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Rockabilly - Page 23

Rockin’ Bonnie & the Rot Gut Shots

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Rockin' Bonnie - Cocktail Jubilee
Rockin’ Bonnie – Cocktail Jubilee

Rockin’ Bonnie & the Rot Gut Shots – Cocktail Jubilee

El Toro ETCD3024 {2009}
Bell Bottom Boogie – Gotta Honky Tonk – What Am I Worth – Kitty Kat Corner – All Of This – Burnin’ – I’m Hurtin’ Again – I Love Booze – I Wanna Make Love – I Heard About You – I Start Messin’ Around- Juke Box Blues – Papa Boogie – Bring Along Your Lovin’ – Time’s A Waistin’
The debut album of this young Italian lady was one of the good surprise of 2009.
 Backed by a bunch of well know faces who happen to be brilliant musicians too (including Nuno from the Boppin’ Boozers on slap bass, Max from the Starlighters who wrote six originals- on guitar and steel guitar, Manuel from Hot Tubes on drums and Jerry on piano from too many bands to mention here).
The band takes great advantage of Jerry’s pounding piano and opens the set with the fantastic Bell Bottom Boogie. The core of the set is made of hillbilly and hillbilly boogie, some very rural (I Heard About You), others with fine bluesy licks (I Wanna Make Love), but you also find country waltz with harmonies (All Of This close to the early Ranch Girls stuff), wild rock’n’roll with Jerry in full Jerry Lee mode (Burnin’), rockabilly (I’m Hurtin’ Again, Kitty Kat Corner), jazz (I Love Booze) a bit of western swing (Papa Boogie).
As said before the musicianship is top notch, but that’s Sabrina (Rockin’ Bonnie)’s voice that steals the show. She rocks like Lorrie Collins, has the country flair of Patsy Cline and shares with June Carter the same fun and abandon.
Highly recommended.

Fred “Virgil” Turgis

Al Holden

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al-holden

Al Holden – C’mon Over

MCG1020082
Golden rocket – My baby left me – Sweet love – My happiness – C’mon over – Little darlin – Tomorrow night – Don’t come knockin’ – Leavin’ it all up to you – Just walking in the rain – Little cabin on the hill – Train train – Fool fool fool – I’m beginning to forget you – My heart will be true
An excellent album of Sun inspired Rockabilly (mostly Elvis but also Carl Perkins) featuring members of the Crawdads and Chris Cumings (Riverside Trio) on bass, steel and guitar. Half of the songs are Holden originals, the other half are covers of Arthur Crudup, Elvis, the Prisonnaires, Bill Monroe and Jim Reeves.

Fred “Virgil” Turgis

The Hillbilly Huxters – The Hillbilly Rock’n’roll show

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hillbillyhuxters1Wild Hare Records – WH 11001
Let’s Go Boppin’ Tonight – Big Fairlane – My Buckets Got A Hole in It – Can’t See My Baby Tonight – Hillbilly Blues – Hoochicoo – Kiss Me – Rock Pretty Mama – I’m Coming Home – Huxtercize – Twistin’n Turnin’ – Tear It Up – I Do What I Want When I Want
Still under the shock of The Hillbilly Stroll (Wild Hare WH 9002) his previous effort, I’ve received Dave Moore’s latest album with his new combo the Hillbilly Huxters with Matt Todd on double-bass and Strawback Slim on drums.
I probably said that before, but I’ll repeat it again and again if needed: Dave Moore and Wild Hare are the finest and best purveyors of real rockabilly music since Willie Lewis’ Rock-A-Billy Record. Like the late Colorado genius, it is obvious that this guy does not only play rockabilly: he lives and breathes it. And most of all, he understands it (how many can say that?). The Hillbilly Huxters are no exceptions to the rules. The name says it all, it rocks but the rural roots are never far. It’s wild, it’s raw but never in detriment to the songs (a bunch of originals like the frantic I Do What I Want When I Want coupled with covers from Al Ferrier, Johnny Burnette, Hank Williams, Johnny Horton, Eddy Clearwater). Recorded live it contains some minor flaws but I wouldn’t trade a flawless performance for all the feeling included in this album. Never. You’ll never recreate the excitement of the first time you listened to a Meteor or a Goldband record, but this is as close as you can get.

