Rockin' Bones
Somewhere amidst forbidding foliage on the outskirts of nowhere, beauteous gris-gris spellcasters divert, their talismans and other arcane hex statuary at hand, as Frenchmen of reverb, hipchain, and triple slap thrash pathway through Psychobilly, as practiced by old-school wreckage mongers on planets of which NASA Poindexters know not.
Video: "Death Dance"
Tom Toxic: All the way to Memphis
For #2 document of the sessions in which German Rockabilly marauder Tom and combo were joined by scads of originals -- whose names are rightly emblazoned in genre literature -- to work up/put down tunes of the affably rowdy sort launched from joints' stages or jukes, back when Ike rested feet on the Oval Office desk.
The assembled group tore through Sun, Sam Phillips, and Cash Cabin studios, slashing individual tattoo on those storied environs. It's as if Jules Verne had put his time machine in the hands of Memphis' Crown Electric cats, and they'd outfitted the fantastical contrivance with amplifiers, dual pipes, and about 26 gallons of twang.
Only 222 copies of this 10" platter lifted off pressing machinery, and I've theorized a reason why production was so abbreviated: The nine, vintage-fashioned ramblin' jive cuts contained thereon are just plain too likely to burst into wildass flames to risk greater engraved numbers. (I would take exception to that caution, suggesting instead that masses be set free to surrender themselves to dance-party frivolity amid fires. Life is way too brief to fuss about frilly niceties.)
Drop the needle, crank the loudness, and do Eddie's 'stockings and shoes' bit. Complaining neighbors need to mind their own damned affairs.
Excerpts from Tom's extensive liner notes:
"On Wednesday, February 22th, 2017, also around 6:30 pm, the moment had finally arrived - I was standing in the legendary Sun Studio, the destination of my dreams. I don't think I need to explain to anyone what the Sun Studio is all about."
"The day after our Sun session we arrived at the Sam Philips Recording Studio in the early afternoon, feeling somewhat sleep-deprived. The session the day before was draining and the night was short. The studio we intended to record the other day, is quasi the new Sun Studio, built in 1959 acording to Sam Philips' specifications and still looking today as it did when it first opened...This studio is a real time capsule. You can feel the spirit of that era in every corner, and it was very awe-inspiring to be allowed to record there."
"On February 20, 2017 at around 6:30 PM, the first recording session of the Tennessee Tapes Tour began at the Cash Cabin in Hendersonville. For those who don't know, the Cash Cabin was the Man in Back's private home recording studio for a long time...It still breathes the exceptional spirit of this with every fiber of its wooden planks and every pore of its solid stones."
Recommended: "All Mama's Children," "Here're My Hands," "You've Killed a Friend," "Rock'n'Roll and Beer and Girls," "Trouble Bound," "Don't Go!," "It's a Mess," "My Brother Alcohol," "Never Too Old to Rock'n'Roll"
Facebook (The Tennessee Tapes)
Facebook (Tom Toxic/Keil)
No related videos were available at September presstime, sadly, as this disc is scheduled for October issuance.
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Bruce Humphries and the Rockabilly Rebels
s/t
(3 Ring Circus)
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Tonight (Saturday, Sept. 19), Bruce and kindred back-alley beat ministers will treat carbonated two-steppers at the Foxtown Annex in Mequon, Wisconsin, to a release party for this wax. Unspooled will be Rockabilly that pulls one in, maintains its grip, and is proud out loud of ubiquitous rustic blood. The so-damn-good gusto of finger-popping, ankle-flexing rompery beloved by nightspot carousers-in-denim jumps and kicks blue blazes.
Oh, to be in Mequon tonight...
Recommended: "You Can't Fix Stupid," "Groove Baby, Baby," "Giddy-up!," "Hot Damn! I Want Your Girl!," "Flat Busted!," "Baby I Love You," "Ghost Town," "Shoot That Bunny"
Videos: "Can't Fix Stupid" "Groove Baby, Baby" "Baby I Love You"
Dogwood and the Shakers
s/t
(Self-issued)
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Impeccably picked six-string maneuverings shake dust from boot-heels and go to town like the woods are on fire. Nor are cowtown-comfortable guitar calesthenics leader Zander's sole specialty; his direct vocalizing is of everyman quality -- except, of course, not every man can pull it off so admirably. (And wasn't it was decent of him to present only songs of the finest kind?)
Recommended: "I'd Rather Live in a Honky Tonk," "She's Gone," "Left for Dead," "Beneath the Stone," "God Save the Kingdom," "Red Hot," "Goodbye Always"
Videos: "I'd Rather Live in a Honky Tonk" "Left for Dead" "Beneath the Stone"
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Lily Unless & the If Onlys
Low & Reckless
(Long Gone Records)
Cain't be no hemmin' n'sich: This here gal got it goin' on -- in the most countrified of manners. And don't you just know, her sweet enunciations and comely trillings wouldn't ring so endearingly, were it not for pick-of-the-litter players plating up musicalizing that regular folks just wanna get real close to. Never nothin' het up. Just easy flowin', like molasses. Hell, I even seen the perfessor from the up the road cuttin' a jig...
Recommended: "Both Feet," "January Jim," "Screwdriver," "Island Off Kentucky," "This One Here," "Nashville"
Videos: "Both Feet" (live) "January Jim" (live) "This One Here"
Roscoe Robinson with Eli 'Paperboy' Reed
Roscoe Robinson Sings Soul - Live at Rockwood Music Hall
(Self-issued)
This digital document of a 2012, New York performance by late Gospel and Soul master Roscoe is now accessible on Bandcamp. All proceeds are to be passed to his family.
It was in early 2026 that 97 year-old Roscoe ascended to Heavenly reward. Backed before an adoring audience by able accompanists -- including remarkable guitarist / singer Eli, whose own new disc will soon enjoy consideration here -- Roscoe pours forth every iota of talent and human passion accrued during some 75 years behind the microphone.
A dynamic belter who turned songs into experiences that branded great big and spanking authenticity on every eardrum in the place, Roscoe had STYLE in tower-block font.
The sole comfort available to us, given that storied icons like him are departing in increasing numbers, as years go by, is the knowledge that they've left legacies that will continue to inspire.
The old school will forever be in session.
Recommended: "Ooo Wee Baby (I Love You," "A Thousand Rivers," "How Much Pressure (Do You Think I Can Stand?)," "I Who Have Nothing," "The Last Mile of the Way" (feat. Eli), "Sending Up My Timber," "The Tide of Life," "Search Me Lord" (feat. Eli)," "That's Enough," "Do It Right Now," "Leave You in the Arms of Another Man" (feat. Eli)
Videos:"How Much Pressure (Do You Think I Can Take)" (1966 version) "Do It Right Now" (1966 version) "That's Enough" (1976 version) Songs and memories (Roscoe and Eli, on occasion of the former's 95th birthday)
Facebook (Eli)
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Don Lang
A 1992 Independent obituary of English combination maestro and spinabout dervish Don (né Gordon Langhorn) was appropriately praiseful: "A natural performer, he could stir an audience to cheers with one of his 300-words-a-minute vocalese workouts, and the next instant pick up his beloved trombone and play a sublime Jazz ballad in the style of his favourite, Bill Harris." Allies the Frantic Five stirred carbonation. To the present day, no one has figured out precisely why the amazingly buoyant "Red Planet Rock" didn't provoke all known spheroids into madcap jumble.
Video: "Red Planet Rock"
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