The Lucky Tomblin Band, self-titled (Texas World, 2003)
The Lucky Tomblin Band's self-titled debut is a swingin' platter of honky-tonk straight out of Texas. This band has a pedigree guaranteed to get it a blue ribbon in any show; its members have about a zillion years of recording and performing credits among them, and it shows.
Frontman Tomblin has been singing since he was quite young, with the likes of Roger Miller and Ray Price, and he's been in the control booth for many Texas stars. Earl Poole Ball has played piano with everybody from Gram Parsons to Johnny Cash. Steel guitarist Cindy Cashdollar, a regular with Western swing-band Asleep at the Wheel, has played with artists as diverse as Bob Dylan, Beausoleil and Leon Redbone. Redd Volkaert is an in-demand Telecaster-slinger who's played for several years in Merle Haggard's band. Bassist Sarah Brown has played with dozens of blues greats, and drummer Jon Hahn has backed artists like Rosie Flores and Joe Ely.
Right out of the gates, this band hits the ground running with a hot swinging shuffle, "It Ain't No Piece of Cake," in which Tomblin explains in his road-weary voice that the life of a traveling musician isn't as easy as it looks. He uses the opening track to briefly showcase each band member as well, including bassist Brown on harmony vocals.
"Never Slept a Wink" is a more languid, slowed-down shuffle, with Tomblin turning in appropriately slurred, sleepy-sounding vocals, and some sweet fills on guitar and slide from Redd and Cindy. "Illegal Man" introduces yet another Texas music genre, the Tex-Mex two-step, with guest Augie Myers (Texas Tornadoes, Sir Douglas Quintet) adding accordion to this tale of a migrant farmworker's woes. And it's back to flat-out honky-tonk with "Dancehall Sweetheart," a real tear-in-your-beer hard-luck love song, featuring Ball on piano.
After four weaker tracks, including the new-agey "Soul in Time," the album finishes on a strong note with a couple of bluesy numbers, "Deadwater" (replete with swaggering harp, bluesy piano, greasy guitar and moaning steel) and "Sense of Wonder," and a return to accordion-driven honky-tonk with "Please Don't Tease Me."
The Lucky Tomblin Band is a strong effort as a one-off by a supergroup; if it's just an opening salvo from a more long-lived outfit, all the better.
For more information on the band, go to this Web site.
