Hillbilly Casino: World's toughest bar band                                       

"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," first-era slap-bassist Geoff Firebaugh declared.

The amalgam of crunch-blast dynamism and individualist tunecraft locates the group miles over the headset mics of choreographed in-fashion video mannequins. Profoundly American roots-music stylings old and new, raved forth unaffectedly and with devotion a-burnin' rollick, sway, and reel until time and space lose significance and all around is bacchanalian abandon. 

Currently in this barnstorming, Honky Tonk-hearted confederacy are six-string assassin Ronnie Crutcher, straight-out skins-attacker Sam Clay, double-bass wrestler Colin Taylor, and windmilling frontman Nic Roulette. 

Roulette's manically howled sermons ricochet from neon beer-signs to scuffed hardwood and from shoulder-to-shoulder blue-collar brethren to sudsily euphoric dimensions not locatable by eggheaded NASA star-charters. 

Hillbilly Casino's is a diversely splendored Rock'n'Roll of feverish honesty. And it is possible that they are the most important, most eminently grounded in Americana, and most knockabout agitative band in the land.

Hillbilly Casino's maiden wax was 2006's Sucker Punched. As was made manifest, the group was never blueprinted as hidebound. (Members then included bassman Geoff Firebaugh and drummer Andrew Dickson, who today fills in on occasion.) 

During 2008's Buy In DVD, hip-chained tumbler/mic guru Nic Roulette spelled out the combo's ethos: While roots musics gush through members' circulatory systems and have spattered innumerable of the group's stage boards, innovation, too, has formative pull. Syd Nathan and Norman Petty didn't use Rudy Vallee-era technology, after all. 

Reverence for both Ernest Tubb commoness and Johnny R. chordal blitzkrieg were etched with bold-font bravado. Billybo-butcher Ronnie Crutcher pared deftly and slammed out broadsides that evidenced forward-and-backward knowledge of the Americana repertoire. 

Videos: "Plain to See" (live)   "Shoe Leather" (live)   "Way Past Gone"    "Mimes of the Old West"   "Blanche's Song" (backstage)

Disc #4, Tennessee Stomp (Hobolight), portrayed self-made sideburned rovers. HC's anti-Industry bootstrapism -- entailing self-recording / booking / everything -- had grown organically from the band's above-all calling: taking Rock'n'Roll (in all of its sundry aspects, including Country and Punk) to barrooms full of hoarse-throated, mug-waving true believers. 

Unanticipated permutations, rendered with brawn nobody better've looked at funny, posted notice that a uniquely multi-faceted proposition had maintained its jaw-jutting residence beneath spotlights.

The band's rambunctious oeuvre towered as testament to its consequence. Every outing featured, in vigorous exercise, slap-bass navigations, Ronnie's bent-string exclamations, and percussive insistence. One hears why Hillbilly Casino is indispensible for fans the world over.

Videos: "Tennessee Stomp" (live)   "Heartburn and Heartbreak" (live)   "The Doctor" (live)   "Psycho"   "Violets in May"

Platter the sixth was Red, White, and Bruised (Hobolight).

HC had by this moment become a favorite of average working folks in Nashville and all hep points beyond. Like HC, swarm honky tonk dance floors and throw off real-world cares. Like Hillbilly Casino, folks that swarm joint dance floors and throw away real-life concerns grasp that there are only two kinds of songs - good ones and bad ones.

Each portion of Red, White, and Bruised huffed with limber-limbed freshness and an audacity possible only for dynamite-in-every-paw roustabouts. One was knocked flat by the economical storminess. 

Add in frontman Nic Roullette's irrepressible vocal declarations and onstage gymnastics, and one perceived the stuff of legends -- in their own time.

Videos: "Knockin' at Your Door" (official video)   "She's Got Tricks" (official video)   "It's Not Me It's You"   "Jibber Jabber" (live)   "Troubles"

Come now the crispest: Singles "Tow Truck" and "Red on the Line" - initially issued as 2024 digital-only efforts - landed in bins last October, having been paired on 7" Swelltune vinyl.

The ecstatic squad remained in the first rank. Founders Nic and Billy-Bo suzerain Ronnie were abetted by fresh accomplices Sam Clay and Colin Taylor in storming through characteristic Americana genre-grafting that here pulls fresh oxygen. 

