Vintage Review: Walk The West’s Walk The West (1986)

There’s a new breed of cowboy roamin’ the range these days, pahdner…fierce young men with one foot in the saddle and one foot on the hot asphalt of the city street…six-string guitarslingers, uniquely American artists mixing C&W influences with an undying allegiance towards Rock ‘n’ Roll with a capitol ‘R’, bands spurred on by the success enjoyed by their musical antecedents (such as the ever-amazing Jason & the Scorchers, the still-vital granpappies of the “cow-punk” legacy), bands such as Nashville’s Walk The West.

Walk The West’s debut LP is a dark, smoky slab o’ petroleum by-product, a record that reinforces as well as illustrates the basis for their incredible local popularity. Rich in texture and heavily-laden with the wailing riffs of lead guitarist Will Goleman and vocalist Paul Kirby. Walk The West experiments with a variety and diversity in styles, ranging from the Pettyesque “Backside” to the country-tinged, rollicking “Sheriff of Love,” to the urban-rocking “Living At Night.”

Kirby’s vocals are strong and clear, if appropriately nasal, and the production is almost invisible, never interfering with the music. The result is an enjoyable and solid debut that combines some of the best elements of thirty years of rock music and country influence into one nice, neat, and potent little package. The intensity contained within their music and their sense of roots proves that rock ‘n’ roll lives outside London or Los Angeles. (Capitol Records, released 1986)

Review originally published by The Metro magazine

Vintage Review: Dave Perkins’ Pistol City Holiness (2009)

Singer, songwriter, and guitarist Dave Perkins is, perhaps, best known as one of the creative forces behind the early ‘90s rock band Chagall Guevara. Some may remember him as one of the architects responsible for mid-’90s industrial/alt-rock terrorists Passafist, whereas others may know him as the producer behind such successful CCR bands as the Newsboys. Whether he’s playing guitar behind Jerry Jeff Walker or singing with Amy Grant, Perkins’ talent has always risen to the top.

One of Perkins’ greatest loves has always been the blues, however, and with the release of Pistol City Holiness the artist rediscovers the vibrancy, electricity, and excitement that got him into music in the first place. Influenced and inspired by blues greats like Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf, and blues-rockers like Cream and Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac, Perkins has delivered in Pistol City Holiness a stunning collection of ambitious blues-rock tunes that was almost a decade in the making.  

Dave Perkins’ Pistol City Holiness

Pistol City Holiness opens with a squawk and a holler, the muddy Delta grit oozing from Dave Perkins’ serpentine fretwork, his vocals gruff and supple and soulful all at once. Although the song has inherited the spirit of a hundred juke-joint jams, its underlying funky swagger, metal-edged guitar, and contemporary poor man’s lyrics clearly stamp it as a fine example of 21st century electric blues, the song swinging wilder and harder than a blacksmith’s hammer.

The album’s lone cover, Don Nix’s classic Memphis blues standard “Goin’ Down,” is provided a tune-up under the hood and a fresh coat of paint up top. With roaring, whiskey-soaked vocals driven by Perkins’ brutal six-string assault, T.J. Klay’s rampaging harpwork, and a fine bit of nearly-hidden piano-pounding courtesy of former Double Trouble keyboardist Reece Wynans, Perkins and his manic mechanics hot rod “Goin’ Down” from its turbocharged, flat-track origins into some sort of interstellar, space-ace speed machine.

Hard Luck Men & Long Suffering Woman

Perkins gets down-and-dirty with the powerful “Long Eleven Road,” the song itself a showcase for Klay’s tortured harpwork. With a wiry guitar riff that chases its tale in circles, Perkins’ best black cat moan vocals, and Klay’s timely blasts of soul, the song is a hard luck tale of a factory ghost town where little is left but sin and degradation. With a true Delta vibe that reminds of Son House’s most apocalyptic visions, “Long Eleven Road” is a potent modern American fable of hopelessness and misfortune.

If “Long Eleven Road” is the story of hard luck men and long-suffering women facing another brutal workweek, “Bottles and Knives” is a rollicking and curious mix of Chicago and New Orleans blues music that signals the arrival of the weekend. With the entire band playing helter-skelter, Wynan’s flailing ivories are matched by Perkins’ joyful, ramshackle guitar solos.

Perkins’ humorous lyrics are pure genius – “bottles and knives flyin’ all around this place, we’re gonna leave here darlin’ before I lose my pretty face” – the song’s protagonist claims that his girl ain’t happy goin’ out on Saturday night unless he gets into a fight. It’s 1930s blues jukin’ reality set to music, delivered with reckless abandon (and highly-amped instruments).

