Archive Review: Billy Joe Shaver’s Greatest Hits (2007)

Many of country music’s greatest talents have considered him their favorite tunesmith, and his songs have been recorded by everybody from Bobby Bare and Kris Kristofferson to Elvis Presley. Chance are that you’re probably familiar with Billy Joe Shaver’s songs, even if you have no idea of who the man is himself. Suffice it to say that what makes Shaver a great songwriter is that, for good or for bad, he puts a large part of himself into each of his autobiographical songs. As such, listening to Billy Joe Shaver’s Greatest Hits is like opening a book and looking at a cracked and faded old portrait of the artist.

Shaver is a Texas storyteller in the vein of Guy Clark or Townes Van Zandt. He’s grizzled and gruff, humbled by too many miles and sobered by too much alcohol, and he pours his life into every song. Greatest Hits includes some of Shaver’s best known material, like “Georgia On A Fast Train” and “Old Chunk of Coal,” as well as some of his best songs in “Old Five and Dimers” and “I Couldn’t Be Me Without You.” 

The album also offers up two previously-unreleased songs, but it’s the recent remake of the high-flying “Live Forever,” recorded with Big & Rich, that best showcases Shaver’s warm voice above his songwriting skills. Billy Joe Shaver’s Greatest Hits offers up old-school honky-tonk country with a bit of Lone Star spirit for both new and old listeners alike. (Compadre Records, released April 3rd, 2007)

Review originally published by Country Standard Time...

Archive Review: Billy Joe Shaver’s Everybody’s Brother (2007)

There’s often a fine line between sin and salvation and, like most outlaws, Billy Joe Shaver has one foot in the honky-tonk and one in the church pew. Shaver has long expressed the desire to record a “gospel” album and it’s fitting…the same weathered voice that speaks convincingly of barrooms and broken hearts is also perfectly suited for singing the praises of Jesus. And it’s not like religion is a little-traveled path for Shaver; he has typically included a spiritual song on each album through the years.

With Everybody’s Brother, however, Shaver focuses more on salvation, bringing friends like Kris Kristofferson, John Anderson, Marty Stuart, Bill Miller, and Tanya Tucker along for the joyous ride. Listeners expecting a collection of staid church hymns will be disappointed; although Everybody’s Brother has its loftier moments, much of the material approaches God from the sinner’s side of the fence, and songs like the rollicking duet with Stuart, “Winning Again,” wouldn’t feel out of place in a beer-soaked honky-tonk. 

Shaver’s performances, captured by producer John Carter Cash, are heartfelt and passionate while the album’s closer, a late ‘70s duet with Johnny Cash and a 15-year-old Eddy Shaver burning up the guitar, will put a smile on the face of any listener. (Compadre Records, released 2007)

Review originally published by Country Standard Time...

Archive Review: The Drive-By Truckers’ A Blessing and A Curse (2006)

With A Blessing and A Curse, America’s favorite cult band takes a shot at the mainstream with a musically and lyrically expansive effort. Working again with producer David Barbe (Sugar, Son Volt), who further sharpens the band’s sonic edge, tunes such as “Feb. 14” and “Aftermath USA” are replete with Barbe’s trademark soundwork of snaggletooth guitar and dense instrumentation. In terms of pure wordplay, the Truckers eschew the conceptual Southern provincialism of their previous work, pursuing a universal vibe that encompasses classic romanticism and working class blues. The songs are like eleven short stories rather than chapters in a single lengthy novel. 

Old-line fans need not fear, however, ‘cause Patterson Hood, Mike Cooley and Jason Isbell are triple-threat songwriters and songs like “A World of Hurt” prove that there’s more than enough twang and tears here to satisfy even the most diehard listener. With an embarrassing wealth of talent and musical chemistry, the Drive-By Truckers roll out a bigger, broader sound without sacrificing their endearing charm. A Blessing and A Curse is more of a lateral move than a great leap forward, the band satisfying its core audience even while trying to elevate its vision to the next level.  (New West Records, released April 18th, 2006)

Review originally published by Country Standard Time...

CD Review: Warner E. Hodges’ Absolutely (2026)

Warner E. Hodges will forever be known as the flamethrowing guitarist for Jason & the Nashville Scorchers, the rowdiest bunch o’ rockers to make a run out of the Music City. But since the Scorchers called it quits after 2010’s criminally-overlooked Halcyon Times, Hodges has applied his talents to a number of outfits, including veritable Nashville pick-up band the Disciples of Loud, his own Warner E. Hodges Band, the Bluefields, and solo albums he’s released under his own name. At this point in his career, Hodges has released more albums apart from the Scorchers than with that legendary band, but none of them have reached the peaks of Absolutely, the latest entry in the Hodges’ musical canon. 

Warner E. Hodges’ Absolutely

Absolutely was recorded with the crème de la crème of alternative Americana, roots-rock, or whatever you want to call it this week – longtime Hodges’ friends Joe Blanton (Royal Court of China, The Bluefields) and Dan Baird (The Georgia Satellites, The Bluefields), bassist Keith Voegele (The Bottle Rockets), pianist Pete “Wetdawg” Gordon (Mojo Nixon & the Toad Liquors), and drummer Mauro Magellan (The Georgia Satellites, Dan Baird & Homemade Sin). The excellent results speak for themselves. The album’s title track is a swaggering rocker co-written by the street-smart and savvy artistic conglomeration of Baird, Eddie Spaghetti and ‘Metal’ Marty Chandler of the Supersuckers, album producer Blanton and, of course, Mr. Hodges himself. Although I generally frown or dismiss committee-written songs as they, well, as a rule suck, but this is one tasty lil’ sucker that, given the rock ‘n’ roll pedigree of all involved, is guaranteed to raise the roof wherever played. 

