame evocation of old boss Roy Buchanan's "The Messiah Will Come Again" alternately ached, pummeled and seared. Recommended: "Flat Gettin' It," "Swedish Pastry," "Either Way I Lose," "Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White."

The next year saw Jinx's Live In Finland (Home Braend) turn up on shelves. Originals "Mr Right Now," and "Honky Tonk Playgirl" pointed up spring-heeled bop's reeling country accent. Further rousing the crowd were three commanding Rock'n'Roll Trio covers --"Honey Hush," "Tear It Up," and "Rock Billy Boogie." Insofar as he was that night representing America abroad, Jinx did it with appropriate swagger in the type of international incident that leaves all drained. In fact, this on-the-scene document may well have been more frenetic and happily freight-paced than its studio predecessors.

On his latest release, 2010's Rip & Run, Jinx ascended still o'er previous successes. By this time globally famed as a breath-stealing, advnturous picker both encyclopedic and devastating, he led new band the KingTones to bop nonpareil. Whereas others might take broadening capacities to assay styles more sanctified by clef-note gray-beards, Jinx stayed put in the rockabilly/country mileau -- though he unburdened himself of serrated jazz thunderbolts. Recommended: "Redneck Barbie," "On Parole and Out of Control," "Never Live It Down," "Hot Rod Heartbreaker," "Rip and Run."

Such impressive wax to one side, Jinx may be the hardest working man in rockabilly.

"I do a lot of performing here in California, (like four to five nights a week)," he told me recently. "But I also have been playing the Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Weekend for the past several years, and do an annual Christmas show in Denver, Colorado.

"This coming year." he continues, "I do have some festivals lined up such as the Vintage Torque Fest in Dubuque, Iowa, and the Ink and Iron Festival in Nashville, Tennessee (which are confirmed as of this writing). I have other events in the works as well.

"I’m in the process of recording another studio record, which will be nearly all original material."

But first will come the Ameripolitan Awards. As Andy Griffith would say, 'Let's think about this thing.'

Appreciating great sounds bring great responsibility. Fractured night spot revelers and disc-hoarding adherents are obliged to defy boardroom-choreographed pop culture and support those true-believing musicians who preserve vintage stylings and embroider upon them.

 Jinx Jones looms to fight the good fight. Our fight.

We all need to have his back.

jinxjones.com
https://www.facebook.com/jinx.jones.3?fref=ts

VIDEO "Redneck Barbie" http://youtu.be/UDFKu51yaWc
VIDEO "Rip & Run" http://www.kellervision.tv/#/loudville/VideoModule/254



(Parts of this essay appeared previously in the now-defunct Rockabilly magazine, and on my own website, http://www.damnationdanceparty.com.)


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Popa Chubby
"I'm Feelin' Lucky - The Blues According 
To Popa Chubby" (Cleopatra)
by
DC Larson

There are two ways Popa Chubby can loose the demons that have hounded his every day. One is through the poignant bio he's offered: Abandoned as a child to raise himself, he headed to NYC in hopes of finding something better. All that waited for him, though, was heroin addiction and desperate street living. Blues salvation ultimately lifted him out of wretched bondage.

The other way is to plug in his road-battered Strat and voice tongues-of-flame blues orating,
the sort uttered credibly only by those who've survived.  Popa speaks it fluently.

Recommended "One Leg At a Time," "I'm Feelin' Lucky," "The Way It Is," "Save Your Own Life"

http://www.popachubby.com
http://www.cleorecs.com

VIDEO "I'm Feelin' Lucky" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4yAU22QTgc

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Cheetah Chrome
"Solo" (Plowboy)
by
DC Larson

Dead Boy grown Cheetah merits renown for prized membership in two elite groups, influential-beyond-their-circumstance '70s Punk guitarists (the Johnnys Thunder and Ramone also ranking), and survivors of that same no tomorrow, needle-packin' era. As these '95 and 2000 sessions testify the collision-chording, curb-jumping metallic-treble leads, and occasional pensively picked articulation we all recall from CBGB days of legend rise to rage, still.  Special guest in 2000: Sylvain Sylvain.  

Recommended "No Credit," "Sharky," "Nuthin," "Stare Into the Night"

http://www.http://plowboyrecords.com/artists/cheetah-chrome/

VIDEO "No Credit" http://youtu.be/BfzH-oGEpKI

Drake Bell
"Ready, Steady, Go!" (Surfdog)

by
DC Larson

Should one need reminding that ours is a world without justice, reflect that this little style/zero substance CD will doubtless sell better than many superior efforts - the type produced through blood and sweat by hardworking, true believing musicians who've watched many a-midnight dissolve into grey dawn as they've kept alive American musics, in the rough process touching legacies greater than any one man.

And then, there's Drake Bell. He hits all the notes, but he's far too callow, bland, and superficial to seem any more than a tourist. Of course, it's possible that he's so under the sway of career choreographers and image manipulators that this calculated disc masks a real rocker straining to stand free. (Recall that John Mellencamp began recording as airbrushed ruffian Johnny Cougar.)

Drake's next CD may prove his vindication. Surprise us all, man.