Fred “Virgil” Turgis

Killer Brew – s/t

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killer-brewVampirella MCG1020028 [1998]
Do Me Like You Do Me – All Night Rock – Shattered Dreams – Victory Roll – Trouble Bound – Wore Me To A Frazzle – That’s The Way – Special Brew – Who’s Been Sitting In My Chair – I Fell In Love – My Little Baby – One Track Mind – The Other Side – Shooting Star

All star rockabilly band featuring Darrel Higham, Ricky Lee Brawn (Stargazers, Big Six, Space Cadets) Helen Shadow (Queen B’s, Johnson Family), Anders Janes (Stargazers, Ray Gelato, Big Six, Space Cadets) and Pat Reyford (Sugar Ray Ford). If we are used to hear Higham and Shadow sing, it’s more surprising to hear Brawn but he does a great job too. Recorded at Ricky’s Valvemobile studio it has a raw sound and shows a strong Sun records influence with a couple of hillbilly bopper too, featuring Pat Reyford on steel.

Fred “Virgil” Turgis

David Moore – The Hillbilly Stroll

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dmoore_small Wild Hare WH09002 [2009]
If you dig rockabilly music (which one can assumes as you read this lines) and especially 50’s sounding rockabilly the name of Dave Moore may be familiar to you. He’s the guy behind the excellent Wild Hare records label and has played on countless recordings (the liner notes say “43 professionnal releases with 29 different artists on 280 tracks!”).
This is, to my knowledge, his first real solo effort, including 12 self-penned songs on which he’s backed by Ryan Cain, Wendy Lebeau and Buck Stevens among others.
Some of this tunes have previously been sung by members of the Wild Hare roster like the Pat Cupp influenced “Blue So Blue” by Ron Berry, “Uptown” by Amber Lee and “You Better Leave” (appearing here in a very demo sounding version) by Buck Stevens.
Musically this is what you can expect – and love – from Wild Hare: a mix of vintage and raw sounding rockabilly with its feet solidly anchored in the hillbilly tradition, going from “Love Eternally” a country weeper in a Hank Williams vein to the frantic rockabilly of “I Do What I Want When I Want” all recording on vintage equipment that makes the Wild Haresignature sound.
A must have.
Fred “Virgil” Turgis

Mr Whiz – I Wanna Go

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mrwhiz2_small El Toro
I Wanna Go – High Class Weddin’ – Leave That Junk Alone – Dark Swamp – City Lights – Million Dollar Gang – Otro Corazón – When I Left El Paso – When Love Calls On You – I Wanna Be A Millionaire – All My Life Is Gone
This good surprise comes from Spain as the slight accent of Klaus Villarrel (singer and double bass player) reveals. This trio (guitar, light drums mostly played with brushes and double bass) plays an excellent brand of roots music they call hillbilly swing and it suits them well. They mix influences from Hank Williams (All My Life Is Gone) to Johnny Burnette (Million Dollar Gang is a wild rocker in the vein of Train Kept A Rollin’) and Charlie Feathers. In between you find City Light, a bluegrass influenced number with two parts harmonies and “When I Left El Paso” that reminds of the great Marty Robbins with lyrics (by the way the lyrics are included) like “But at night bad luck came to my life / When a fight started my knife had to shine / the blood in my hand and his body on the flor / the sheriff’s son is dead and my soul went down” . You’ll also find some Johnny Cash with the cover of “Leave that junk alone” and his trademark boom-chica-boom rhythm is featured on “When Love Calls On You“. The name of the band comes from guitar virtuoso Jerry Reed, and guitar player José Casarejos does justice to this name especially on the swingin’ hot number “I Wanna Be A Millionaire“. Another highlight is “Dark Swamp”, a haunting number not that far from neo-rockabilly, with lyrics close to “Endless Sleep“or even “Johnny Remember Me“. With only eleven songs (9 self penned tunes), Mr Whiz offers a tight album with no filler and are another proof of the good heath of the Spanish scene.

Fred “Virgil” Turgis

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