Warner E. Hodges

The rock keeps on rolling with the Baird/Blanton/Hodges tune “Get Outta Town,” which features some stellar, razor-sharp Hodges’ fretwork and propulsive rhythms courtesy of Magellan and Voegele. The performance downright threatens to jump out of the grooves to grab you by the throat with just the right amount of musical menace. The rockabilly-tinged “Here Comes My Baby” swings like tire hanging from an oak tree, with Warner’s trembling, Duane Eddy-styled guitar licks juiced up by a jaunty backbeat and walking bass line while “When My Baby’s Blue,” a sort of sequel that amps up the guitar, pumps up the percussion, takes on a lightning bolt of confidence and draws from the energy of the jump blues to deliver a stunning tour de force. Warner’s vocals here really adapt to the song’s needs, which is a sort of metallic cross between hard rock and harder rhythm and blues, with plenty of blazing guitars and cacophonic instrumentation to launch the song into the stratosphere.

The twangin’ ‘n’ bangin’ “Good Company” is hard-edged Americana with just a hint of Scorchers sitting on the fringe, the loping rhythms complimented by a delightfully melodic chorus, harmony vocals hiding in the mix and, naturally, Warner’s incendiary guitarplay, which echoes ‘70s styled Southern rock while incorporating flashes of country stringplay. The album slows down for the first time with the mid-tempo stomp ‘n’ stammer of “North Star,” a bluesy ‘70s-styled hard rocker reminiscent of Texas rocker John Nitzinger, if only for the song’s six-string pyrotechnics, with the fluid solo around four minutes into “North Star” a thing of innate beauty. The serpentine “Carried Away” could have easily slotted into the mid-to-late ‘80s L.A. “hair metal” scene, something that Royal Court of China made a run at, with Warner’s growled, somber vocals thrown up against a semi-metallic soundtrack of dueling, swashbuckling guitars, explosive percussion, and an overall musical chaos grounded and saved from veering towards absurdity by Warner’s occasional twangy vocal lapses. 

Hottest Thing In Town

Warner E. Hodges, guitarslinger

“Individually” brings the band back to Nashville with a country-flavored rocker that choogles along like a cross between Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Scorchers with a touch of booger-rock rhythms, but an effective chorus and Warner stretching out his vocals with a challenging lyrical arrangement. By contrast, the punch-drunk “Happy Wife, Happy Life (Nothin’ Rhymes With Husband),” written by Blanton, but sounding like something Shel Silverstein or John Prine would have penned, is knocked out of the park with Warner’s tongue-in-cheek vocal delivery, which imparts timeless wisdom above rollicking throwback country instrumentation like Gordon’s piano (and accompanying old school honky tonk harmony vocals). At times, Warner’s vocals here sound eerily like his former bandmate Jason Ringenberg, which is to be expected as the two ran the roads together for a couple of decades. 

Warner had a friendly relationship with late outlaw country legend Billy Joe Shaver and his late guitar-slinger son Eddy, so it makes perfect sense to cover “Hottest Thing In Town,” from Shaver’s 1993 album Tramp On Your Street, as a sort of tribute to the pair. Hodges affords the song a raucous, country-rock performance with a red hot guitar solo that surely would make the younger Shaver smile. Magellan’s drums cascade through the speakers like cars piling atop each other in a trainwreck, and the overall dense squalls of instrumentation make for a helluva good time. Absolutely closes out with the slower-paced “Still Got A Ways To Go,” a searing sorta-ballad with emotional vox, bluesy guitars, syncopated percussion, and an overall Allman Brothers/Creedence Clearwater Revival vibe that finishes up the album with a sizzling slow-burner of a performance.

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

Hodges may be best-known for his genre-bending, forward-thinking performances with his former band, but put aside the onstage gymnastics and the larger-than-life persona and consider the man’s imaginative and creative guitarplay and you’ll find an artist that stands quite tall on his own merits. An overlooked instrumentalist, and a dynamic performer, Hodges’ recordings – none of which have been released in the United States (save for the first, self-produced and limited edition Disciples of Loud CD) – have only found an advocate in Mick Brown and his U.K. based Jerkin’ Crocus (JCPL) label, which is likely why Hodges has found an enthusiastic European audience. Wake up U.S. labels – there’s a market for these guitar-driven roots-rock sounds that eschew autotuned vocals or A.I. generated soundtracks. Absolutely is the stone cold real deal, hand delivered by Warner E. Hodges and a gang of creative collaborators that are musically unimpeachable. (JCPL Records U.K., released February 5th, 2026)

Archive Review: Blue Cheer’s What Doesn’t Kill You (2007)

Although they’ve influenced everything from Seattle grunge to modern “stoner rock,” Blue Cheer has always been nothing more than a humble ‘60s-era Frisco hippie band. Hard to tell, really, with the amps turned up past eleven and the band’s trademark blues-based, psychedelic candy-coated, acid-drenched hard rock sound. Forty years after the “Summer of Love,” Blue Cheer has bounced back with a brand new album featuring a streamlined old sound. 

Although not as crude as the band’s earliest output, What Doesn’t Kill You rocks every bit as hard, Dickie Peterson’s callused vocals pitched against Andrew McDonald’s strangling riffs, with drums that sound like a demolition derby. The songs are all sandpaper grit and diamond flash, showcasing a hard-won instrumental finesse and unflagging rock spirit, and what the band does to Albert King’s classic “Born Under A Bad Sign” is just downright sinful…which is exactly as it should be. (Rainman Records, released 2007)

Review originally published by Harp Magazine...