In a Facebook post, balletic energy crisis Nic disclosed: "Replacing 2 members of Hillbilly Casino has been quite a challenge. The fact that these two talented young men live 7 hours away from Ronnie and I make the entire project a different animal, altogether. We are doing our best, though, and I personally feel like the band has taken strides toward cultivating a great sound that is better than I could have imagined."

Videos: "Tow Truck" (live)   "Red On the Line" 

Rock'n'Roll this unaffected, cleverly folding populist lilts and barroom stomp into forcibly guitar-mastered celebration, may never realize the corporate success that demands numbing, processed music product for the ringtone legions. 

Remember, though, that that is not the only mark of distinction. For truly, no music scene can have too many sheerly devout, crazy-from-the-heart back-alley minstrels. 

Sugar Britches

Cover That Shit Up

(Pantalones del Azucar)

For their fourth album, the dusty-booted Americana dab hands chose an all-covers program. A host of worthies from Roger Alan Wade to Bob McDill, and all the way to Brian Johanson, receive fence post badlands reinvention. (Even Madonna, Queen, and Sir Elton John feel the lasso.) Not so much as one shred less impressive than songsmiths referenced: members' mastery of playing-implements they have grips on. There's gonna be a hot time in the old town tonight.

Recommended: "Fryin' Bacon Nekkid," "Egg and Daughter Nite, Lincoln, NE 1967 (Crazy Bone," "It Must Be Love," "Last Nite," "Look on Your Face," "Rocket Man," "Fat bottomed Girls," "The Biggest Lie"

Videos: "It Must Be Love"   "Look On Your Face"   "The Biggest Lie"

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The Dusty 45s

Butterflies  EP

(Sleazy Records)

Regardless of the style they take up - comfortably settled Rockabilly, het-up hijinx remindful of baggy-pants Vaudevillian carryings on, Bert Weeden's ethereal 1960 excursion, or Jazzy geniality accustomed to high-toned niteries - combo members turn hands ably. Poise walks hard and trumpet skedaddles merrily.

Recommended: "Simple Thing," "Butterflies," "Bright Lights and Blonde Haired Women"

Videos: "Simple Thing"   "Butterflies"   "Apache"   "Bright Lights and Blonde Haired Women"

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Mike Badger

Devils Ghosts & Firearms

(Nine x Nine)

Hours spent listening as mavens of the first order exercise merit are never squandered. 

To fully appreciate Mike's efforts, one does best by beginning with the final, title track. It's an expansive, Americana projection through churned intensity, one in which the La's co-creator holds forth with literate courage. Pop traces peek, and are of the ripened sort. Tracks like "Ghost in This Machine," "Growing Old So Gracefully," and "Dark Side of the Mountain" share the titular composition's mature voice and moving construction.

"Shoot Me in the Head" and "Cudda Wudda Shulda" ably illustrate Mike's higher-gear inclination. Both are Rockabilly rousers with pronounced Country swayings that endear. "Keep 'em Busy" is another raver; Perry Bradford's estate might enquire after credit. (Which isn't a knock; all traddish neo-rockers summon comparisons. And there's nothing illegitimate about adding one's own imprint to preceding forms.)

Accord this due respect by placing it on a high shelf.

Recommended: "Ghost in This Machine," "Wolfman," "Shoot Me in the Head," "How the Hell it Come to This," "Keep 'em Busy," "Dark Side of the Mountain," "Cudda Wudda Shudda," "Half Bottle of Whisky," "Devils Ghosts and Firearms"

Videos: "Ghost in This Machine"   "Wolfman"   "Shoot Me in the Head (If I Ever Become One of Them"    "Keep 'em Busy" 

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Back in the Day, 2006

Hillbilly Casino

Sucker Punched

(Self-issued)

Hillbilly Casino was never intended as hidebound. During 2008's Buy In DVD, hip-chained tumbler/mic guru Nic Roulette spelled out the combo's ethos: While roots musics gush through members' circulatory systems and have spattered innumerable of the group's stage boards, innovation, too, has formative pull. Syd Nathan and Norman Petty didn't use Rudy Vallee-era technology, after all. 

Reverence for both Ernest Tubb commoness and Johnny R. chordal blitzkrieg were etched with bold-font bravado. Billybo-butcher Ronnie Crutcher pared deftly and slammed out broadsides that evidenced forward-and-backward knowledge of the Americana repertoire. 

