Deke Dickerson and the Whippersnappers

Honky Tonkin' Rhythm

(Major Label Records)

In addition to being among the most adroit pickers extant, Deke possesses a grained voice that fits this pastoral material. Honky Tonk country may be a niche interest, but its adherants are devoted and the genre never had truer and more reverential portrayal.

Recommended: "Bucket Of Blood," "Now That You're Gone," "Baby's Gone Uptown," "Loneliest Man In the Whole Wide World," "Battering Ram," "Here Kitty, Kitty," "Goin' Honky Tonkin'," "High Noon," "You Better Not Go," "Great Big Cowboy"

Video: "Here Kitty, Kitty"

Facebook

Audio excerpts/buy

The Rocketz

Can't Buy Me Love digital single

(Generation X-Ray Records)

This adheres closely to the Lennon/McCartney original, though it's infused with enough upright-and-twang prominence to be in line with the band's identity. This writer is not a Beatles fan (and Rockat Barry Ryan essayed a similar interpretation of this song in 2008), but acknowledges quality material. The Rocketz may be seeking to expand their grasp.

Audio excerpt/buy

Back In the Day, 1989

Boz and the Bozmen

Dress In Deadmen's Suits

(Cherry Red Records)

It's common knowledge that with Boz Boorer at a six-string, the house will rock. And so it does, with aplomb. The all-aces combo assembled acquits itself handily; the ruckus is to be cheered all 'round. 

Recommended: "Shake 'Em Up Rock," "Midnight Shift," "Drag Strip," "Slippin' In," "Wild Heroine," "Baby Boomerang," "Everybody's Rockin'," "Rock Ol' Spotnick," "Catch On"

Video: "Everybody's Rockin'" live 

Audio excerpts/buy

The Slick Backs

One Way Track digital single

(Independent)

A jaunty ride that rolls down the line, with smoke billowing and cinders sparking off big steel wheels. Many will be snapping fingers to the bouncing melody. 

Bandcamp

Richie Ramone

Live To Tell

(Outro Records)

Speak his name and you've said his cred. Guitars cascade and chords crash into each other, as drums and bass conspire to declare formidable foundation. Richie's vocals are strident and he carves with a furious pen. A leather-jacketed legend.

Recommended: "Live To Tell," "When the Night," "Who Stole My Wig," "Old Ways," "Find Our Place," "Not Afraid," "Suffocate," "The Last Time (Remix)"

Video: "Suffocate"

Facebook

Amazon

CandyMen Duo

Cover Shot

(CandyMen Records)

At once mellifluous and accessible, tracks here compiled flow easily toward satisfaction. Wisely prominent upright is offset by heartily strummed acoustic and sonorous voices. A tuneful type of Rockabilly, partial to saccharinic musings.

Recommended: "Sweet Like Sugar," "Sweat (A La La Long)," "Apuveddmeg," "Ai Se Eu Te Pego (Nossa Nossa)," "Kӧr," "Faith"

Video: "Sweet Like Sugar"

Facebook

Gunshot

En français dans le texte

(Independent)

As goes the steady beat, so too churn the guitars - vigorous and of steely fiber. Don't be lulled by the measured sweep; deep strength lies in watchful governance. 

Recommended: "Comme un doute," "L'homme en noir au col blanc," "Rouler sur la riviére," "Celui que tu préfères," "Train sans espoir," "Monnaie monnaie"

Bandcamp

Saturday's Heroes

Turn Up the Music

(Independent)

Their finest moments erupt when they exact raging onslaughts upon unsuspecting souls. In those passages, Rock'n'Roll's extreme promise is made actual.

Recommended: "We're All Done," "I Will Be Right There," "Dead of Night," "This Is the End"

Video: "We're All Done"

Facebook

Bob Woods

Western Swing Train

(Independent)

Deft six-string flourishes benefit throughout from mannerly tone. Class dwells here, gentle yet demonstrative. It persuades to wreath faces in grins and bend ankles. A jaw-dropping production, fit for prideful display.

Recommended: "Desert Flower," "New Road Under My Wheels," "Swing Train," "Tiny Moore"

Video: "Tiny Moore"

Bandcamp

Guerrilla Splinter

Juego de ratas volumen 2

(Subterraneo Records)

Byzantine compositions derive vividness from stentorian brass up front, which is not to slight the forcefully muscular guitar/bass/ drums/keys foundation. Shouted vocals are appropos to hot-blooded Punk Ska that provokes celebrants to orgiastic abandon.

