DC Larson's JUKEBOX JURY

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Hot Laundry

"Made Like This" digital single

(Self-issued)

Rock'n'Roll's scorching promise in fishnets. While a driving band that recalls the genre's historic fireballs thunders in their hourglass shadows, bellicose sirens with sequined wrapping brandish defiance in tones at once sonorous and mesmeric. Kipling warned that the female of the species is more deadly than the male.

Video

Son of Twang

Freddie's Ready

(Self-issued)

The absence of vocalists on this stage (recorded over a two-year period) afforded phenominal picker Fred Stucky latitude for extended six-string orations, as he cruised the welcoming avenues roots music offers. An animated performance resulted, with both dignified and galvanizing passages performing their magics.

"Every song has a vintage Gretsch being used," Fred explained in the Gretsch-Talk site's forum. He disclosed the impressive equipment he'd relied upon for his crisp endeavor. Included were "vintage 6120s - '54, '55, and '59. I also used my '57 green Duo Jet. The '59 6120 has the Bigsby B Bender and it's used to good effect on 'Small Time' and 'Black Jack.'"

Accompanying them in his chosen arsenal were two Fender amps, a 1956 Harvard and a 1958 Deluxe. He noted effects employed were a Nocturne Mystery Brain 301 and various vintage Echoplexes.

The "Rockabilly roots bop" he imputed to Freddie's Ready on that message board conveys its uptempo attractions. But mention must be made here also of Blues and Country idioms that rise for recognition. From them, Fred produces fretboard majesty.

Plaudits for Freddie's Ready were pronounced by other Gretsch-Talk members. "Man, the sound is just incredible," enthused one. Another raved: "That's some nice [explicit] guitar playing going on there.

Such relish is well warranted.

Recommended: "Heartbreak Hotel," "Strollin' Guitar, "Skaggsville," "Eddie Eddy (The Sixty-120 Blues," "The Small Time (Was Big Enough For Me)," "Hammy Blues," "L Is For Lonely," "I Almost Lost My Mind," "Blackjack"

Video: "Strollin' Guitar"

Friday, March 29, 2024

The BuckOffs

Sleeve

(Self-issued)

Predominantly a Buck Owens tribute trio (one that hot-rods the star's classics with Rockabilly thrust), Florida's BuckOffs also mint original creations. Worthy strands of fifties and sixties origin loom, even as instrumental virtues proclaim themselves. Notable among those are the felicitous stringed bracings of frontman Daddy-O, nee Stephen Charles. Vitality owes to dedication.

Recommended: "Sleeve," "Misunderstood"

Video: "Misunderstood"

Reverb Nation

The Candy Bomber

s/t digital album

(Self-issued)

Four covers sprint past. Their line-up discloses the band's character: robust guitar-focus, rampageous dynamism, and roughly one ton of cheek that can only come from marrow-deep faith in Rock'n'Roll's potential for shout-out-loud exuberance. That the brazen group rips open with a hard-lashed Groovies rouser and closes out with a 101ers snarl is sufficient to carve both authenticity and attitude into estimation.

Recommended: "Have You Seen My Baby" (Flamin' Groovies), "Let's Lynch the Landlord" (Dead Kennedys), "Girl U Want" (Devo), "Silent Telephone" (The 101ers)

Mimi Roman

First of the Brooklyn Cowgirls

(Sundazed)

Brooklyn-birthed, Jewish teenager Mimi was smitten by the radio-conveyed Country rendered by Hank Williams and others of his Honky Tonk sort. Possessed of organic vocal facility, she developed a winning way with both swinging romps and heartsore ballads. It eventually took her through Southern dirt-road tours, radio and television spots, and even numerous Grand Ole Opry appearances in days when Rockabilly was yet in its cradle. Remastered from acetates she's harbored over decades, selections compiled include many of those memorable moments. Broadcast introductions have been preserved. Their inclusion cultivates you-are-there appreciation.

Last year, after decades away from the microphone, the 89 year-old winsome songstress with winged tones performed at the Swelltone Records Bay State Barn Dance. These rescued tracks surely elate Mimi's ripening generation of admirers.