The Devil’s Game

Blues guitarist Jimmy Nalls sits in for “Devil’s Game,” the former Sea Level fretburner adding some tasty acoustic notes behind Perkins’ greasy slide guitar runs. The song’s languid pace is deceptively framed by an underlying rhythm that moves at the speed of kudzu growing, blasts of ice-cold sax complimenting the red-hot notes of Klay’s harmonica and Perkins’ flame-thrower guitar. Lyrically, the song is a Southern Gothic dirge of sore temptation and the wages of sin, punishment meted out in an aching limbo that again evokes the blessed ghost of the mighty Son House.

Perkins’ “Preacher Blues” is a blistering, raw blues-rock rave-up with noisy, buzzing rhythms, blustery vocals, and whipsmart lyrics that reference Robert Johnson and his fabled hellhounds. The song is probably also the best showcase on Pistol City Holiness for Perkins’ phenomenal six-string skills, the two-and-a-half-minute rocker virtually humming and crackling with the electricity generated by the guitarist’s rattling leads.

The album closes with the explosive “Mercy in the Morning,” a full-tilt, anarchic, stomp-and-stammer that throws dynamite in the water in the form of scorching guitarwork, darts of gospel-tinged and honky-tonk piano, powerful drumbeats, and shots of machine-gun harp notes that dive-bomb your ears like a horde of angry hornets.

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

Those of us that have followed Dave Perkins’ lengthy career as sideman, band member, producer, and solo artist have never been surprised by the artist’s immense talent, deep musical knowledge, and ability to perform well in nearly any musical genre. Nothing could prepare the listener for the nuclear-strength fall-out of Pistol City Holiness that cascades from your speakers. Perkins has created a masterpiece that fuses Mississippi Delta and Chicago blues tradition with a hard-rocking, guitar-driven blues-rock sound that fans haven’t heard since Stevie Ray Vaughan burst onto the scene. Although it’s hard to find, go out and beg, borrow, or steal a copy of Pistol City Holiness… (self-produced, released June 2, 2009)

Review Roulette: The Dusters, Guilt, "Alive At JC's" (1986-1991)

THE DUSTERS
This Ain’t No Jukebox...
Nashville blues-rockers check in with their first full-length disc, which turns out to be well worth the wait. A collection of ten earth-scorching tunes, it’s obvious that the dusters took their time and did it right. Although long-time fans of the band will recognize such live favorites as “The Truck Won’t Start” and “This Ain’t No Jukebox…We’re A Rock ‘N Roll Band,” other cuts shine as well.

The dusters’ cover of Savoy Brown’s “Hellbound Train” smokes the original, achieving in three to four minutes what the original took thirteen to accomplish; “Phantom of the Strip,” “Street Legal,” and “Blues Highway,” all dusters’ originals, bristle with bluesy energy and rock and roll fury. Ken McMahan’s growling, guttural vocals are well-matched to his searing guitar style, while Dave Barnette’s solid bass lines and drummer Chris Sherlock’s pounding rhythms round out the (still maturing) dusters sound. This Ain’t No Jukebox… is the album that George Thorogood should have made, as a new generation of white boys pick up the blues-rock torch. (The Metro, 1991)

GUILT
Thru the Night
Long-time Nashville cult-heroes deliver a strong five-song, twenty-minute EP with Thru the Night. Lovingly produced by Steve Earle, the disc showcases the band’s impressive, innate abilities (which are often overshadowed by the cult of personality that has evolved around the band). The music is somber, passionate Goth-rock, heavily influenced by the works of Bauhaus, Sisters of Mercy, and Joy Division while retaining a metal-influenced edge.

Guitarist Chuck Allen’s six-string soars at times, providing some honestly thrilling moments, while Skot Nelson’s bass playing is an important part of the mix, throbbing with visceral delight. Toss in vocalist Tommy McRae’s primal vocals and one will find Thru the Night to be an excellent intro to one of the Music City’s longest-lived and exciting bands. (Radical Pizza, 1991)

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Alive At JC’s
What’s the matter, Bunkie...bored to tears over the same old nifty fifty as heard over your “all-of-the-hits-all-of-the-time!” radio station? Heavy metal misogyny, hard rock histrionics, and empty-vee got you down? Well, cheer up…because in Green Hills, tucked away on Bandywood Drive is a quiet, unassuming establishment by the name of JC’s, a wonderful club offering up great food, a selection of imported beers, and the very best in jazz music as performed by a truly talented roster of the Music City’s top artists.
    