Recommended: "Ritmo Infernal," "Antrapados En La Red," "Falsa Verdad," "Anfora," "Volver A Vivia," "Acecho," "Victoria"

Video: "Victoria"

Facebook

Blue Valley Boys

The Curtain Call

(Nasty Music)

The phenomenon of a drummerlesss roots trio (acoustic guitar, electric, and upright) recalls the moment just prior to rockabilly's Sunrise, when accellerated rhythms were beginning to impact downhome playing. The orthodox country feel is inherent in these tunes, but something greater and more lively is percolating beneath the surface.

Recommended: "No Time For Heartaches," "Hey Jim," "Where There's a Will (There's a Way)," "Hypnotized," "My Gal Mary Ann," "Ting A Ling," "Moonshine," "Rock Crazy Baby," "

Video: "Ting A Ling"

Facebook

Basement Boppers

Wet Our Whistles

(All You Can Beat)

Respectably rooted in the Blues tradition, though of sufficient spiritedness to give vent to Rockabilly's brisk side. That these tracks are mainly mid-tempo doesn't forestall their connecting in major ways.

Recommended: "Stop Ruinin' Our Party," "You're Gone," "We're Rockin' At Midnight," "Sunday Everyday," "Hey Hey Hey Get Ready"

Video: "We're Rockin' At Midnight"

Bandcamp

Ramones

Pleasant Dreams (The New York Mixes)

(Sire Records)

Were this a just world, the Ramones would have been feted by crowned heads. Not even a teenage lobotomy volunteer would dispute that they slouch atop Punk's Peak. This is a 2023 issuance of early mixes for their 1981 LP. Graham Gouldman's effete production sabotaged that original release; Johnny's guitar was domesticated, counterintuitive for a Ramones recording. The LP did boast quality material, but these grittier versions ring superior. 

Completists, be advised that this disc contains two demos that were left off the original LP: "Sleeping Troubles" and "Touring." (The latter was included, in a different version, on 1992's Mondo Bizarro.) And the LP comes in yellow vinyl.

Recommended: "Sitting In my Room," "All's Quiet On the Eastern Front," "She's a Sensation," "7-11," "We Want the Airwaves," "Don't Go," "Come On Now," "You Sound Like You're Sick," "The KKK Took My Baby Away"

Video: "We Want the Airwaves" (live)

Yannick Dimont

Only Rock'n'Roll

(?)

Good times are guaranteed all who dig into this record. They'll find Rock'n'Roll as it was originally intended: Hot-rodded music with an insistent backbeat. The songcraft is cracklingly clever, and the interpretation spot on. More can't be asked of a disc. 

Recommended: "Only Rock'n'Roll," "Muscle Rock," "Why In Hawaii?," "Le Bon Vieux WouhaWouhenWouholl," "C'est Moche," "That's It," "Hey! Angelina"

Video: "Why In Hawaii?"

Facebook

Bandcamp

The Radiovisions

Truck Stop Rock 4-track EP

(Valley Music Dalapop)

What is wrong with a tight union of seriously guitar-lashed roots music and bouyant pop harmonies? Nothing at all. This is the freshness desired when airwaves are stale.

Recommended: "Truck Stop Rock," "Jimmy Is a Daddy Now," "I Got You," "Dirty Money"

Video: "Dirty Money"

Facebook

zdigital.com.au

Gravel Gutt

"Ghoul Car," "Mercy Kill"

(3778685 Records DK)

A somber, sinister atmosphere envelops these punk blues. So proficient are these players one might lose sight of that, were it not for the resolute oppressiveness of each movement. These are but the latest of the digital tracks they have on offer.

Video: "Ghoul Car"

Facebook

Bandcamp

No Alternative

Live At Mabuhay Gardens, November 7 1980

(Liberation Hall)

 

Fan favorites on the 1980s Bay Area punk scene, No Alternative could be depended upon for uncompromising onslaughts both brief and brash. Retrospective isssuance captures them in ragged, rough eminence. Still intact.

Recommended: "The Good Die Young," "Boy With a Needle," "Folsom Prison Blues," "Rockabilly Rumble," "Fucked Up," "Dyin' In the USA"

Video: "Rockabilly Rumble"

Bandcamp

Facebook

Rockin' Ricky

Jukebox Creep

(Independent)

No more than an acoustic and raised voices are needed to shake the roof. Between hiccups and falsetto swoops, Ricky acquits himself as one fractured jitter-bopper of the old school. The real thing.