Recommended: "Weary Blues From Waitin'," "Honky Tonk Blues," "Never Ramble, Never Gamble, Never Roam," "I'm the One Who Loves You," "I'm Lookin' For Some Lovin'," "Route 66," "Rocky Road Blues," "Gotta Have My Baby Back," "You Win Again," "Rose- Colored Glasses," "In My Shoes Tonight," "I Gotta Know," "What Am I Worth," "Dix-A-Billy," "Isle of Golden Dreams," "There's No Holdin' You"

Video: "Rocky Road Blues"

Sundazed

Back In the Day, 2016

Contessa and the Squires

Horrorama EP

(Self-issued)

Of course, it was the cover's depiction of Maila Nurmi (aka Vampira) that first captured this writer's attention. Her striking visage proved apt garnish. For, as hearing revealed, this Italian sect populated its razory Rock'n'Roll with Grand Guignol monstrosities of the sort that once crept in moonshadowed drive ins. (Not that grappling teen couples noticed.)

Recommended: "Rockabilly Sabbath," "Monster Jamboree," "Lost Boys," "Wolfgirl"

Video: "Monster Jamboree"

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Charlie Feathers

Sun Records Originals: Bottle To the Baby

(Sun)

Those familiar with only Charlie's hiccupped yelping for Meteor, King, and subsequent labels will be given pause by his more subdued decorum on these previous Sun recordings. The Mississipi-birthed tenor rendered bucolic melodies with living-room assuredness, and easily paired quivering phrasing with austere instrumentation that included fiddle and piano in addition to his acoustic strummings. Such primitive Honky Tonk is in Rockabilly's blood.

Recommended: "Bottle To the Baby," "Peepin' Eyes," "Runnin' Around," "Honky Tonk Kind," "I've Been Deceived," "A Wedding Gown of White," "Defrost Your Heart," "Frankie and Johnny," "Corrine Corrina," "We're Getting Closer To Being Apart," "Bottle To the Baby" (demo)

Video: "A Wedding Gown of White"

Sun

Back in the day, 1997

Cordell Jackson

Live In Chicago

(Pravda / Bughouse Records)

Born in 1923, Cordell was later hailed as the "Rock'n'Roll Granny." (TV viewers may recall her 1991 David Letterman appearance and 1992 Budweiser commercial with Brian Setzer.) In this intimate club mileau, and with adherents cheering her every brazen passage, she wielded her signature scarlet Hagstrom sans accompaniment. None was needed. Her hammerings, single-string solos, and wonderfully humble voicings were sufficient for the evening's demand.

So impactful was Cordell that next time you spin a Cramps disc and thrill to Poison Ivy's fireworks, you'll be mindful of the "Rock'n'Roll Granny's" instructive imprint.

Recommended: "Memphis Moon Rock," "The Blues Chaser," "Tied Up," "Midnight Rodeo," "Love Your Rock'n'Roll," "No More Bridges To Burn," "Basketball Man," "The Split," "Antsy," "Jazz Fried," "Johnny Cash Train," "

Video: "Love Your Rock'n'Roll"

Bughouse Records

Amazon

Kitten and theTonics

Alarmium Four-track vinyl EP

(Tabu Recordings)

Surf tides splash and assorted vintage articulations unspool in this all-instrumental enterprise, as the nimble-witted threesome who've composed it amplify the potency possible in moderation. Drums and standup cruise or accelerate as befits the given selection, and effectively usher six-string orations of awe-inspiring nature.

Recommended: "Graveyard," "Alarmium," "Memphis Red," "Howlin'"

Video: live (short, non-EP)

Teen Cobra

(Readymade) digital and 7" vinyl EP

(Self-issued / Certified PR Records)

While this linked pair describe themselves as "equal parts CBGB's and Sun Studio," it's the legendary NYC dive that is most recalled in these four hectic outpourings. Several factors redolent of the formative 1970s eruption leap forward, including extreme brevity (no song exceeds 1:18), downstrokes-only chording, and zero solos (save for a single brief one, whose profound distortion summons memories of Bryan Gregory). The two responsible for this deluge hurl themselves into its unleashing with passion - a reliable indicator of devotion.

Recommended: "Emmylou Just Got Engaged," "You're Lookin' For What You Haven't Lost," "He's Comin'," "The End of the World"

Video: "He's Comin'"

Sunday, March 24, 2024

Back in the day, 1997

Elvis Presley

From Elvis At Sun vinyl

(Memphis Mansion)

The acrid odor of the Crown Electric pickup's gasoline surely lingered in shy young Elvis's memory when he cut the earliest of these historic sides. With Blue Moon Boys Scotty Moore and Bill Black at his elbow, and legendary Sun impresssario Sam Phillips at the board, the soon-to-be-King let fly an electrifying, embryonic union of Country and Blues stylings.

Without that world-transformative act, I wouldn't write these words, nor would you read them.

Elvis's germinal waxings may sound subdued by the standards of his current and audacious progeny. But in their era's context, they were revolutionary, sent popular-culture reeling, and (it must be stressed) constituted a sublime model that has never been equaled - much less improved upon.