Alive At JC’s is a cassette compilation of material performed live by three of the hottest and most popular acts to appear on the JC’s stage. The tape opens with Funktion, their trademark sound revolving around the dancing, soulful saxwork of Jeff Kirk, and buoyed up by the sparking keyboards of Micky Basil and the searing, fluid guitar lines of Stan Lassiter. Bassist Bob Burns, keyboarding Kevin Madill, and percussionist Dale Armstrong fill in the edges, producing a sound as tight and clear and flowing as you’ll ever find.

Apollo follows, presenting a unique jazz/funk fusion style that’ll brighten your day every day. The basic guitar (Cliff Richmonds) – bass (Carl Dobbins) – drums (Stan Smith) formula is fleshed out in Apollo with the addition of keyboardist Ted Wilson, Jamie Nichols’ congas, and the wailing reed of Mark Douthit. The result is an exhilarating and original sound that’ll have you humming these melodies for days. The superstar assemblage Rush Hour closes the tape, featuring the talents of Apollo’s Douthit on sax, and Funktion’s Madill alongside a number of impressive hornmen and rhythm players. Rush Hour’s sound illustrates improvisation as only the jazz art form can encourage, never sounding clichéd or derivative.

Although the bands represented on this collection will surely go onto greater venues and increased prominence, you can rest assured that JC’s owner “Chick” Cicatelli will always present the freshest and most talented artists in the world of jazz. If you’re truly bored and disgusted with commercial hacks and music that all sounds alike, go on down to JC’s and see what the real artists are doing...and if you like what you hear, ask “Chick” about the Alive At JC’s cassette…you’ll be glad you did! (The Metro, 1986)

Vintage Review: Lonesome Bob's Things Fall Apart (1998)

Now this, this Things Fall Apart album from this guy Lonesome Bob, this is the way that country music was meant to be. No big-hat, tight jeans posing for photo opportunities, or ‘Music Row’ pop crap, this is Nashville’s greatest fear: a talented and creative singer and songwriter that doesn’t fit into any of their corporate molds. Boasting one of the best baritones this side of Waylon Jennings, Lonesome Bob carries on a musical tradition that has its roots in Hank Williams and Bill Monroe and runs pure through Johnny Cash, George Jones, and Willie Nelson to the songs on Things Fall Apart.

Love and betrayal, death and despair, these are some of the subjects of Bob’s songs, delivered in a rocking honky-tonk style that sometimes gets a little loud and raucous while, at other times, is eloquently genteel. Guest vocalist Allison Moorer contributes her beautiful vocals to several duets on Things Fall Apart. Sounding a lot like a young Emmylou Harris, Moorer’s voice provides an angelic charm that counters Bob’s twangy growl. A satisfying collection of tunes that will continue to grow on you with every listen, Things Fall Apart is the kind of country album Nashville forgot how to make.

Released by Checkered Past Records, a Chicago indie that, with a roster that includes Lonesome Bob, Tommy Womack, and Paul Burch, seems to have their finger on the musical pulse of Nashville better than the dozens of labels that are located here in the “Music City.” (Checkered Past Records)

Review originally published by Alt.Culture.Guide™, 1998

Vintage Review: Java Christ's Songs To Confuse Slam Dancers (1996)

Back a few years ago, I had a gig as the night manager of a local newsstand / convenience store in the university area of Nashville. As one of the few places in town that sold the notorious Jolt Cola, we had a regular weekend crowd of young punks, cybergeeks and metalheads who would buy this high-octane gutrot by the caseload. I got to know several of these customers on a casual basis, often talking music/computers/politics with them. I was old enough to be their father, but I listened to them, supported their dreams and accepted them for what they were, which was a diverse, creative lot with a lot ahead of them.

What a couple of these young Jolt guzzlers had in front of them was Java Christ, the finest young band to emerge from the Nashville scene since the Teen Idols first took the stage (which, although not really that long a period of time, says something nonetheless considering the large number of truly mediocre bands that come and go in the Music City in a year’s time). Thanks to the fine folks at House O’ Pain, Java Christ make their vinyl debut with the 7” Songs To Confuse Slam Dancers EP, an altogether red-hot slab o’ punk rock fun that comes with an iron-clad Reverend K guarantee: if you buy this disc from House O’ Pain and don’t like it, send it (in good condition, naturally) to R.A.D! and we’ll give you yer cash back on it. Yes, it’s that good.
   
Side one of the EP kicks off with “Gasoline,” an infectious ska-tinged rocker. Layers of fuzzy guitar punctuate the tune’s rock-steady rhythm, with the entire effort burning as bright as its name and subject matter. “Suburbia” opens with gonzo rock chords, flashing quickly into a fast-paced, mile-a-minute musical romp. The second side’s “Insomnia” is anything but a snooze, hard and fast chords underlining a classic tale of love lost (and delivering a the most effective lyrical “piss-off” since Dylan’s “Positively 4th Street”). The disc closes with “Clue,” another delightful ska-fest, chockful of energy and attitude.

