Tex & the Troubadours
Tex & the Troubadours – Troubadour Rock
Tone River TRCD250
Sweet Rock’n’Roll – Drinkin’ Wine Spodee Odee – Troubadour Rock – Kansas City – Easy On My Soul – Living On Rock’n’Roll – Move on Down The Line – Surgery Number Nine – Talking Woman Blues – Washing Machine Boogie – Didn’t Make It As A Stray Cat – Call Me The Breeze
While Tex & the Troubadours may be a relatively new band on the scene, the three members of the band (Tex on guitar and vocals, Nick Peck on double bass, and Nige on drums) are not.
Over the years, they have played with Greggi G & His Crazy Gang, The Firetones, The Frantix, The Preachers, and The Rattlers (to name a few). The Rattlers, who, remember, were produced by Paul “Doc” Stewart. And that’s the nice surprise of this album (besides the music, of course), because it marks Stewart’s return to production. When it comes to playing and recording Rock’n’Roll, these four know what they’re doing.
Forget the labels, this record is simply an excellent Rock’n’Roll record (okay, with a strong Teddy Boy flavour), the kind that moves forward, song after song, determined to take no prisoners and wear out the soles of your shoes.
Tex and his mates didn’t invent Rock’n’Roll, but they play it with the energy and spontaneity of teenagers who have just heard it for the first time. It never sounds calculated or pre-planned. The tour de force of these veterans—I hope they’ll forgive me for using this term—is to combine this freshness with the know-how of old hands. One example among many others: the drums. You know the old adage that a band is only as good as its drummer? Nothing could be truer with Nice Nige. His seemingly simple playing fits perfectly with the band, with no intrusive bass drums or impromptu cymbal hits. He doesn’t seek to attract attention but to become one with Nick Peck’s double bass to create a relentless rhythm. Together, they form the perfect backbone for Tex to lay down his guitar and his voice.
The heart of the album is mainly rockers like the excellent Living On Rock’n’Roll or Easy On My Soul with steel guitar, but one also finds blues (Talking Woman Blues, Move on Down The Line), and most of all, those excellent dragging shuffles, even menacing, in the style of Teddy Boy Boogie that I appreciate so much (Didn’t Make It As A Stray Cat, and the powerful anthem that is Troubadour Rock). Moreover, Tex’s voice sometimes finds certain intonations of the much-missed Cavan Grogan. The group also knows how to brilliantly re-appropriate classics like Kansas City or Drinkin’ Wine Spo Dee O Dee. More surprising but just as successful is their reinterpretation of JJ Cale’s Call Me The Breeze, to which the group adds a more than welcome touch of Chuck Berry, enhanced by Tex’s steel guitar.
In short, as you can see, I highly recommend this album. Furthermore, since nothing beats the experience of putting a record on a turntable or in a player, the band and their label have chosen to release it only on CD and vinyl, avoiding streaming platforms. Support them in this radical choice and buy their album!
Buy it here.
Fred “Virgil” Turgis
