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 (Note: Also appearing here is former drummer Andrew Dickson, who has since been replaced by Matt Arnn.)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