Book Review: Apocalypse Omnibus: The Adam Parfrey Reader (2026)

In the early 1980s, after serving a two-year penance in Detroit, I returned to Nashville and landed in a rooming house in the Belmont area near downtown. It wasn’t a bad neighborhood, but it was surrounded by pockets of dodgy housing that stubbornly refused to be gentrified into over-priced apartments for the university crowd. The tenants largely kept to themselves – Philly Tom, Vic the Dick, and others whose fleeting appearance and subsequent departures were barely worth remembering. 

One warm summer evening, I strolled down the block to the 7-11 store for a package of Slim Jims and a beer, walking in on an armed robbery. A young black man was holding the lily-white teenaged cashier at gunpoint with what appeared to be a .357 Magnum revolver. He looked at me, in my greasy biker garb, and asked “you don’t see nothing, do you brother?” “I’ve been blind since birth,” I replied, and walked right back out the door. A year later, at the same store, I walked in on the same guy, robbing a different cashier. “You again?” he asked. “Still blind,” I replied, and stumbled back out the door… 

Apocalypse Omnibus: The Adam Parfrey Reader 

That’s the world that writer and publisher Adam Parfrey inhabited. A world of petty criminals, prostitutes, junkies, killers, gamblers, hustlers, otherworldly religions, free thinkers, fringe artists…the flotsam and jetsam of waning capitalist glory, all provided a glimmer of dignity via his words, a consideration not provided by the police blotter or with newspaper ink. I knew Adam – we conversed by phone, by email, and he offered some helpful publishing tips – but I didn’t really know Mr. Parfrey. For that you’d have to turn to the written word, and even then you’d have questions. 

Feral House, the independent publishing house launched by Parfrey in 1989, recently published what may well be the culmination of nearly four decades of the founder’s intellectual obsessions in Apocalypse Omnibus: The Adam Parfrey Reader. A monster 456-page trade paperback, the Omnibus collects the best of  Parfrey’s writing from previously-published tomes like the notorious Apocalypse Culture (1987, Amok Press) and the even more controversial Apocalypse Culture II (2000), Cult Rapture (1995) and Ritual America (2012) as well as various assignments for publications like Penthouse, Hustler, and the Village Voice. 

After co-founding Amok Press with Ken Swezey in 1986 in New York City, Adam moved to L.A. after splitting with Swezey and formed Feral House. Parfrey had gotten a taste of intellectual freedom when Amok published Michael, a novel by Nazi Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbel, which was reviewed by The New York Times and sold well enough for the imprint to follow it up with the Parfrey-edited Apocalypse Culture, which became an underground cult classic resulting in multiple printings. The Manson File, an anthology of writings by Charlie Manson, considered “one of the last true heretics of our time,” followed in 1988. Amok’s last book was 1989’s Rants and Incendiary Tracts, which was edited by Parfrey and anarchist Bob Black (who actually introduced me to Adam) and co-published with Mike Hoy’s libertarian-leaning Loompanics Unlimited.* 

Feral House Explores the Taboo

Parfrey launched Feral House with much the same sort of free speech philosophy that he pursued with Amok. Feral House titles included The Satanic Witch, and other books by Church of Satan founder Anton LaVey; Bob Black’s Beneath the Underground (typeset by yours truly); Steven Blush’s American Hardcore: A Tribal History (later turned into a documentary film); and Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground, a 1998 book by Michael J. Moynihan and Didrik Søderlind that was also adapted to film. Sometimes Adam’s interests eerily paralleled real life; the Parfrey-edited 2001 anthology Extreme Islam: Anti-American Propaganda of Muslim Fundamentalism sold exceptionally well in the wake of the September 11th attacks of that year.

Protestations that he wasn’t really a writer aside, Parfrey’s Apocalypse Omnibus offers up some very good writing, indeed. Adam brought the same level of zealotry and intellectual curiosity he expected from Feral House’s books to his own work, and it shows throughout the book. Aside from pieces from the aforementioned Amok and Feral House books, the Omnibus includes his scandalous 1992 “Citizen Keane” essay from the San Diego Reader, Parfrey’s reporting the basis for his book of the same name that was later made into the 2014 film Big Eyes by director Tim Burton. Chapters on “Satanic Panic” and “Fascists, White Supremacists, and Their Friends” largely reprint some of Adam’s best work from the two Apocalypse Culture books and Cult Rapture, as well as interesting articles from various publications.

The “Killer Correspondence” chapter reprints letters and postcards received by Parfrey, sent by notorious figures like Manson, John Wayne Gacy, Richard Ramirez, and Ted Kaczynski, the “Unibomber,” while the chapter “At The Margins” dives deep into the wild and wooly worlds of Russian mail order brides, the cosmic religion of Unarius, the dubious celebrity of “Mr. Awesome,” and the manufacturer of lifelike sex dolls. Another chapter compiles various interviews with Parfrey by people like comedian Marc Meron, Tamra Lucid, and Stephen Lemons  which provide a bit of insight into Adam’s thoughts, history, and interests. 

Feral Man In A Feral Land

The most interesting chapters of Parfrey’s Apocalypse Omnibus are, to my mind, the book-opening “Feral Man In A Feral Land” – also the name of a painting by artist Joe Coleman included at the end of the book – and “HelL.A.,” a collection of columns written by Adam for almost five years circa 1991-1995 for the San Diego Reader, which itself comprises better than 1/3 the book. The first chapter includes early 2010s blog posts that tell of Parfrey’s years in the Big Apple, as well as essays on larger-than-life figures like filmmaker and bull fighter Budd Boetticher and director Don Siegal (Dirty Harry). I found the 1992 interview/article with Boetticher to be particularly fascinating, a glimpse into the über-masculine Los Angeles based film industry of the 1940s and ‘50s.    