Top-drawer spark-plugs Scotty and Bill poured into their spirited performances all the experience they'd absorbed in juke-joints and dance halls. (Later, drummer D.J. Fontana was added; he stayed with Presley for some 15 years.)

The bucolic swayings of Scotty's assured, elegantly toned picking and Bill's robust, hustling double-bass navigations were vital to the gestation. As is music's way, their influences breathe in innumerable followers' efforts; such will probably ever be the case.

An Elvis Information Network observation notes that From Elvis At Sun includes "five classic Sun singles plus the other nine alternative cuts that RCA would purchase from Sam Phillips."

(In 2003, this Memphis Mansion vinyl was reissued by the Danish label in CD format. The new version featured a different cover, enlarged track listing, and accompanying booklet.)

Even in his youth, Elvis was possessed of a distinctive and commanding voice, one capable of tremendous range. Throughout ensuing decades, it not only maintained early quality but augmented it with deep seasoning. (The same was true of icon Robert Gordon, who sometimes drew from Presley's repertoire with magnificent results.)

Regardless of this world's duration, there will never be a day on which Elvis is not dominant.

Recommended, side A: "That's All Right," "Blue Moon of Kentucky," "Good Rockin' Tonight," "I Don't Care If the Sun Don't Shine," "Milkcow Blues Boogie," "You're a Heartbreaker," "Baby Let's Play House," "I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone"

Recommended, side B: "I Forgot To Remember To Forget," "Mystery Train," "I Love You Because" (RCA original master edit), "Blue Moon," "I'll Never Let You Go," "Just Because," "Trying To Get To You," "That's All Right" (live, October 16, 1954)

Video (amateur 8mm footage of 1955 performance)

Elvis official site

Memphis Mansion

Low Life Drifters

Let's Go!

(Self-issued)

A thrill-ride into uproar. Hurtling forward with street-scramble tenacity, the neo-rockabilly veering here laces traditional backwater-twanged strains into smoke-billowing exercises that flatten red lights. Even occasional down-shifted passages rumble with implied menace. Maximum volume warranted.

Recommended: "Let's Go," "Backseat Boogie," "Whiskey Is Her Name," "How It's Gonna Be," "Ghost Train," "I Saw You With Another," "Pretty Little Baby," "Low Down Dirty Dog," "Tear It Up"

Video: "Tear It Up" (live)

Amazon

Dave Del Monte and the Cross County Boys

"You Got Two Seconds" b/w "Surfin' Crow"

(Self-issued)

Given the numerous fine platters Dave has to his credit - ones typically featuring an affable union of orthodox Rockabilly and ingratiating waggery - the expectation that new sounds from him will follow their compelling course is reasonable. These fresh entries do so.

Sprightly original "You Got Two Seconds" offers grinning geniality. "Surfin' Crow," a frolicsome instrumental, was originally waxed in 1960 by the Jades. Dave's rendering spotlights worthy picking that assures acclamation.

Videos: "You Got Two Seconds" "Surfin' Crow"

Bandcamp "You Got Two Seconds"

Bandcamp "Surfin' Crow"

AingurA

Garenaren Arrazoia

(Beatclap)

The language wall collapses as inconsequential, when primitive scatter-blasts heaving with bellicosity rip into eardrums. Each commando responsible rockets into violent uprising. Their top-volume commitments-to-commotion raise up furiousness reeling on the precipice.

Recommended: "Beldurrari," "Enarari," "Eskola Zaharra," "Itasoari Begira," "Sudor y Sacrificio," "Datorrenari"

Video: "Eskola Zaharra"

Friday, March 22, 2024

Bart Weilburg

Wild Strings

(Self-issued)

Knowledge that Bart has joined shoulders with Honky Tonk hero Wayne Hancock for over seven years isn't necessary for being dazzled by his prodigiousness. The super-picker put to tape sterling attestations, each of which sparkles. As a trap-tight combo including pedal-steel crackerjack Bobby Black and Bart's fellow six-string maestro Redd Volkhart issues jaunty airs of juke joint condition, the fleet-fingered starring figure traverses the fretboard with flabbergasting style. Engrossing is Bart's affinity for the Western Swing and other roots disciplines from which he produces unvarnished majesty.