Recommended "Bitchcraft"

http://www.drakebell.com
http://www.surfdog.com

VIDEO "Bitchcraft"  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQYBVPVeQn0

Danny B. Harvey / Mysti Moon
"Hell Cat Stomp" (Rock-A-Billy / Cleopatra)

by
DC Larson

Danny well deserves the acclaim that hails his each waxing. Through decades of chameleonlike stylistic transmogrifications, he has ascended to due in the guitar gods pantheon. Thing is, no matter the genre he's conquered, Danny has maintained the elastic twang and kaleidoscopic hot rodding that fans recognize. Not that many players are instantly identifiable stylists. Easily integrating fleet fingerpicked nods to lauded predecessors like Merle Travis with his own heady ambitions earned Danny 2nd runner up in Guitar Player's 2007 Guitar Hero competition.  

And in erstwhile Devil's Daughter Mysti Moon (she of the glad-all-over golden tones) he has found head-turning complement. This lively outing basically follows in the mold of earlier Danny/Lynda Kay Lonesome Spurs efforts, if perhaps more blues-grounded. Danny's sinewy Tele wends its knowing way through the back-country of Americana to the urgings of acoustic strummings, bass, suitcase-kicked beats, and soaring, swooping voices. Mysti's sweet sutriness and Danny's sometimes growled drawlings gambol and sway in fit fashion.

Five rewardingly gritty originals rub shoulders with seven public domain ramblings. Hear America first.

Recommended "(This Train Is Goin') Straight To Hell," St. James Infirmiry Blues,"
                          "Shake It On Down," "Hell Cat Stomp," "I'm Wild About That Thing,"
                          "Hard Moon Boogie"

https://www.facebook.com/dannybharvey2
https://www.facebook.com/MystiMoon?fref=ts
http://www.cleorecs.com

VIDEO "(This Train Is Goin') Straight To Hell"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TolhE1wFOw

Hillbilly Casino
"Hang Your Stockings...Say Your Prayers" (self)

by
DC Larson

Hillbilly Casino is celebrated for both its brawny fix on roots sensibilities and principled insistence on pulling hardwood-rockin' into modern times.

"Brutal honky tonk" they call it. .

"I defy you to find five other bands in the U.S. that can play Hank Sr. back-to-back with Motorhead, back-to-back with Ernest Tubb, back-to-back with Tex Ritter, back-to-back with the Ramones," formidable slap-bassist Geoff Firebaugh once delared.

Indeed, the four-man rock boppin' juggernaut has long been a favorite of average working folks, the sort who swarm the honky tonk dance floors of Nashville and beyond, throwing off real-world cares in wild favor of midnight hour rock 'n' roll bacchanalia. They, like Hillbilly Casino, dig the truth that there are only two kinds of songs, good ones and bad ones. Having fun, after all, is more rewarding than obsessing over genre distinctions.

"Hang Your Stockings, Say Your Prayers" was first issued for Xmas 2008, but is again being made available. This captures why Hillbilly Casino is so vital in a music scene that can never have too many sincere street-born minstrels.

Fiery reimaginings of seasonal staples like "Jingle Bells" muscle into taut formation with originals "Santabilly Boogie," "Tangled Up," and "Blue Suede Santa." Ronnie Crutcher's  powerhouse guitar crunches and stings, singer Nic Roulette belts out each tune with unfeigned passion, and Geoff slaps in rugged determination. (Note: Also appearing here is former drummer Andrew Dickson, who has since been replaced by Matt Arnn.)

Turns out traditional holidays aren't just for squares!


theHillbillyCasino.com
https://www.facebook.com/TheHillbillyCasino

VIDEO: "Santabilly Boogie"  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29-IjckOjTE

Rockats 
"Rockin' Together" (Lanark)

by
DC Larson

Some cats got it...In my first-hand estimation, the Rockats and Robert Gordon prowled the crest of the 70s/80s revival wave. So it's only fitting that in 2014 they all located at Lanark Records - their presence at the surging upstart imprint elevating it in importance. The original 'Cats are here - world-class singer Dibbs Preston, indefatigable six-string rampager Barry Ryan, ever-boppin' upright-slapper Smutty Smiff, and knock-down-with-precision drummer Lewis King/Curt Weiss. Missing is original second guitarist Tim Scott McConnell, though Texas twang maestro Danny B. Harvey - who'd joined for 1983's "Make That Move" (RCA)  - handily ushers memories whilst helping make new ones. Fresh originals race in that welcome old way. This is how rockabilly should be done: fun, freewheeling, and, at turns, gloriously robust. Small wonder that, like Gordon, the Rockats were the toast of Viva Las Vegas. 