The “HelL.A.” columns showcase Parfrey’s deftness with the written word, and an immense skill at conveying a story in a mere few hundred words. Writing a weekly column is hard (don’t ask me how I know) and doing it well even harder, yet Parfrey makes it seem effortless. Over the course of a couple hundred columns, Adam writes of long-gone but fondly-remembered celebrity watering holes, street hustlers, strip-mall preachers, notorious racists, and various crackpots that comprise the seedier side of Hollywood. He also writes of uniquely Angeleno characters like poet/novelist Charles Bukowski, former L.A. mayor Sam Yorty, Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt, and the Jewish Defense League’s Irv Rubin, among others. What makes the columns so interesting is not only the insight that Parfrey brings to each, but his ability to whittle each story down to a core principle that reaffirms the humanity of the subject. 

And that, friends, is the basis of Adam Parfrey’s writing, his ability to imbue his subjects, no matter how sleazy, taboo, or controversial, with a shred of redemption (yes, even punk rocker G.G. Allin). Although Parfrey has long been accused of far right sympathies, I found the man to be more complicated than a bumper sticker slogan could convey. The one aesthetic found throughout Adam’s writing is the authenticity – no matter the charlatan, crackpot, hustler, or conman he may be writing about, they were real in a way that modern celebrity fails. 

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

Parfrey may have been the free-thinking inspiration for contemporary podcasters and “influencers” but, unlike these so-called acolytes, Adam possessed a truly open mind that he constantly challenged with both his written words and with the books he published. Parfrey didn’t always agree with the most controversial and despised figures he wrote about or published, but he was a free speech absolutist that felt that a diversity of ideas – no matter how disdained by the mainstream – deserved an honest hearing. It was this perspective that makes Adam’s writing so fascinating, and helped make Feral House the most daring and interesting book publisher in America.

Feral House’s Apocalypse Omnibus: The Adam Parfrey Reader perfectly showcases its late founder’s ever-churning thoughts and obsessions (Parfrey passed away in May 2018), creating a living tribute to one of America’s foremost underground documentarians. If you want comfort, look elsewhere; if you want to challenge your pre-conceived notions of the world, Apocalypse Omnibus is the book for you! (Feral House, published July 21st, 2026)

Buy the book from Amazon ‘cause I get human monies from your purchase: Apocalypse Omnibus: The Adam Parfrey Reader
  
+++++

* Back in the 1970s, libertarians were “live at let be” styled semi-anarchists that valued personal responsibility and the freedom to live without government interference on issues like drugs, guns, and speech. When some of ‘em got together later and formed a political party, they evolved into the headline-grabbing racist asshats we despise today. Parfrey certainly had libertarian leanings, as did many of Feral House’s authors. 

 

Archive Review: Rory Gallagher’s Cleveland Calling, Part Two (2021)

VENUE: Live WNCR-FM radio broadcast from the Agora Ballroom, Cleveland Ohio, sometime in September 1972.

SOUND QUALITY: Meh…you really need to turn it up to hear it, the recording hollow, brittle, and empty-sounding. Just a step above full-blown bootleg status, really, but Gallagher’s vox are easily discernable and his guitar cuts through the muck like a surgeon’s scalpel, but his otherwise talented rhythm section is blurred and slurred into sonic roadkill on most tracks.

COVER: It’s a major label release, so the packaging isn’t too shabby – nice B&W “action” shot of Rory strangling his Stratocaster on the front, a B&W full band photo on the rear cover along with the track listing. The inner sleeve is in color with track listing and credits, and photos of the current in-print Rory Gallagher album catalog (so fire up those credit cards, kids!).

TRACKLIST: 
(Side A) 1. Messin’ With the Kid • 2. Used To Be • 3. Should’ve Learnt My Lesson

(Side B) 4. Laundromat • 5. Pistol Slapper Blues • 6. Banker’s Blues • 7. In Your Town

COMMENTS: Let’s clear up any potential misconceptions about this “Record Store Day” album from the beginning…released on July 17th as part of the second RSD “drop” for 2021, Rory Gallagher’s Cleveland Calling, Part 2 isn’t a two-album set (like it says on the RSD website), it’s a single, seven-song 12” record pressed on a thick slab of 180g wax. There’s no “download card,” as some sources claim (or else my still-sealed copy didn’t come with one…as last year’s predecessor didn’t have a download, I’m pretty sure that Universal went cheap-o again and didn’t include one here, either…). Cleveland Calling, Part 2 features a previously-unreleased radio broadcast of a promotional concert done exclusively for Cleveland’s WNCR-FM. 

Gallagher and his band performed seven songs in the otherwise empty Agora Ballroom on some day in September 1972 (no date listed, but Gallagher opened for Fleetwood Mac in Cleveland on September 8th). The album is a “sequel,” of sorts, to last year’s RSD release Cleveland Calling, a previously-unreleased in-studio acoustic performance for WNCR-FM from August ’72. That album was a resounding success upon its RSD release, peaking at #2 on the Billboard magazine “Blues” chart, a feat matched by this new archival release. Gallagher’s band at the time included bassist Gerry McAvoy (who would remain with Rory until his death in 1995), keyboardist Lou Martin, and drummer Rod de’Ath, the same talented group that would later record Gallagher’s critically-acclaimed 1973 albums Blueprint and Tattoo. 

