Jerry Reed

The Rockin' U.S. Male

(Bear Family)

Perhaps unbeknowst to filmgoers who know Jerry from the Smokey and the Bandit movies, he was among the finest pickers to emerge from the 1950s. Equally conversant in country, blues, and their rockabilly spawn. 

This package includes an LP and a CD. Well portrayed is Jerry's home-folks-comfortable mien. His easily drawled delivery and finger-picking welcomed listeners into worlds narrated by an Everyman of extraordinary knacks. 

So unprepossessing was he, in fact, one could nearly miss the magic of his presentations - until the soloing jogged attention.

Recommended: "When I Found You," "Guitar Man," "Twist-A-Roo," "I've Had Enough," "U.S. Male," "Hit And Run," "Rockin' In Baghdad," "This Great Big Empty Room," "Tear Drop Street," "I Can't Find The Words," "I Wancha To Know" (Ric Cartey)

Video: Promo

Bear Family 

Dave Del Monte and the Cross County Boys

You May Be Cool b/w Powerhouse

(Independent)

As has become his trademark, Dave merges incocuous humor with respectably executed orthodox rockabilly. What might be dismissed by purists insisting on de riguer subject matter effectively entertains those less demanding. Nothing bad about fun; in fact, it's one of the requisites of the good life.

Facebook

Bandcamp

Red Hot Riot

Up The Riot

(Western Star)

Efficacious bop without distractful sybaritic excess, which is to the good. After all, down on the fundamental level is where communication can be most lucid and readily reciprocated.

Recommended: "Bite Of The Cherry," "The Mask," "Blackbird," "Outcast," "We're In This Together"

Video: "Blackbird"

Facebook

Western Star

Hot Chickens

It's Time To Rock Again

(Independent)

Magnetic rockabilly, well-executed and light on its feet. Superior to whatever dreck issues from radio 'round the clock. At turns, jaunty and rock-ribbed. One perceives commitment. 

Recommended: "It Surely Ain't the Rolling Stones," "Good Movies & Rock'n'Roll," "L'Hymne a l'Amour," "We Are a Rock'n'Roll Trio," "It's Time To Rock Again"

Video: live (45:48)

Bandcamp

Leroy Van Dyke

True Treasures

(Country Rewind)

Many who are fortunate enough to access fortune and fame find them to be fleeting. Not so, Leroy. He is truly a legend, one of the tour-'til-you-can't school. At 92, he's still on the road, still taking genuine country music to the people as he has since the late 1950s.

These songs were recorded long ago, but have been brought up to contemporary technological standards. They sound fresh, authentic, possessed of an innocence possible in their halcyon days. And they are a powerful counter to today's less compelling corporate pop-country.

His rich timbre and easy, conversational drawl give his delivery Everyman character. Each song sounds natural.

This is concise and spring-heeled. Hand-tooled, straight-from-the-heart folk-psalms too rare in a world full of posturers. Leroy belongs in every honest American music collection. 

(And in case you didn't know, this is where Robert Gordon got "Walk On By." )

Recommended: "Walk On By," "Oklahoma Hills," "If a Woman Answers," "San Antonio Rose," "Anytime / Oh Lonesome Me," "Be a Good Girl," "Jambalaya," "The Other Boys Are Talking," "Auctioneer," "Big, Wide, Wonderful World Of Country Music," "Ol' Man Mose"

Video: "Walk On By"

Site

Facebook

Country Rewind

CR Facebook

Eddie Bond

More Hillbilly, Rockabilly and Country From Memphis

(Stomper Time)

Eddie never have reaped the pieces of silver paid Sun mates Carl and Jerry Lee, but as it was't for paucity of talents. Old school musicalizing that illustrates their emanaton from a single source. That's a fact of natural art originals knew and revivalists are wise to acknowledge.

Enunciated are travails of l'amour: whiskey-flavored temptresses, disingenuous paramours, and crushed hopes. Tales of Jezebels in neon-lighted danger zones.

"I didn't know God made honky tonk angels / I might've known you'd never make a wife."

Recommended: "High Steppin' Woman," "Misbehavin' Shoes," "Double Duty Lovin'," "Talking Off The Wall," "You Never Will Be True," "Why Should We Try Anymore," "If I Can Just Get Over You," "Stomping At The Ranch," "Time To Live," "Is My Woman Another Traitor," "Free," "Ben Bailey's Bottom Farm," "There She Goes," "Together Again," "Flip Flop and Fly," "The Wild Side Of Life"

Video: "Misbehavin' Shoes" 

            "Wild Side Of Life"

The Last Bandoleros

Tex Flex

(Cherry Tree)

Their scope allows them to both reference traditional airs and cover Eddie C. And they accomplish each with pronounced singularity. One senses a wealth of cultural cache.

Recommended: "Every Time We Dance," "Maldita," "Fall In Love Again," "Somewhere In Texas," "Mi Amor," "That Kind Of Cowboy," "Sin Un Amor," "Something Else"

Video: "Maldita"

Site

Facebook

Poison Boys

Don't You Turn On Me

(Riot Records)

Among wonderful slivers of influence to which they legitimately lay claim are the Stones, Ramones, and Johnny Thunders. That last particularly stabs in the midst of neck-snapping onrush.

Recommended: "Don't You Turn On Me," "Day By Day," "Little Speedway Girl," "Can't Get You Out Of My Mind," "Nothing But Darkness," "She's Nowhere," "Take a Chance With Me"

Video: "Can't Get You Out Of My Mind"

Facebook

Riot Records

Sonny and the Boys

Hopelessly Romantic

(Gunhill Digital)

The most winningly stylish Doo Wop you're likely to hear. It's a genuine treat to encounter vocal talents of this heady caliber, easily commanding material echoing eras past. Class by the passage, panache by the pound.

Recommended: "A Sunday Kind Of Love," "Gloria," "Morse Code Of Love" (Acappella), "My Own True Love," "The Way You Look Tonight," "When I Woke Up This Morning," "When Sunny Gets Blue," "Zoom"

Video: "Morse Code of Love"

Facebook

LeRoi Brothers

Lucky, Lucky Me

reissue

(A.V.R.A. Records)

Solid in a manner possible only for authentics. Players stride confidently through rock'n'roll ravers and viviacious Tex Mex romps, while sounding sincerely committed to the musics to which they are trothed. Merits high commendation.

Recommended: "Fight Fire With Fire," "The Back Door," "Little Bit Of Sugar," "Darlene Darlene," "Dangerous Girl," "Move It," "Walk With Me Darlin'," "Give Up the Ghost," "Evacuation"

Video: Promo

Site

Facebook

The Social

5 Song Demo

(Independent)

Viscerally pugilistic hardcore like it used to be, with emphasis on rope-burned exhortations. Insistent beat compels witness. Issued from stitched Liverpool subterranean environ. 

Recommended: "You Live, We Die," "Dirty Deeds," "Out Of Time," "The Butcher's Apron," "Disorder"

Youtube

Bandcamp

MidNight Boppers

Break It Loose!

(Independent)

Even in its more sedate moments, there's an implied ferocity that cements this outfit as worth regard. And at explicitly uproarious turns, of which there are many, you couldn't demand more potency.

Recommended: "Break It Loose," "Rockabilly Jiver," "Blacktop Boogie," "I'm Cryin'," "Mexican Standoff," "Shake and Walk," "On My Way To Tennessee," "Billyclub," "Shake a Pretty Baby"

 Video: "On My Way To Tennessee"

Site