Recommended "Rockin' Together," "Pink and Black Cadillac,"
                          "Red-Headed Rockin' Doll," "Tear the Roof Off,"
                          "Old Hickory Road," "Reckless Rebel," "Bad                                     Love," "The Road To Hell"

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Rockats/223175401087003
http"//www.lanarkrecords.com

VIDEO "Pink and Black Cadillac" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tujW3gKK4IM

Levi Dexter
"Roots Man" (Rhythm Bomb / Dextone) 
Levi Dexter and and the Gretsch Brothers
"All Thru the Night" (Indie Japan)

by
DC Larson

Worldwide legend Levi Dexter has two riotous discs to his credit in 2014, and in reaction the crazy rockabilly nightime has burst into endless flame. His famous, authoritative vocals, whether offset by guitarist Buzz Campbell on "Roots Man" or parallel pickers ex-Magic Kenichi Yamaguchi and Katsuo Hino (of Sandra Dee) on "All Thru," resound clearly and with whipcracking passion. When Levi's on, everybody's movin' - though none as marvelously as the stutter-stepping dervish, himself. Truly, a King among kats.

Recommended "Boppin' Bernie," "Roots Man," "Cannibal Party," "Rollin'
                          To the Jukebox Rock," "Move Around"  ("Roots Man")   
                          "Seven Nights To Rock," "You're My Baby,"  "Oakie Boogie,"
                          "Everyday" (w/Gretsch Bros.


LEVI: https://www.facebook.com/groups/519235561484369/
LEVI/GRETSCH BROS. https://www.facebook.com/levidextergretschbrothers
RHYTHM BOMB: http://www.rhythmbomb.com

VIDEO: "Boppin' Bernie" http://youtu.be/unghkXduRcI
VIDEO: "Restless" https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=381357048691327&set=vb.100004511042990&type=2&theater

Robert Gordon/Link Wray
"Cleveland '78" (Rock-A-Billy/Cleopatra)
by 
DC Larson

I'm not sure why, but the band (Gordon/Wray/Jon Paris/Anton Fig) sounds less cohesive, less enthusiastic, on this March '78 live recording than they had some two months prior. (See disc 2 of "Somethin'Else," on Victrola).

Maybe road fatigue. To give them their due, they more often than not deliver powerful rock 'n' roll of the type that blasts into irrelevancy polite cultural standards. And when they are hot, make no mistake, none can compare. 

But the consistency of quality that generally marks Gordon's output is lacking here. This is spotty. 

Completists will want this. For all others, better can be had.    

RECOMMENDED "Lonesome Train," ""The Fool," "My Baby Left Me"


http://www.cleorecs.com

Robert Gordon
"I'm Coming Home" (Lanark)
by
DC Larson

As an RG fan who first heard The Voice on 1975's "Live at CBGB's" double LP, I couldn't be happier with this disc - a strapping reaffirmation of supremacy.

Robert has for years percolated on undersung releases (like 2006 Last Call disc "Rockin the Paradiso,"  and 2007's "It's Now or Never," on Rykodisc.) For those, he was paired with longtime accompanist Chris Spedding, the world-renowned guitar master.

Here, he's backed by a new line-up, a change that only advances the freshness. Storming guitarist Quentin Jones of the Reach Around Rodeo Clowns, and Lanark impresario, is joined by drummers Dave Ferrara and David Uosikkinen (visiting from the Hooters). Marshall Crenshaw, who contributes "Walk Hard," sits in on guitar for 2 tracks. Veteran Gordon band A-lister Rob Stoner brings the bass on all but one cut (Quentin handles that one), and even picks up a guitar twice. 

Along for the crackling fun joyride are various top-drawer pedal steel, saxophone, and B3 players, as well as ace background vocalists whose presence lends further authority. (Among the ambient voices on one track is Gordon's fellow vocal legend, Rockat Dibbs Preston. Dibbs wrote 2 of the songs, here.)

But Robert is the star of this show. He can blast a lyric or swell majestically to whatever heights are demanded. Indeed, to hear his confidence-to-kill delivery and deep force-of-nature baritone, it's as if the last few decades never happened -- except that they imprinted his voice with substance gained only by good and bad living.

Something I was only beginning to understand as I stood outside a closed 1975 record store, gazing through the plate glass at newly-delivered, shrink-wrapped copies of "Live at CBGB's."       

( One quick prediction: The bouncy, fun "Little Pig" may well become Robert's new "Red Hot," demanded by audiences the world over.)
  


Recommended "I'm Coming Home," "Walk Hard," "Little Pig," "Mountin of Love," "Low Down Weekend," "Under Your Spell Again," "Quit This Big Old Town"

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100006673967362&fref=ts
http://lanarkrecords.net/

VIDEO "I'm Coming Home" http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1r2r4v_robert-gordon-i-m-coming-home_music

Resurex
"Dance of the Dead" (Fiendforce/Live Dead)

by

DC Larson

I was not surprised when Resurex leader Daniel Deleon informed me that they'd sold out this disc's first printing, and were arranging another. Their detonative, guitar-to-the-fore horror/punk/
romantic/psycho mash has always enjoyed acclaim. Now even more certain of themselves, the leather-jacketed night-stalkers roam the graveyards of the mind - and tear off enviably melodic racket into the dark bargain.

Recommended "Vampire Kiss," "Dead By Dawn,""Rockin' In Your Coffin," "Return of the Living Dead," "Bride of Frankenstein," "Ghost Town"

BAND PAGE https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rezurex-official-band-page/173657572666475

"Dead By Dawn" VIDEO http://youtu.be/cxcyCEk8ugo