For those of you unfamiliar with the greatness that was Rory Gallagher, he was an Irish blues-rock guitarist who, after finding inspiration in the music of U.K. hitmaker Lonnie Donegan, picked up the instrument at the age of nine and subsequently fell in love with the blues and rock ‘n’ roll music he heard listening to Radio Luxembourg and the American Forces Network (AFN) on his radio late at night. Influenced by artists as diverse as Muddy Waters, Buddy Holly, and Woody Guthrie, Gallagher taught himself slide guitar, harmonica, saxophone, mandolin, and banjo. His first band that anybody remembers was Taste, a blues-rock power trio formed in 1966 that would release a pair of critically-acclaimed studio albums before breaking up. Gallagher released his self-titled solo debut in early 1971 and followed it up a few months later with his sophomore effort, Deuce, both albums breaking the Top 40 in the U.K. 

Cleveland Calling, Part 2 features one song from Rory’s debut and three from Deuce, alongside a trio of previously-unrecorded tunes that were part of Gallagher’s concert setlist that would appear on his breakthrough1972 album Live In Europe. The Agora Ballroom was a great venue for Gallagher’s “meat and potatoes” approach to rock and blues music, the historic stage hosting notable concerts by talents like Bruce Springsteen, ZZ Top, Boston, Todd Rundgren, Ian Hunter, and many others. Oddly enough, the club’s proximity to popular FM radio station WMMS meant that the station frequently broadcast live shows from the location. Cross-town rival WNCR seems to have pulled a fast one here, broadcasting an exclusive Gallagher performance from the venue.

As for the performance itself, Gallagher and crew bring fire and brimstone to the stage. Opening with Junior Wells’ signature song “Messin’ With the Kid,” Rory does a little noodling guitar intro until the band explodes into a revved-up, amphetamine-fueled Chicago blues jam that hits your ears like a drive-by mugging. Martin’s honky-tonk piano-pounding livens up the performance by offering a counterpoint to the Gallagher’s raging guitarplay. (Note: “Messin’ With the Kid” is incorrectly attributed to Wells but it was actually written by Chief Records founder and producer Mel London, who also wrote hits for Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, and Elmore James). Gallagher’s original “Used To Be” is a bit of a letdown by comparison with the album-opener, but it features some tasty fatback six-string bending by the Irish maestro against a strident, if somewhat smudged rhythmic backdrop. 

The scorching, Chicago-styled blues of “Should Have Learnt My Lesson” closes out the album’s first side, the song’s languid tempo disguising a fiery heartbeat and truckloads of emotion channeled through Gallagher’s strings and Martin’s subtle keyboard flourishes. It’s a captivating performance made all the better by Gallagher blue-eyed soul vocals. “Laundromat,” the lone song here from his debut album, roars out of the grooves to open side two, the song’s mix of raucous British blues and jazzy undertones providing a clever bit of songwriting alchemy. Gerry McAvoy’s bass and drummer Rod de’Ath are more discernable here, providing a rhythmic backbone for Gallagher rowdy performance and soaring solos. 

A cover of legendary bluesman Blind Boy Fuller’s “Pistol Slapper Blues” never made it onto a proper Gallagher studio recording, its only contemporary appearance coming on the guitarist’s Live In Europe (it would later appear as a bonus track on the CD reissue of Irish Tour ’74). Gallagher seems to have treated live albums like studio work anyway, his setlists peppered with new originals and cover songs that he’d seldom revisit. Fuller’s Piedmont blues classic is provided a spry acoustic setting here, with Gallagher’s inspired vocals rising above his elegant fretwork. The Big Bill Broonzy song “Banker’s Blues” is cut from similar cloth, Gallagher’s half-spoken vocals accompanied by melodic harmonica, subtle piano, and filigree acoustic guitar. Deuce’s “In Your Town” closes the set with a booger-rock frenzy driven by Martin’s rollicking keyboards and Gallagher’s stinging, energetic guitar solos.

While he never built more than a cult following stateside during his lifetime, Gallagher nevertheless forged an influential and modestly-successful career, releasing eleven studio and three live albums over roughly 20 years as a solo performer. Gallagher died of complications from a liver transplant in June 1995, but his unassailable catalog of music influenced artists as diverse as Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Gary Moore, and Joe Bonamassa, among many others. In the wake of his death, Rory’s brother Dónal has kept the guitarist’s legacy alive with a steady stream of high-quality live and archival releases. He may have dug deep into the vaults to find the performance featured on Cleveland Calling, Part 2 but it’s a worthy addition to the artist’s canon and a necessary addition to the collections of Rory’s avid fans. Grade: A (Chess Records/Universal Music, released July 17th, 2021)

Review originally published by the Original Live! Music Review website...

Also on That Devil Music:
Rory Gallagher’s Cleveland Calling review
Rory Gallagher’s Irish Tour review
Rory Gallagher’s The Beat Club Sessions review

Archive Review: Rory Gallagher’s Cleveland Calling (2020)

VENUE: Live WNCR-FM radio broadcast from Agency Recordings Studio, Cleveland Ohio; August 7th, 1972

SOUND QUALITY: Pretty darn good, actually, given the antiquated original source material. If you want to be overly-critical, there’s a lack of depth to the performances, which are missing the electrifying dynamic present on most of Gallagher’s records. However, the nature of an acoustic performance covers a lot of sonic flaws as there are not as many layers to capture – just the magic of a man and his guitar, his voice, and his harmonica – another gig played by a bluesman older in spirit than his young age (24) would suggest. 

COVER: Simple but effective major label quality packaging with separate B&W photos of the legendary Irish guitarist on the front and rear covers and an overall neutral greyish tone. The inner sleeve is in color with track listing and credits, and photos of the current in-print Rory Gallagher album catalog should newbies wish to discover more great music from the gifted guitarist.

