March 2016

Root’n Toot’n – Raw & Uncut

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Mandy’s On A Diet – Rockabilly Baby – Walking The Floor Over You – Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain – Cry Cry Cry – Greenback Dollar – Four In The Morning – There’s A New Moon – Tom Dooley – Turn Around – Putting On The Style – Turn My Picture Upside Down – Itchin’ For My Baby – Candy Kisses – Little Red Wagon – She’s My Baby
This British trio consists of well known members on the English scene coming from bands like The Sureshots, The Skiprats, Cat Scratch Fever and Country Cattin’. They play hillbilly bop and rockabilly with a touch of skiffle here and there with spare instrumentation (two guitars and a bass with sometimes a washboard or a ukulele) and though their set mainly consists of covers, they manage to stay true to the originals and bring some fresh air in this timeless classics in the same time. And believe me, it’s not an easy task with Cash’s Cry Cry Cry. On Faron Young’s “Four In The Morning”, you’d swear to hear an unreleased Elvis Sun master with Cliff Gallup guesting on guitar that stayed on a dusty shelf for years.
Talent knows talent and you’re not surprised to see that Chris Cumming, from the now legendary Riverside Trio, is involved in the production of this album. Well played, varied, fun, pleasant, superbly produced, boys (and girl) let me tell you one thing, you won a new fan.
Get it at http://www.rootntootn.co.uk/

Root’n Toot’n – Making Hay

Big River – Your Cheatin Heart – Man Of Constant Sorrow – Wabash Cannonball – I’ll Hold You In My Heart – Cocaine Blues – Lord It’s Hard To Be Humble – Roly Poly – Mr Moon – The Words Of Love – Have You Ever Been Lonely – Battle of New Orleans – Deep In The Heart Of Texas – Oklahoma Hills – Goodbye Marie – You Are My Sunshine
Our favorite British hillbillies are back with a brand new 16 songs platter, all covers but one, the excellent Words Of Love. There’s no big changes or departure from their precedent release, but if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it, as they say. You’ll find hillbilly, bluegrass, skiffle mixed with rockabilly (Malcom Yelvington’s Goodbye marie). Colin Mee is at ease on ballads like Eddy Arnold’s I’ll Hold You In My Arms but he can deliver strong uptempo numbers like Cocaine Blues.If Mee takes the lion’s share of lead vocals, Mandy sings too and gives a good rendition of Jim reeves’ Have You Ever Been Lonely. She also plays clarinet on Deep In The Heart Of Texas one of my absolute favorite, that made me think of the novelty western swing style of Bob Skyles and His Skyrockets. I’d love to hear a full album like this. A highly entertaining album.
Fred “Virgil” Turgis