Recommended: "Wild Strings," "Strike It Rich," "Springtime In Oklahoma," "Suzanne Marie," "Shuffle Mode," "I Want Mine Too," "Paranoid Twist," "Shinbone Alley," "Blue Mountain Holler," "Let's Have Another," "Hundred Dollar Cigar," "Pizzicato Pete"

Video: "Pizzicato Pete"

The Koffin Rockers

Go K@#t Go! EP

(Self-issued)

No fucks are given in adamantine aggressions that hurtle toward collisions. Only PsychoCats of door-busting brawn could perpetrate such material with appropriately concussive crunch. Alert medical personnel to stand by.

Recommended: "Go K@#t Go!," "Shake Wait," "Bastard Klub," "Lips On Mine"

Video: "Go K@#t Go!"

Vili V

In Daddy's Arms Again digital

(Self-issued)

Uninitiates should know that Vili V is a singer-songwriter who often devotes himself to subdued human studies. A forthright balladeer and gentle strummer, he delineates conditions compassionately.

But that is only one aspect; to convey it alone would leave a misleading representation.

"Constellation High" handily illustrates another, more vivacious facet. Joyousness spreads wide and enwraps all within listening field. Between handclaps and Rockabilly accented rumbustiousness that recalls Elvis's Viva Las Vegas season, high stepping is the merry result.

As integral to the song as its rollicking momentum, though, is an inspirational message that elevates it above entertainment. The singer's rapture as he anticipates spiritual consequence radiates spectacularly: "I'll be a better man when I reach that Promised Land!"

Recommended: "Tupelo Rhythm," "Garden of Comfort," "Long Lonesome Highway," "Constellation High," "Trystan In the Rain"

Video: "Constellation High"

Robbie Watts

Nothing But Time

(Self-issued)

Delicately plucked acoustic strings perfectly escort literate musings. Robbie's hushed presentation lends dignity throughout. Absent electric thunder, man and guitar stand or fall for all to witness. In this splendid instance, both lift chins.

Recommended: "Apples and Peaches," "Fulton Yard," "Road Camp Blu," "Roll On Southern," "Southside Richmond," "Tell Me Why," "Did You Get the Card?," "Running Back To Me," "

Video: "Roll On Southern"

Wednesday, March 20, 2024

Henry & the Bleeders

Gone To Pot

(Western Star)

The dependably rousing combo celebrates its 20th anniversary; it seems years have only enhanced members' faculties. Expectedly, most compositions roar in strapping neo-Rockabilly manners and are thrown ear-ward with ample muscularity. But three less frenetic, rustically inclined essays also show themselves. Their inclusion attests to Henry & the Bleeders' conversance with an idiom beyond the much-loved stomping one.

Recommended: "Non-Stop Rockin'," "Backfire Baby," "Eggs For Breakfast," "Every Man's a Dog," "Offski Boogie," "Henry's Rag," "Cash Is King," "Crookeds With the Straights," "Gone To Pot"

Video: "Backfire Baby"

Western Star

Jack Rabbit Slim

Foreplay Four-track release

(Western Star)

Newer acts offer youth's freshness. And, given that they evince repectable potential, their visible thrill at entering the music world can be magnetic. There is, though, a compelling case that can be made for veterans who've traveled around the roots block, savored its temptations, and have the capacity to reinterpret them in vigorous manners. Here, one marvels at the spiritedness that leaps from speakers, as men well-schooled dispatch vintage-fashioned works with more than a bit of sauciness.

Recommended: "Robert Johnson Blues," "Born Bad," "Kickstart"

Video: "Born Bad"

Shame On Me

M.T.S.P

(Team Romel Productions)

In days prior to the British invasion, American youth culture brimmed with comparative Brill Building and girl group seductions. The dense majesty of a schooled ensemble that dearly loves its mission compels as only honesty can. Haunting depth comes via saxaphone euphony. Vocals soar and are of the hardy variety. Applause is deserved by all convened, for prowess with cool bearing struts this stage.

Recommended: "Lucky," "Jealousy," "Come Over," "Eve," "Pretty Things," "Ebbo," "Hey Girl," "Shame On Me"

Video: "Ebbo"

The Bad Roaches

Poison Heart

(Western Star)

Per Western Star, the Bad Roaches took separate paths before this, their sole (2011) disc, could make it to shelves. "This was a great band and I feel that had they stayed together they'd have been a big name on the Psychobilly circuit," the label's Faceook post read. The world will never know, of course. But these sturdy exercises contain convincing evidence. All proper elements leapt to the task and joined in slapped boisterousness. Even now, with the enterprise long below soil, this document shouts of promise.

Recommended: "B-Movie Killer Porno Queen," "Shake It Up," "Find the Time," "Pay the Price," "Hanging Tree," "How Long the Road"

Video: "Hanging Tree"

Western Star