TRACKLIST: 
(Side A) Pistol Slapper Blues • Don’t Know Where I’m Going • Gypsy Woman • Out of My Mind

(Side B) The Cuckoo • Banker’s Blues • Should’ve Learned My Lesson • Blow Wind Blow    

COMMENTS: 

Like many a U.K. youth in the 1950s, Irish blues-rock guitarist Rory Gallagher found early inspiration in popular skiffle artist Lonnie Donegan. Gallagher began playing guitar at the tender age of nine years old, and bought his first electric guitar (a Stratocaster) at the age of twelve. Listening to Radio Luxembourg and the American Forces Network (AFN) late at night, Gallagher broadened his musical palette with early rock ‘n’ roll influences like Buddy Holly and Eddie Cochran. It was when he discovered the music of Muddy Waters that he fell in love with the blues and, throughout his teenage years, he would play a mix of folk, blues, and rock music, finding further inspiration in artists like Woody Guthrie and Big Bill Broonzy. Gallagher subsequently taught himself to play slide guitar, harmonica, saxophone, mandolin, and banjo with vary degrees of virtuosity.

Gallagher’s first band of note was Taste, a blues-rock power trio formed in 1966 when the guitarist was a mere 18 years old. That band released a pair of well-received studio albums – 1969’s Taste and 1970’s On the Boards – before breaking up; a pair of live albums were released in the wake of the band’s demise to capitalize on Gallagher’s bourgeoning reputation as a six-string prodigy. Gallagher released his self-titled solo debut in early 1971 and followed it up a few months later with his sophomore effort, Deuce. Gallagher broke into the U.K. Top 10 for the first time with 1972’s Live In Europe, which was unusual in that the album featured performances of five songs that hadn’t been previously-recorded by the guitarist.  

The eight-song Cleveland Calling LP was released for October’s third Record Store Day “drop” in a limited edition of 3,000 copies and documents Gallagher’s live broadcast by Cleveland’s WNCR-FM radio in August 1972. I don’t know how they did it at WNCR, but I do know that their crosstown rival (WMMS-FM) used to broadcast slews of live performances, and taped many (if not all) of ‘em, creating a treasure-trove of live 1970s-era classic rock that languishes in a vault somewhere (hopefully). Evidently, things didn’t work out too well as many of the WNCR on-air staff revolted against company efforts to overly commercialize the station, going on strike in late 1972. They were subsequently fired en masse by management after a late-night meeting mediated by the station’s morning DJ, Don Imus (who would soon go onto bigger broadcast markets). The station itself switched over to an automated country format on January 1st, 1973. 

But I digress…Gallagher’s acoustic performance here is stunning in its passion and complexity. After a brief intro from the station’s deejay, Carolyn Thomas, Rory starts his short, sharp set with a rowdy cover of Blind Boy Fuller’s Piedmont blues gem “Pistol Slapper Blues,” one of the previously-unrecorded tunes from Live In Europe. With spry guitar pickin’, Gallagher does an admirable job in capturing the joi de vivre of Fuller’s original performance. “Don’t Know Where I’m Going” is one of three Gallagher originals from Deuce, a harmonica-driven country-blues jam that could easily be mistaken for 1930s vintage, Rory’s vocals flowing above simple strummed chords, the overall result greater than the sum of its parts.

“Gypsy Woman” was a cover of a Delta-dirty Muddy Waters song that first appeared as a bonus track on the 1999 CD reissue of Gallagher’s debut album. Probably the bluesiest track here, Rory’s scattershot vocals and imaginative fretwork make the performance a pure joy. Another song from Deuce, “Out of My Mind” is a folk-styled rocker with impressive vocal gymnastics, nimble guitar playing, and more than a few stylistic nods to the skiffle tunes of the musician’s youth. Flipping the flapjack, second side opening song “The Cuckoo” is a traditional English/Irish folk song that wouldn’t find proper release until the posthumous 2003 album Wheels Within Wheels, itself a treasure-chest of acoustic outtakes and lost recordings from across 20 years of Gallagher’s career. 

Deceptively complex in the manner of many a rusty old song from musty, forgotten songbooks, Gallagher pours his soul into the performance, gilding “The Cuckoo” with exotic fretwork and strong vocals that help shape the song’s lyrical story. The guitarist follows up with a reading of his idol Big Bill Broonzy’s “Banker’s Blues,” which he’d record a year later for the critically-acclaimed Blueprint LP. After giving Ms. Thomas a lesson in harmonica styles, he launches into a fine approximation of Broonzy’s folkie proto-Chicago blues sound, capturing all of the tongue-in-cheek humor of the lyrics with his light-hearted vocals and intricate guitar strum. The last of the three original Deuce tunes, “Should’ve Learnt My Lesson” is another slab of old-school blues, rich with Gallagher’s elegant string-bending and the overall “high lonesome” Piedmont vibe captured by Rory’s mournful voice.       

Cleveland Calling closes out with “Blow Wind Blow,” as obscure a Muddy Waters song as you’ll find (it’s from the oft-overlooked classic 1969 LP Fathers and Sons). Fresh from playing on the Chicago blues legend’s The London Muddy Waters Sessions album, Gallagher acquits himself nicely here, digging into the song’s roots in the Mississippi Delta of Waters’ plantation-raised early days, his up-tempo guitar playing matched by syrupy vocals and a just-beneath-the-surface energy that threatens to explode with any random note. Sadly, a studio recording of the song wouldn’t be released until the excellent 2019 “odds ‘n’ sods” collection, Blues, a three-disc collection of rare, unreleased, and live recordings that would land Gallagher back on the Top 20 of the U.K. charts.
 
