BR549, Tangled in the Pines (Dualtone, 2004)
Yeehaw! This here is some good shit-kicking music, played by a bunch of rockin' country boys. Yessir!
Named after Junior Sample's phone number from Hee Haw, BR549 have been around, with varied participants, for a few albums now. This is their first for Dualtone, and it's a good 'un. Twanging guitars, a solid rhythm section, country harmonies, fiddle, pedal steel and clever lyrics. What more could you ask for?
Sounding like a hepped up Hank Williams, Sr., produced by Dave Edmunds and backed by Rockpile, the lead-off track is "That's What I Get." It was written by Chuck Mead (vocals and guitar) and Raul Malo (from the Mavericks). It has a great swinging beat and that Fender twang, with a good helping of Don Herron's fiddle. Herron plays any number of stringed instruments in addition to the fiddle: Hawaiian steel guitar and mandolin, both electric and acoustic; and he plays them well.
"I'm All Right for the Shape I'm In" tells a familiar story, in front of some real Old Hank backing. "Well I woke up this morning and I looked outside/ and all I had was gone/ I started wondering 'What else could go wrong?'/ I got them weary violated blues/ Broken hearted and nothin' else to lose/ But I'm all right. . . for the shape I'm in." Man. . . at least his dog didn't die!
They follow this with the rocking "Ain't Got Time." This one was written by Mead and Gary Scruggs (vocals and guitar) and features a sizzling slide guitar part! Another Hank-like tune appears next, "She's Talking to Someone (She's Not Talking To Me)," with fine shuffling drums played by Shaw Wilson. Geoff Firebaugh plays "doghouse" and electric bass, and provides solid bottom to all the tracks. This stuff sounds "real good" turned up loud. And every song moves along, great singing, great picking.
I first listened to this kind of "honky tonk" music as a li'l feller at my daddy's knee. Now my own sons stand a head taller than I do and I'm honky-tonking with a new generation. As my father turned me on to Hank Williams, I tried playing BR549 for the boys. I achieved a fifty percent success rate. One of them went straight for the "Jambalaya" section, the other one cranked up his Led Zeppelin re-issue. That's not too bad, I guess. Try BR549 at your place, and get yourself Tangled in the Pines.
BR549 have a Web site here. Dualtone's Web site is here.