After seeing Java Christ play live at this year’s House O’ Pain/Lucy’s Record Shop Anti-Extravaganza show, I can say that they’ve got a bright future ahead of them. They’re charismatic and likeable, with a solid punk ethic that just can’t be beat. Songs To Confuse Slam Dancers is an entertaining and impressive recording debut that manages to capture enough of the band’s live energy to scorch your turntable. (House O’ Pain Records)

Review originally published by R.A.D! music zine, 1996

Nashville Rock Memorabilia: Jason & the Scorchers' Halcyon Times tour poster

Jason & the Scorchers' Halcyon Times promotional tour poster. Sent to clubs and other venues in PDF form, they could print out the poster, write in their show details at the bottom, and stick it in the window. Back in the old days, bands would have to have a couple hundred promotional posters printed up and mailed to clubs, often at their own expense. How things have changed!

Vintage Review: Jason & the Scorchers' Thunder and Fire (1989)

Jason & the Scorchers are, arguably, the best-known of Nashville’s brash young bands, an outfit with a critically-acclaimed past and an infinitely-open future. Thunder and Fire is their first album for A & M Records, and their first effort with the new band. Folks, they’ve never been better.

This is a mature and fully-realized work: Jason’s songwriting collaborations breathe new life into the Scorchers’ material; Warner’s guitar playing gets better and better; and the additions of bassist Ken Fox and skilled multi-instrumentalist Andy York round out the sound of the band, allowing them more diversity and providing a fuller, bigger feel to the songs. Drummer and co-writer Perry Baggz is like “Old Faithful,” an often (unfortunately) overlooked and underrated percussionist who manages to balance the entire chaotic crew.

The result is an album, Thunder and Fire, that is certain to become the band’s biggest. Artistically impressive, musically powerful, lyrically fresh and exciting, the Scorchers made the album that they wanted to, and it shows. The boys may have gotten older, but they’ve not gotten softer…if anything, they’ve become more passionate, more committed with age. (A&M Records)

Review originally published by The Metro, 1989

Memories: The Electric Cowboy Festival 1983

 

The first and only Electric Cowboy Festival was held over Labor Day weekend in September 1993. The three-day event didn't feature any artists from the fledgling local rock scene, although Gregg Allman was born in the Music City and past sell-by date Southern rockers like the Marshall Tucker Band and the Outlaws had a tenuous connection to Nashville through the business. Leon Russell would end up moving to Nashville, but was never really a part of the local "scene."

The Electric Cowboy Festival was the first event of this sort in the region, however, beating both the ill-fated Itchycoo Park Festival (1999) and the more successful Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival (2002) by a good decade and a half. The event had some high-profile performers, too, like Joe Walsh, Joan Jett, Cheap Trick, Humble Pie, and Kansas but offered a somewhat eclectic mix of artists like the Elvis Brothers, Mitch Ryder, Fastway, Quiet Riot, Teenage Head, and Madness. I covered the festival for the first two days for some rag or another and had an overall good time. I don't know if the event made any money but since they never held another one, I'm guessing that it broke even at best. But the Electric Cowboy Festival holds good memories for many who went, so many that there's even a Facebook group for the concert.

CD Review: White Animals' Star Time (2024)

The White Animals were one of the first original rock bands to hit the fledgling late ‘70s Nashville rock scene, and they remained one of the most popular regional acts throughout much of the 1980s. The White Animals’ dub-styled college radio-friendly cover of “These Boots Are Made For Walking” brought the Nancy Sinatra oldie to an entirely different generation but all too often overshadows the truth that the White Animals were one of the first bands to take lessons from Prince Tubby and Lee “Scratch” Perry by incorporating Jamaican dub influence into what were inherently rock ‘n’ roll songs before the Clash, the Police, or even Killing Joke did so…  

Beneath the novelty and the cover songs, however, was the beating heart of a skilled and creative rock ‘n’ roll band in thrall to a myriad of influences. As the band’s primary songwriters Kevin Gray and Steve Boyd grew in confidence, so too did their original material display heightened boldness and sophistication, albums like 1982’s Lost Weekend, 1984’s Ecstasy, their self-titled 1986 LP, and 1987 swansong, In the Last Days, worthy of reissuing and rediscovery by a new generation. After a seven-year run that included video airplay on MTV and opening slots for bands like the Ramones and Talking Head, the band split up. A modestly-successful, 17-song compilation CD titled 3,000 Nites In Babylon was released in 2000, followed shortly thereafter by a 2001 studio album, The White Animals.