Gallagher move past 1972 to enjoy a modestly-successful career throughout the 1970s and ‘80s, releasing a total of eleven studio and three live albums over a 20-year span, with 1990’s Fresh Evidence representing the guitarist’s swansong. Gallagher would die of complications from a liver transplant (a tragic necessity due to decades of living a rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle) in June 1995. Over the course of his career, Gallagher had the opportunity to perform and record with musical idols like Lonnie Donegan, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Muddy Waters and was part of the band Box of Frogs with former Yardbirds Chris Dreja, Paul Samwell-Smith, and Jim McCarty. While he never rose above the status of “cult artist” in the U.S. his loyal following has supported a steady stream of posthumous live albums and DVDs. 

Perhaps most importantly, Gallagher’s undeniable talents would subsequently influence artists as diverse as Johnny Marr of the Smiths, Alex Lifeson of Rush, Glenn Tipton of Judas Priest, and fellow blues guitarists Gary Moore and Joe Bonamassa, among many others who all cited the humble Irishman as an influence on their own music. Gallagher also swayed contemporaries like Eric Clapton (who once credited Gallagher with “getting me back into the blues”) and Jimi Hendrix (who, allegedly asked how it felt to be the world’s greatest guitarist, replied “I don’t know, go ask Rory Gallagher”) and had been asked to join both Deep Purple and the Rolling Stones to replace those band’s wayward guitarists. 

While Gallagher could strangle his Stratocaster and torture a stack o’ Marshall amps as loudly and energetically as 1970s-era contemporaries like Johnny Winter, Leslie West, or Pat Travers, Cleveland Calling is a fine representation of the often-understated (acoustic) aspect of Gallagher’s talents, his between-song conversations with the station’s DJ providing the barest of glimpses into the personality of the gifted musician and performer. Cleveland Calling is a “must have” if you’re a longtime Gallagher fan but stands tall on its own for blues fans who just want a taste of this too-frequently overlooked artist. Grade: A (Chess Records/Universal Music, released October 24th, 2020)
 

Review originally published by the Original Live! Music Review website...

Also on That Devil Music:
Rory Gallagher’s BBC Sessions review
Rory Gallagher’s Notes From San Francisco review
Rory Gallagher’s The Beat Club Sessions review

Archive Review: Dave Alvin’s King of California (2019)

Singer, songwriter, and guitarist Dave Alvin is an American music icon. During a career that has now spanned five decades, Alvin was a founding member (with brother Phil) of roots-rock legends the Blasters, with which he recorded four albums. Leaving that band in 1986 to pursue other musical avenues, Alvin was a member of L.A. punk stalwarts X as well as that band’s musical side project, country-folk outfit the Knitters. Alvin played alongside fellow Blasters members Steve Berlin and Bill Bateman as part of Chris D’s notorious band the Flesh Eaters and, with the equally notorious Mojo Nixon and Country Dick Montana (The Beat Farmers), the trio toured as the Pleasure Barons.       
 
Alvin has also lent his six-string skills to recordings by the Gun Club, blues singer Candye Kane, Belinda Carlisle of the Go-Gos, and rockabilly legend Sonny Burgess, among many others and, as a songwriter, he’s had material recorded by artists as diverse as Townes Van Zandt, Dwight Yoakum, Jo-El Sonnier, Willie Nelson, and Marshall Crenshaw. Alvin launched his solo career with the 1987 major label release of the critically-acclaimed Romeo’s Escape (titled Every Night About This Time in England) but, when the album failed to sell sufficiently in an era of multi-Platinum™ country artists (rising to #60 on the country chart), Columbia Records released him from his contact.

Signed to the roots-rock oriented indie label HighTone Records (also home to artists like bluesmen Robert Cray and Joe Louis Walker and Americana pioneers Joe Ely and Chris Smither), Alvin delivered a pair of albums – 1991’s Blue Blvd. and 1993’s Museum of Heart – that enjoyed modest sales but received mixed critical response. Stepping back from the heavy production and electric instrumentation of his previous two albums, Alvin whittled his songs down to their gnarled, raw-boned roots for King of California. In the original label press release for the album, Alvin wrote “King of California is my 3rd solo album for HighTone, and it’s a bit different…for one thing, I stripped down the instrumentation. I addition to some new original songs, I’ve included a few covers, and some songs I previously recorded solo, or with my first band, the Blasters.” 

Dave Alvin’s King of California 

Released in May 1994, Alvin’s King of California album celebrates its ‘silver anniversary’ this year with a long-overdue deluxe reissue on vinyl (with bonus tracks!) by Craft Recordings. Widely considered as an influential classic album of Americana, Alvin recorded King of California with mostly acoustic instrumentation, joined in the studio by many of his usual cohorts including bassist Don Falzone, drummer Bobby Lloyd Hicks, and multi-instrumentalist Greg Leisz, who played slide and pedal-steel guitar, mandolin as well as producing the album. Longtime friends like Syd Straw, Rosie Flores, and Chris Gaffney added backing vocals to several songs. As critic Mark Deming wrote for All Music Guide, “While King of California was often lumped in with the then-fashionable unplugged craze, in retrospect it was the album where Dave Alvin’s abilities as a performer began to catch up with his gifts as a songwriter…”

The results were stunning, the predominantly acoustic soundtrack behind the songs placing a greater emphasis on Alvin’s lyrical skills and underrated vocals. “Current trends and fads aside,” Alvin writes, “I’ve wanted to do a ‘quieter’ collection of old, new, borrowed, and blue songs for quite some time. It can be difficult trying to please the people who want to hear sweaty, electric rock ‘n’ roll, as well as the fans who are more interested in contemplating the lyrics. I think King of California is mainly for the latter group. Alongside the new songs on the album, Alvin also re-recorded several songs. He explains why in the press release, writing “I wanted to re-cut songs like “Fourth of July,” from my first solo album Romeo’s Escape because, to be perfectly honest, I can sing ‘em better now.”  