Audio

Video

Amazon

The Lone Chains

Spider Monsters and Other Creatures

(Independent)

From 2019. A single Spaniard is responsible for this well-executed union of Ramones ripsaws and drive-in scare cinema. Tunes stampede single-mindedly toward efficient conclusion. Monsterism reified.

Recommended: "Spider Monsters," "Invisible Man," "Blood For the Mummy," "Werewolves," "The Day the Earth Stood Still," "Lula"

Video: LP

Bandcamp

The Casket Kids

SHI

(Independent)

With no moral compunctions, the Casket Kids blast a fusillade of detonative tunes that celebrate the dark side of humanity. Their approach is engaging and worth exploration. 

Recommended: "It's a Good Day To Die," "The Dream," "Stalking," "Dead City Ripper," "I Killed 'em All," "Demons All Dance"

Video: "Dead City Ripper" live

Bandcamp

Facebook

Big & Bad Rockabilly Cats

self-titled

(Independent)

We'll never know how often it happens. 

A meritorious band bursts onto the local scene and attracts  followers. Audiences are ecstatic. Dancers whirl.

But sadly, the big breaks never come their way. They eventually dissolve into night air. Left behind are only memories.

First the bad news: Big & Bad Rockabilly Cats are no more. The breaks never came to them. One hopes other opportunities will present themselves.

Comes now the good news: They produced recordings before exiting the stage, ones which illustrate the unpolished potental the world lost. 

They aren't perfect - refinement might have come with more time and future studio ventures. But they serve as snapshots of a promising American roots band finding its sound. And the effort is rewarding.

The material is original and the three-man playing, confident. In fact, the musicians gel so harmoniously, they lend a vital air of spiritedness to the proceedings. It's rockabilly in the traditional mode, with nimble guitar leading the way through energetic passages.

There's an affability to the general ambiance, which communicates that this band was primarily interested in escape from daily woes. Just entertanment.

And there's nothing wrong with that.

So give an ear to this music. And remember to patronize your local band scene. You never know what unsung gems might be found.

Recommended: "Baby Drives Me," "Tornater," "Drop Dead Gorgeous," "I De Clair," "Pop the Clutch," "Tip Me Hat," "Country Stone," "Send My Love"

Video: live

Facebook

Bandcamp

Davie Allan and the Arrows

Cyclelogical

(K-Tel)

No inocuous tourist outing, this, but a ripsnorting trek through city peaks and hinterland valleys. Predominant are multi-layered, cinematic instrumentals essayed by Davie, the King of the Fuzz Guitar, backed by a knuckles-hard gang. There are no limits to imagination channeled through rock 'n' roll. 

Recommended: "Cyclelogical," "Rebel On the Run," "Moving Right Along," "Riding Shotgun," "No Hearts Will Come Between Us," "Auditory Deception," "Axecentric," "Sounds Familiar," "Straight 'n Arrow," "As Bad As It Gets," "Heads Up," "Lonely Is the Hunter"

Video: "Riding Shotgun"

Site

Dave Crimmen

"Miss Lonely"

single

(Independent)

Frenetic guitar in hands, Dave forges a three-chord raver that rollicks its way into the upper atmosphere. Ivories get the daylights pounded out of them along the while. Dave throws back his head and lets loose with a suitably raucous vocal delivery, whooping and shrieking like a man possessed. This is real, firebreathing Rock'n'Roll, free of inhibition and entirely beyond restraint.

Site

Audio

The Psychward Breakouts

Psychward Breakout

(Independent)

Over the wall and onto late-night stages, the Psychward Breakouts vent adamantium wrecking music with sweaty abandon. Their collision-chords and maniacal rhythms measure admirably against more renowned of their scarred sort. 

Word has it they've renamed themselves CryptiX.

Recommended: "Maggots," "Johnny Bastard," "Dead"

Video: Live at Klubb Bonewrecker, Stockholm

Bandcamp

Amazon

The Dead Channels

Midnight Matinee

(Independent)

Psycho that incorporates enough standard rock into its presentation to qualify as unlike more orthodox fellows, but remains psycho enough to fit that designation. A sui generis creature.

Recommended: "Puesta Del Sol," "Raise the Night," "Sons of Dust," "Lucky 21," "Who's the Monster?"

Video: Midnight Matinee

Facebook

Dex Romweber

Shape Of Things To Come

(Propeller Sound Recordings)

The Barry Mann/CynthiaWeil classic receives a characteristically guttural and rambunctious reinterpretation by Dex. He explodes vocally, giving his all to the frenetic delivery. At the same juncture, his raucous guitar is free of tether, given its liberty to rail and roil. 

Audio/Buy