Each Sucker Punched portion huffed with youthful freshness and an audacity possible only for dynamite-in-every-paw roustabouts. One was as knocked flat by the economical storminess as songcraft several levels above the standard. Unanticipated permutations, rendered with brawn nobody better look at funny, posted notice that a uniquely multi-faceted proposition had taken up jaw-jutting residence beneath spotlights.

(At the time, Blue Suede News magnate Marc Bristol noted many tracks were co-written by Nic and Kenny Taylor. The two had previously locked shoulders in the Blue Moon Boys.)

Glad tidings are bellowed with sudsy breath: Today - with band personnel a bit reshuffled - Hillbilly Casino have scaled to the lofty height promised by this handle-with-asbestos-gloves debut waxing. 

Recommended: "Plain to See," "Pretty Baby," "Shoe Leather," "Smashed Down Flat," "Way Past Gone," "Filler Up," "PBR," "Come on Camille," "Voodoo Doll," "Devil Comes to Town," "Sooner than Today," "Mimes of the Old West," "County Jail," "Blanche's Song"

Videos: "Plain to See" (live)   "Shoe Leather" (live)   "Way Past Gone"    "Mimes of the Old West"   "Blanche's Song" (backstage)

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Hillbilly Casino, Sucker Punched era

Hillbilly Casino today

Hillbilly Casino

"Tow Truck" and "Red On the Line"   singles

(Self-issued)

Now accessible are the first new HC recordings since 2020's Quarantunes. The ecstatic squad remains in the first rank. Founders Nicholas Abston (executive vocalist) and Billy-Bo suzerain Ronnie Crutcher are abetted by crisp accomplices Sam Clay (drums) and Colin Taylor (double bass) in storming through characteristic Americana genre-grafting that today huffs fresh oxygen. (The new members' impressive resumes include BR549, Blue Moon Boys, and Brian Setzer and the Nashvillians.)

In a late-November Facebook post, beneath-strobes sparkplug Abston disclosed: "Replacing 2 members of Hillbilly Casino has been quite a challenge. The fact that these two talented young men live 7 hours away from Ronnie and I make the entire project a different animal, altogether. We are doing our best, though, and I personally feel like the band has taken strides toward cultivating a great sound that is better than I could have imagined. 

Thank you to everyone who has stuck with us in this new era of the Hillbilly Casino."

Videos: "Tow Truck" (live)   "Red On the Line" 

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"Cry Love (Live From the Living Room)"   single

(Histrophonics)

The song before us is more than only lissome comfort (though it cetainly is that). Louisiana-bayou voicing, unhurried pace, and mandolin pluckings total Americana genuineness that only men can produce; no studio technology could even near that prize.

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The Old Time Rags

One More Rag

(Self-issued)

It's disheartening that many today are unaware a wealth of G-rated American musical novelty once trundled down dirt roads, cavorted on hardwood Vaudeville stages, blared from primitive walnut-cabinet radios, and gagged it up on now-mostly disintegrated b/w celluloid.

Just for maintaining that splendid tradition, the merrymaking Old Time Rags deserve laudation. Like medicine-show wagons of old, their van (with attached stage) traverses the countryside. And their gleeful presentation teems with the whiz-bang lilt and whoopee that enchanted bygone regular folk.

The spark plugs creditable for this jolly uproar take their gladsome frolic to all manners of festivals and events. And more than delightful Americana airs are offered: tap dancing, clownery, gusset-busting gesticulations, and down-home harmonizing make for top-drawer entertainment.

Laurence Marshall and Phoebe Ophelia are sometimes joined by bass fiddle-wrangler Adam Richards. Songs roll forth with the spiritedness of traditional melodies bounding and capering in unimpeded abandon. The disc is so zestfully carbonated that it transforms living rooms into knee-slapping sideshows.

"We hope you enjoy the music as much as we enjoy playing it," is Laurence's message to fans.

Recommended: "Alabama Jubilee," "Sweet Loving Old Soul," "Old Fashioned Love," "Junco Partner," "Coney Island Washboard," "Security," "I Like You Best Of All," "Ain't Nobody's Business"

Video: "Alabama Jubilee" (live)   promo 

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