The album kicks off with the title track, introduced by lush six-string work which blends into Alvin’s warm, sonorous vocals. The spry backing soundtrack provides the perfect accompaniment to Alvin’s romantic tale and wistful lyrics. The melancholy “Fourth of July” benefits greatly from the more subdued setting, Alvin’s brilliant imagery coming to life above the jangling guitars and rolling rhythm. One of the album’s better original tracks, “Goodbye Again” is a duet with the talented Rosie Flores, an Americana legend in her own right. Opening with Mexican-styled fretwork, Flores’ lighter, pastel-colored vocals provide a sparkling counterpoint to Alvin’s deeper, darker-hued voice. The natural chemistry between the two is remarkable, their performance a pure joy.   

Border Radio

The plaintive “Bus Station” offers another brilliant performance, Alvin’s half-spoken vocals telling a sad tale of hard luck romantics as Skip Edwards’ mournful accordion plays longingly in the background. Alvin’s vocals carry the gravitas of Merle Haggard while the song’s simple, effective instrumental backdrop reminds of Doug Sahm’s Texas Tornadoes. On the other hand, a spot-on cover of prolific bluesman Memphis Slim’s “Mother Earth” perfectly captures the song’s original vibe with Alvin’s rowdy, Piedmont-styled guitar-play, performed (appropriately) on a National Steel guitar. “Little Honey” features some of Greg Leisz’s best slide-guitar licks while a cover of George Jones’ “What Am I Worth,” a duet with the wonderful Syd Straw, is a hillbilly romp that displays both Straw’s show-stealing vocals and her sense of humor alongside Alvin’s equally light-hearted vox and spry rockabilly fretwork, the two coming across like a younger Johnny and June Carter Cash.    
 
King of California closes out with “Border Radio,” perhaps the best song from Romeo’s Escape and a holdover from the Blasters’ self-titled 1981 sophomore album. Unlike songs similar in subject as Wall of Voodoo’s “Mexican Radio” or ZZ Top’s “Heard It On the X,” Alvin’s song is an introspective lyrical rumination, juxtaposing the sound of the 50,000-watt radio station floating in the Southern California air against an emotional tale of love and loss. Alvin’s filigree acoustic guitar strum offers fine punctuation to his effective, somber vocals. 

Overall, the album’s melting pot of rock, country, and blues music provides a shining showcase for Alvin’s immense songwriting skills and mastery of American music forms. His penchant for story-songs shines brightly in the grooves, Alvin providing a voice for the downtrodden lovers and losers in this world. “A lot of the songs on King of California have to do with people realizing that their dreams may not come true and trying to figure out just where to go from there,” he says in the album’s press release. 

The Cuckoo

There are three bonus tracks appended to King of California. The instrumental “Riverbed Rag” is a bluesy, bluegrass-tinted rave-up featuring a duel between Alvin’s six-string and Leisz’s Dobro that was an unreleased performance from the original sessions. A cover of Merle Haggard’s haunting “Kern River” offers up one of Alvin’s most nuanced vocal performances and elegant instrumentation while a cover of songwriter Kate Moffatt’s “The Cuckoo” is provided an equally ethereal performance. All three songs are welcome additions to King of California, fitting in nicely alongside the rest of the material. Alvin’s decade with HighTone Records resulted in six studio albums and a live set, his tenure with the label culminating in the acclaimed 2000 album Public Domain, a collection of traditional folk and country songs that earned Alvin a Grammy® Award for “Best Traditional Folk Album.” 

During the ensuing years, Alvin has experienced the careers ‘ups and downs’ typical of the music lifer. He signed with the similarly roots-oriented Yep Roc Records for 2004’s Ashgrove, and has been with the label ever since, continuing to release acclaimed recordings like West of the West (2006), Dave Alvin and the Guilty Women (2009), and Eleven Eleven (2011). Alvin reunited with his brother Phil for 2014’s Common Ground, an inspired collection of Big Bill Broonzy songs, and again in 2015 for the album Lost Time, a collection of classic blues and soul tunes by folks like Willie Dixon, James Brown, and Big Joe Turner. Alvin recorded with his old friend Jimmie Dale Gilmore on 2018’s Downey to Lubbock. 

In a recent label press release for the vinyl reissue, Alvin says that he’s “real proud” of the album, “the whole process was a revelation, to record with everybody in the studio sitting roughly in a circle, sitting there on the edge of my chair with an acoustic guitar knowing that if I blow this chord, we have to start over. And I could use my voice; when I was recording electric my voice couldn’t lead the band. In this situation I could. That allowed a certain openness and freedom I hadn’t experienced before. And for Greg, this was his baby, his chance to produce me and get my voice right. His calmness in all of this led to the vibe of the record.”

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

Alvin continues to tour exhaustively, both as a solo performer and with the reunited Flesh Eaters in support of that band’s recent I Used To Be Pretty album. A quarter-century down the road, though, King of California continues to find a new audience appreciative of its earthy, no-frills sincerity; honest instrumentation; and Alvin’s intelligent story-songs and poetic lyrics. The album has proven to have legs beyond its modest indie-rock roots, influencing a generation of Americana (and country) artists and songwriters to follow. (Craft Recordings, reissue released June 14th, 2019)

Review originally published by the Rock and Roll Globe website...