White Animals’ Star Time

Flash-forward 23 years and White Animals (no “The” this time) have released their first studio album in decades in Star Time, a fab 12-song collection that – no surprise, really – shows that the band hasn’t lost a step during its lengthy hiatus. Featuring four/fifths of the original band (keyboardist Tim Coats is AWOL), Star Time provides 37 jam-packed minutes of high-octane rock ‘n’ roll cheap thrills. Album-opener “My Baby Put Me On the Shelf” is the best 1960s-inspired garage-rock rave-up that was never recorded by the Seeds, with Rich Parks and Kevin Gray’s screeching guitarplay propelled by the dynamite rhythm section of bassist Steve Boyd and drummer Ray Crabtree, the band delivering hints of the vocal harmonies they’re capable of embellishing their material with.

Star Time only gets better from this point forward … “In A Post-Apocalyptic World (Would You Be My Girl?)” is a delightfully wry power-pop tune with great vocals and an infectious melody while “Ready To Go” is a bluesy romper-stomper with the best use of echo that I’ve heard since my bong-influenced wayward youth. The Delta-dirty “Chanty” is even bluesier, with serpentine guitar and eerie, prison-gang styled call-and-response vocals. It’s a cool performance with an undeniable presence that unexpectedly switches gears mid-song. “I Tried Like Heck” is vintage White Animals, an unabashed pop song with a rock ‘n’ roll edge, inventive fretwork underlining the vocals, and a driving rhythm that’s heavy on Crabtree’s powerful big beats. The heartbreak of “Back Around” is pure 1980s-era college radio rock with a popish vibe, wistful vocals, and rich instrumentation which weaves a gorgeous melody from the chaos.

Something the White Animals did sparingly back in the day was any song with a hint of country influence (they were young soul rebels living in Nashville), but the twangy country-rock of “When It All Came Down” is provided a counterpoint in Parks’ biting, caustic guitar licks. The song’s honky-tonk rhythms and rootsy Americana sound feel like a road untraveled. The jaunty, up-tempo “Unlucky In Love” evinces a similar alt-country pathos and seems more tongue-in-cheek than its predecessor, if no less entertaining. It wouldn’t be a White Animals album without a fanciful cover tune, and for Star Time that’s a mesmerizing, electrifying dub-styled version of “Man of Constant Sorrow” (titled “Man of Constant Dread”). Suffice it to say that previous covers of the antique folk gem by the Stanly Brothers, Bob Dylan, or even Ginger Baker’s Air Force sounded nothing like this.

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

There’s really not a duff song to be found on Star Time, which finds the White Animals to be every bit as daring, creative, and carefree as the best of their 1980s-era albums. I don’t know why they never got a major label deal back in the day – maybe they didn’t really want one, preferring their independent Dread Beat label and the freedom it provided – but the White Animals in their prime were every bit as good as better-known contemporaries like Violent Femmes, They Might Be Giants, or Camper Von Beethoven while sounding absolutely like none of them. Star Time rocks from start to finish and, hopefully, the guys won’t wait another 23 years before rewarding their fans with another banger of an album! (Dread Beat Records, 2024)

Buy Star Time directly from the band!

Vintage Review: Dave Mallett's This Town (1993)

I’ve long contended that the best talent floating around the “Music City” wasn’t necessarily in the country arena. Aside from the many talented rockers plying their trade in pursuit of the brass ring, there are a slew of performers who can’t be labeled with any sort of adjective albatross. Steve Earle, Nancy Griffith, John Hiatt, and Mary Chapin-Carpenter, to name a few, have all found varying degrees of success in Nashville, country or no. Now the city needs to make room for Dave Mallett.

Mallett is an old-fashioned tunesmith, with equal parts folk, country and rock entering into his songwriting equation. He is an extremely gifted lyricist, spinning beautiful story-songs out of the threads of memory, romance and tradition. His deep, fluid vocals are perfectly suited to the material he creates. Songs like “Main Street,” which commemorates that vanishing American phenomena; “Take Time,” in which a father passes a generation of wisdom onto his son; and “Change of the Seasons,” a tale of the inevitable passing of the years (and, with them, friends dear) showcase the storytelling skills which Mallett brings to his craft.

This Town is a thoroughly enjoyable album, made all the more so by Mallett’s ability, in song, to evoke memories and emotions. We could use a few more writers of Mallett’s abilities here in the “Music City;” in the meantime, we’ll enjoy those we do have...here in This Town. (Vanguard Records)

Review originally published by The Metro, 1993